The Fourth: a novel

by Ty Michael

What happens when your smart device listens to everything?

Detectives Leilah Riad and Preston Bergin work quickly to solve two murders that aren’t so cut and dry. What they uncover sets their team up for success. But how soon will it be before this information and new technology falls into the wrong hands?

The Fourth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution is meant to protect its citizens from unlawful searches. Police aren’t allowed to search you or your home without a warrant or probable cause. But what happens when something slips between the cracks?

It’s not money the city of Kennecott, Ohio is wanting from its citizens … it’s their information.

Part one opens with twenty-nine year-old Steven Zimmerman having just moved into his very own first home. His proud mother and case worker throw him a small celebration in which Steven receives an Eris device. Eris is the newest in voice-activated home electronics. Steven’s gullible good nature is taken advantage of when his Eris device convinces him into doing the unthinkable.

In part two, Leilah, Preston, and their newly-formed team, the Special Electronics Division, begin implementing the computer system nicknamed Charlotte to make high-profile arrests throughout the city. As time goes by, Mayor Leyman sees the true potential of the system. That potential is profit, power, and control. Residents of the city unknowingly get taken for a ride of corruption and lies as they become prisoners of the city’s internet service and their own voice-activated devices in their homes.

361 pages, Kindle Edition

Published July 24, 2019