A Psychological Thriller of Power and Paranoia
They don’t need evidence to ruin you. They only need a forecast.
Phoenix Navarro has spent years making his life small on purpose—school pickup at 3:05, dinner on schedule, a boring routine built to keep the old instincts buried. Because the moment he looks dangerous, the state has permission to take what matters most.
It starts with a badge on his couch: a welfare monitor with a notebook, a calm smile, and the authority to turn every breath into data. She notes tone. She notes hesitation. Everything is for the file.
Then the government phone begins to train him. Random compliance pings. Route alerts. A green check that appears when he obeys. A red boundary on the map that bites like the ankle monitor strapped to his leg. The screen tells him where to turn, where not to stop, when to show up—and when to keep his child on the premises while an escort is en route.
At school pickup, ordinary life swirls around Phoenix—parents chatting, kids laughing, backpacks bouncing—until he spots the men in suits standing too still by the doors. And he understands the message beneath every polite word: your child is safe as long as you remain compliant.
And then the device displays a word that should be private. Intimate. Impossible.
WREN.
Inside this psychological thriller:
- Relentless, near-future paranoia where the villain wears a badge and a smile
- High-stakes political tension and intimate betrayal
- Predictive policing, manufactured choices, and a ticking-clock descent
- If the system can predict your worst day—can you still choose who you are?
