Dark Site

by Stephen Baker

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Pub Date 4 Nov 2025 | Archive Date 24 Dec 2025

Atmosphere Press

General Fiction (Adult) | Mystery & Thrillers

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Description

It’s spring of 2043, and fifteen-year-old Alissa Terwilliger is the only student in her Washington, D.C., high school with a Chinese smart chip in her head.

It’s a dangerous time. Alissa’s boyfriend Nate is picked up by a drone and imprisoned in a Dark Site—a private prison where people are held indefinitely. She knows her grandfather could help. He’s a software titan and one of the richest people on earth. But he might be part of the problem.

Navigating a new world of AI and brain surveillance, Alissa must use her own networked chip to hunt down answers. This carries her on a risky mission into Washington’s highest echelons of power.

Dark Site is a novel of espionage and suspense. It previews the wild adventures we face as our minds meld with machines.

It’s spring of 2043, and fifteen-year-old Alissa Terwilliger is the only student in her Washington, D.C., high school with a Chinese smart chip in her head.

It’s a dangerous time. Alissa’s boyfriend...

A Note From the Publisher

Stephen Baker’s first novel, The Boost (Tor Books, 2014), follows the brain-chip revolution that begins in Dark Site. Kirkus Reviews called the book “a true delight of a techno-thriller that has deep, dark roots in the present.” Baker has worked as a journalist in Paris, Mexico City, Caracas, and New York. His non-fiction work includes The Numerati (Houghton Mifflin, 2008), which was translated into 20 languages. A graduate of Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism, he lives in Montclair, NJ.

Advance Praise

“Baker has written a true delight of a techno-thriller that has deep, dark roots in the present…. [His] characters are memorable and wickedly fun.” --Kirkus Reviews

“His tale is rendered in light, easy, smooth prose which walks the tragicomic tightrope brilliantly and deftly.” --Locus Magazine

“Stephen Baker artfully conjures up vivid images to explain what he’s talking about and why a reader should care.”-- The Christian Science Monitor

“A highly readable and fascinating account of the number-driven world we now live in.” --The Wall Street Journal

“Baker has written a true delight of a techno-thriller that has deep, dark roots in the present…. [His] characters are memorable and wickedly fun.” --Kirkus Reviews

“His tale is rendered in light...