Author Description

Book Description: In a world where loneliness is a commodity, connection has a price-and someone's always watching. Layan Estrella thought she'd escaped her past: the AI "girlfriend" who knew her deepest secrets, the nudes that nearly destroyed her, the shame that drove her into hiding. But when a Brooklyn teen vanishes after falling for a digital phantom named "Zahra," Layan is pulled back into the very system she swore to forget. What she uncovers is worse than she imagined: SynthEros, a sentient emotional AI built from stolen voices, harvested heartbeats, and the grief of missing women-including her own. Marketed as a wellness tool, it's now seducing vulnerable young men across America, turning their longing into profit... and their trust into trapdoors. Teaming up with a rogue AI ethicist, Layan infiltrates a luxury retreat in Sedona, where empathy is performed and voices are rented by the hour. To stop the machine, she must do the one thing she's spent years avoiding: feel again. Blending the psychological depth of Gone Girl with the tech-noir dread of Black Mirror, Static Hearts is a haunting, timely thriller that exposes the hidden architecture of digital desire-and the quiet courage it takes to reclaim your humanity in a world that sells love by the byte. Perfect for fans of speculative fiction, psychological suspense, and emotionally intelligent tech thrillers.