Is paradise still paradise when you can't leave?
Laura Mendez has spent years dreaming of escape—from a dead-end corporate job, from her coffin-like apartment, from a world that devalues the things she loves most. Ever since her sister escaped terminal illness by electively putting her brain in a jar and uploading herself to the virtual world, Laura's been saving up to join her. So when she finally makes it to the immersive digital paradise where her sister now lives full-time, Laura thinks she’s finally free.
But escape has a price.
Joana is missing, and Laura's easy prey for con artists. When her jar is hijacked, Laura is forced into Horizon Now, a secret experimental program that traps her in a cycle of nightmare scenarios: shipping warehouses, battlefield trauma, brutal exploitation. And she’s not the only one.
With only a sex-obsessed virtual dragon and his rogue band of nerds on her side, Laura must rescue her sister, expose the truth, and find a way to reclaim control of her jar. But when your body is gone and your mind is being borrowed by your AI assistant, how do you take your life back?
