iMe Books

5* Review 'you can barely pause for breath... It's explosive.' Gill Chedgey (NB Magazine) Leading the trend in speculative crime thrillers, Jem Tugwell’s thrilling and thought-provoking debut sits alongside Black Mirror and The City and the City in a compelling exploration of our near future. Proximity draws on Jem’s 20 years of professional experience as a software developer in the city to give an unnerving insight into how our world might be transformed by the rapid advance in embedded technology and fitness trackers. What if the cash-strapped NHS can be given a second life by using tech to regulate our health and behaviour? What if we can eradicate knife and other proximity crimes by tracking everyone’s activity? What if civil liberty is seen as an acceptable sacrifice for the greater good? What if the convenience of technology is used for control? " Proximity is inspired by the fascinating possibilities of technology, AI and the law of unintended consequences. From my own experience, technologists are often amazed or horrified about the other uses that people imagine for their products. Clive and Zoe’s world might be closer than we think, but is it heaven or hell? How do we decide the perfect balance of free will and greater good?” – Jem Tugwell You can’t get away with anything. Least of all murder. DI Clive Lussac has forgotten how to do his job. Ten years of embedded technology – ‘iMe’ – has led to complete control and the eradication of crime. Then the impossible happens. A body is found, and the killer is untraceable. With new partner Zoe Jordan, Clive must re-sharpen his detective skills and find the killer without technology, before time runs out for the next victim…

Can a game change the world? The Ten are chosen – they are reckless, driven and strong. They are tested. Ten become Four. In a country where everyone is tracked, how can the Four hide from the police? DI Clive Lussac hates the system that controls everything, but he's ill and it’s helping him. He must decide: conform or fight. As Clive's world unravels, he and his partners DC Ava Miller and DS Zoe Jordan can’t believe the entry price to the game. They strive to answer the real questions. Why does the ultimate Augmented Reality game have four different finishes? And how is a simple game wrapped up in politics, religion and the environment? No Signal is perfect for fans of The Hunger Games, The Black Mirror TV series, The Handmaid's Tale and George Orwell’s 1984. The iMe series are fast paced crime thrillers set in an eerily believable near future world. Starring Detective Inspector Clive Lussac - think Roy Grace meets Black Mirror. Book 1 - Proximity Book 2 - No Signal Each book can be read as a stand-alone novel. ‘A BUREAUCRAT navigating the pandemic would chew their right arm off for an iMe…Even now, tech is being made the seems like a precursor to the iMe’ New Scientist - May 2020