The Dead Data: The digital afterlife is crowded. And someone is clearing the room.

by Ashutosh Gupta, Jyoti Gupta

The Dead A Trilochan ‘Trish’ Thapa Mystery

The data says they’re dead. Their accounts say otherwise.

Trilochan "Trish" Thapa was the best cyber-analyst in the force—until he realized that in a world of perfect data, the truth is the only thing that can be deleted. Now, he’s an "analog ghost," operating out of Vault 13, a lead-lined basement archive where he monitors the city’s digital pulse.

Trish lives by a single, unbreakable The 13th Protocol. He won’t believe a pattern is real until he finds thirteen points of convergence. Because while code can be faked, physics never lies.

A GHOST IN THE MACHINE

When a grieving mother claims her deceased son is still texting her, the police call it a glitch. Trish calls it a crime. As he digs into the "Dead Data," he uncovers a terrifying conspiracy of Biometric Harvesting. Someone is stealing the digital identities of the dead to create a "Ghost Network"—a shadow society capable of signing laws, siphoning billions, and rewriting history from the grave.

A RACE AGAINST THE UPLOAD

From the sterile halls of high-tech morgues to the lawless alleys of the city’s slum-grid, Trish must hunt a mastermind who knows his every move before he even makes it. With a "Smart-City" bill about to hand total control to an AI-driven shadow government, Trish has only hours to find the 13th point and pull the plug.

The upload is at 99%. The city is about to be rebooted. And Trish is the only glitch left in the system.

Why readers love the 13th Protocol The An analog detective in a high-tech world who uses logic, copper coins, and grit instead of standard gadgets.

The A chillingly plausible look at digital immortality and the privacy we lose when we die.

The A "one-sitting" technothriller perfect for fans of Daniel Suarez, Gregg Hurwitz, and Mr. Robot.

"A pulse-pounding descent into the dark side of the Smart City. Ashutosh Gupta has created the hero we need for the 2020s."

57 pages, Kindle Edition

Published February 16, 2026

About the author

I was a pretty shy and reluctant kid, and as far as I remember, I use to feel as if I was trapped within the walls of orthodoxy. I could feel certain rebellious expressions stacking up within me. During my adolescent days, any kind of self-expression never really flourished. There was no exposure to literature or a cinematic brilliance to take me beyond the walls of orthodoxy, and it had to do with my ignorance more than anything else. Being an ‘introvertish rebel’, it didn’t help my cause either. As far as I remember, playing cricket intensively, mimicry, and imitating musical tunes on an old keyboard of mine were my sources to experience an emotional stimulation, and the rest of my time was consumed being a uni-dimensional academic chap.

I believe that college life is a beautiful convergence of eccentric personalities which triggers a drastic change. I wasn’t spared either. I got thoroughly exposed to classic American Cinema, and it was extremely cathartic for me. Movies like Serpico, Taxi Driver, and Schindler’s list vindicated the rebellious streak and compassion that I withheld for a long time. The righteousness portrayed in these movies instilled a belief that my expressions held sanctity and should be channelized, and I delved into the writing business.

Just like any other budding writer or thinker, in its infancy, my writing revolved only around metaphors and being overly creative. I didn’t focus much on the evolution of my thought process and my spectrum was limited, which resulted in shallowness, until I came across the work of Franz Kafka. The beauty he extracted from melancholy opened the floodgates within me, and I embraced my own melancholy. This changed me as a person and as a writer. I realized that writing is not about scribbling just for the sake of it, but there is a whole personality type which one has to live with, having its own merits and demerits.

I believe we all are a work of art and if it is not within our powers to exude this attribute through our actions then we must at least strive to create a work of Art. Writing sustains the hope of universe to realize the magical chemistry of intellect, imagination and emotions, with no favoritism for one in particular. I feel that timeless writing must make way for the sustenance of a gentle arrogance, a bit of it to interrupt the converging lines of established knowledge, and much more of it to give birth to a burning star. As far as I am concerned, both my dynamism and stagnancy rest in writing, and so is the freedom and patience that come respectively with these states.