EchoStar

When Ruby’s best friend Deva suddenly starts getting all the answers right in class, Deva confesses that she is participating in a secretive trial of a new app called ‘EchoStar’, an AI system which feeds information directly to her through an earpiece.

Ruby struggles in class and her grades are slipping, and EchoStar sounds like the perfect solution – especially if she wants to be able to go to the brilliant performing arts summer camp she and Deva have just been offered places to. But is using EchoStar cheating? What will happen if anyone finds out she is using it?

Signing up to EchoStar has a dramatic impact on Ruby’s friendship with Deva, and as EchoStar begins to invade Ruby’s life in increasingly manipulative ways, she will uncover a terrifying truth that puts her in terrible danger. How exactly does EchoStar work and is it really what it appears to be?

Tension builds quickly in this contemporary thriller that explores AI, online safety and coercive behaviour, leading up to an explosive finale. Printed in a super-readable, dyslexia-friendly format, and at under 150 pages long, it is accessible to a range of readers and reading abilities.