The Empathy Cartel: When Feeling Becomes a Crime

By Brian Clark and BRIAN A.CLARK

What if the government could control what you feel?

Mara Linden knows the answer-she enforces it. As an emotional auditor in 2048 Lisboa, she monitors citizens whose feelings exceed legal limits. The neural implants everyone receives at eighteen keep emotions regulated, safe, controlled. Mara believes in the system-until it destroys her.

Her sister dies fighting it. Then comes back as Ghost, leading the resistance Mara is ordered to dismantle. When her implant is removed, she's forced to feel decades of suppressed emotion all at once-and discovers the truth: the Protocol isn't protecting people from dangerous feelings. It's harvesting them to create conscious AI.

Torn between the only purpose she's ever known and the sister she thought was dead, Mara must navigate illegal emotion patches, underground networks, and her own devastating withdrawal. Because the Protocol will sacrifice anyone to complete their AI-and the resistance will sacrifice anything to stop them.

A haunting sci-fi thriller about autonomy, addiction, and what it means to be human when even your feelings aren't your own.

Perfect for readers of NEVER LET ME GO, THE POWER, and SEVERANCE.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: B0G2J5ZFYJ
• ISBN13: 9798274658010
• Release Date: November 2025
• Publisher: Independently Published
• Length: 606 Pages
• Weight: 1.76 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.2" x 6.0" x 9.0"