He built a digital refuge for the dying; now he may never leave it.
When Vinestead engineer Ken Barnes is shot in Austin's Old Downtown district, he finds himself trapped inside the House of Nepenthe—a virtual reality construct built from his own memories. Designed as a last-resort digital hospice, the House should allow him to communicate with the outside world while his body lies in a hospital bed.
But something is wrong.
The connection is blocked. His personal assistant is hiding something behind her professional smile. And the House won’t stop digging up memories he spent years trying to bury.
Miles away, Vinestead analyst Patrick Quinn detects an anomaly tearing through VNet—a self-propagating tapeworm that refuses to die. When the breach appears tied to Ken’s condition, Patrick faces an impossible choice: let the evidence incriminate his best friend or defy corporate orders and find the truth himself.
As a disgraced FBI agent enters the investigation and a teenage hacker stumbles onto something she was never meant to find, the story of a random shooting begins to fall apart. Someone wanted Ken Barnes silenced… and they’re not finished yet.
Now every lead points back to the House of Nepenthe—where Ken’s worst enemy has been waiting all along.
