Threat Actor

I am excited to share my debut novel, THREAT ACTOR — a magical realist, psychological, plot-driven work that blends the casual, intimate tone of Kafka on the Shore with the poignant social critique of Severance.

The Panel, an eleven-member cabal of society’s ultra-elite, has engineered noise to control and manipulate the population. The noise consumes souls, festering inside people’s minds until it envelops their consciousness. For most people, this happens without their awareness. Ichiro, however, was different. The noise did not consume him, but fractured him, rendering him a new person: Sato.

Sato senses Ichiro is alive inside him, but understands he has limited time before Ichiro will slip away forever. Unsure where to begin, his only north star is his childhood best friend, Shizuka, who disappeared ten years prior. On his journey to find her, Sato learns Shizuka has been mounting an offensive against The Panel for years. However, The Panel has now found her out, and her life hangs by a thread. Should Sato fail to reach her in time, he’ll lose her, and whatever remains of Ichiro, for good.

Throughout the novel, oddities obscure reality — alternate worlds, fantastical occurrences, mystical characters — keeping the reader wondering what is real and what is illusory. By placing the reader at this crossroads, the book questions a generation raised inside an algorithm: in a world where we are pervaded by noise, subjected to avaricious forces, invaded by parasitic personalization, and surveilled beyond our knowledge, are we really free?

THREAT ACTOR is complete at approximately 75,000 words. Thank you for your time and consideration.

All the best,
Jackson Barone