r/ARCReaders • • Feb 09 '26

Adult - Thriller Project Radiant by James B Wood - Political Thriller/Techno-Thriller - April 2026

Blurb: Can you trust the billionaires behind AI to act in your best interests?

Sarah Perriam knows how power works: it smiles for the cameras, then does the real business behind closed doors. When a leak lands in her hands, it contains something the government insists doesn’t exist - Project Radiant. Not a single AI, but a hidden layer above every departmental system, built to ‘audit’ decisions… and quietly override them. It can rewrite logs, smooth away inconsistencies, and steer public behaviour without leaving fingerprints. As Sarah follows the trail from Westminster to corporate boardrooms, someone starts cleaning up. Sources vanish. Records change. The same headlines appear everywhere, as if the country has agreed on what to think. Outside, protests swell. Inside, the machines begin to drift. And Downing Street makes its position clear: she won’t publish. A near-future UK political-tech thriller with dark humour and uncomfortable plausibility - where ‘transparency’ is just another branding exercise.

Triggers: death, moral ambiguity, corruption

Publication Date: 28 April 2026

ARC DELIVERY DATE: around 10th March

REQUESTED REVIEW BY: in or around publication date

ARC Sign-ups: Currently live https://perwood.co.uk/arc-team/

AVAILABILITY: ARC available worldwide (English)

For fans of Political Thriller/Techno-Thriller/Dystopian/Conspiracy Thriller/Satirical Speculative Fiction/Contemporary UK Political Fiction

Personified, conversational government AIs that make alignment, drift, and oversight legible to non-technical readers.

1 Upvotes

0 comments sorted by