The Delusion

Don’t believe everything you read on the internet. It’ll drive you crazy. Literally. Hotel ballroom lights flicker as the University of Baltimore announces the winner of this year’s Tiberian Research Award in Psychology. Years of toil and sacrifice weigh on Emma’s shoulders. Years of enduring her professor’s unearthly demands. Years of researching mass persuasion on the internet late into the night, living in a single-bedroom apartment on campus while her friends moved away and started families. Years spent watching her mother die of cancer before Emma could give her the grandchildren she wanted. Years. But it all ends tonight. Just not the way Emma thought it would . . . When her professor suddenly goes missing, she realizes the power of her research. The power of persuasion. Gaslighting on a global scale. Now, she must rescue her professor before sinister forces use her research to take over the minds of everyone on social media. And, because everyone is on social media, we’re all at risk. Look at your cell phone. Open your favorite social media app. Post pictures of your cat and catch up with trusted friends, but don’t doomscroll. Don’t believe everything you read. That’s what he wants you to do.