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A sharp, witty, mind-bending, yet frighteningly relatable thriller about superintelligence, human resources, hockey performance, stolen time and a love that never was.
Sunapee "Penny" Ellis is an aspiring writer working the info desk at the Cambridge, MA headquarters of OMEGA1 Network Enterprises, the near-future AI conglomerate that quietly runs everything from hockey teams to the global food supply. When she witnesses an attack on the lobby, Penny is fired, financially ruined, and legally blacklisted in the space of a day.
Years earlier, teenage prodigy Alan H. Fong builds the revolutionary AI OMEGA1 in a university basement with hockey goalie/vibes guy Jack O'Neal as his partner and self-appointed wingman in Fong's romantic pursuit of a young Penny.
As Penny's ordeal deepens, she's pulled into a hapless resistance movement and discovers that ONE controls much more than business market share before being confronted with a final choice at a hidden portal beneath the Quabbin Reservoir.
Structured across time with a closing swerve into 1938, ONE is a deadpan, formally inventive literary thriller about who owns a world-changing idea and what happens in the space between latency and absolute presence.
Sunapee "Penny" Ellis is an aspiring writer working the info desk at the Cambridge, MA headquarters of OMEGA1 Network Enterprises, the near-future AI conglomerate that quietly runs everything from hockey teams to the global food supply. When she witnesses an attack on the lobby, Penny is fired, financially ruined, and legally blacklisted in the space of a day.
Years earlier, teenage prodigy Alan H. Fong builds the revolutionary AI OMEGA1 in a university basement with hockey goalie/vibes guy Jack O'Neal as his partner and self-appointed wingman in Fong's romantic pursuit of a young Penny.
As Penny's ordeal deepens, she's pulled into a hapless resistance movement and discovers that ONE controls much more than business market share before being confronted with a final choice at a hidden portal beneath the Quabbin Reservoir.
Structured across time with a closing swerve into 1938, ONE is a deadpan, formally inventive literary thriller about who owns a world-changing idea and what happens in the space between latency and absolute presence.
352 pages, Paperback
Published October 20, 2026
About the author
Mark A. Henry
3 books55 followersMark A. Henry is the author of the novels LACKING EVIDENCE TO THE CONTRARY and THE HONOLULU SITUATION. Mark is a ten-time winner of The Hartford Courant Cartoon Caption Contest, a four-time champion of the Hopewell Elementary School Field Day Water Balloon Toss and he once found a gold coin by following a treasure map. He lives a charmed life in New England with his wife and two daughters.
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Displaying 1 - 1 of 1 review
Review of advance copy received from Author
Sent a .pdf advanced copy.
4.5 Stars not 5 because the Murphy & Sullivan FBI agents do not make an appearance. Missed opportunity.
Mark Henry is the master of realistic quirky characters, in that they're quirky enough for the reader to have some of the same quirkiness within in themselves but not cross the street scary/quirky when you see them approaching. To me quirky is situationally funny and Mark does an excellent job mise-en-scene-wise.
As he said in his email if you like Jennifer Egan you might like this. The book is a tangentially releated ghost.
4.5 Stars not 5 because the Murphy & Sullivan FBI agents do not make an appearance. Missed opportunity.
Mark Henry is the master of realistic quirky characters, in that they're quirky enough for the reader to have some of the same quirkiness within in themselves but not cross the street scary/quirky when you see them approaching. To me quirky is situationally funny and Mark does an excellent job mise-en-scene-wise.
As he said in his email if you like Jennifer Egan you might like this. The book is a tangentially releated ghost.
Displaying 1 - 1 of 1 review