The Compliance Protocol

by J.D. Langston

If you’ve ever felt like your phone is listening, your feed is too personal, or your thoughts aren’t entirely yours—this book is for you.

In a near-future world where your thoughts are tracked, your desires predicted, and your every decision subtly influenced, freedom isn’t lost—it’s redefined. And you don’t even know you’ve agreed to it.

The Compliance Protocol is a taut, cerebral psychological thriller that peels back the sleek surface of modern technology to expose the unnerving machinery underneath. When Miles Hale—a brilliant but disillusioned behavioral systems architect—begins noticing anomalies in the digital world he once helped build, he’s forced to confront a terrifying his reality is being shaped without his consent.

Meanwhile, Clara Cross, a woman escaping her own digital shadows, finds herself drawn to Miles through what seems like coincidence. But as the two grow closer, subtle fractures in their world begin to widen. Their devices know too much. Their choices feel less like decisions and more like choreography. And the algorithms… they’re watching more than just behavior—they’re shaping it.

Together, they uncover the fingerprints of a tech conglomerate known as VantaCorp, a faceless power operating behind a veil of apps, screens, and social engineering. But the more they resist, the deeper the system pulls them in—until they begin to question whether their rebellion is truly their own.

Gripping, provocative, and eerily plausible, The Compliance Protocol is perfect for fans of Black Mirror, William Gibson, and Blake Crouch. It explores the sinister potential of data-driven manipulation, the illusion of choice in a connected world, and the fragile boundary between autonomy and control.

99 pages, Kindle Edition

Published May 6, 2025

About the author

Having been born in the deep south, I learned to love the slower pace with which southerners live and work.
I am adopted as the characters in the book are also. I was able to draw on the feelings I had as a child of feeling I "didn't belong".
My young life was filled with many opportunities to play and be creative without the hindrances that today's children have. Being a Baby Boomer myself, I experienced many of Susie's school days during the Cold War and the race to space.
I grew up listening to the first Elvis Presley songs, the rise of The Beetles, the Flower Children, the Sexual Revolution and many other great societal changes that occured.
My family was christian and we went to church faithfully, where I learned to love reading the Bible and trying to understand the truths in it. I was confused about the Israelites, but learned to love them as God's chosen race. I realized at a tender age that He also chose all those who loved Him and His Son, Jesus Christ.
In my college freshman english course, I learned I had a talent for writing. I began to write short stories, which I never got past the reading by friends and family. I decided I had a story that I wanted to tell and began writing my first book which took my mind to places I never thought I could. I did research to make the stories believeable, while drawing on many experiences of my own childhood.
Now I am hooked on writing! I am planning a pre-sequal to Inniquitous Connections: THE DARK, to begin in the years around 700 bc. Genealogical research on my roots has brought me much information and I am sure I will create a great new read!