This Is a Lie by Cleo Ballard

Penn, once a brilliant PhD candidate in Applied Language Studies, traded her dissertation for a “perfect” life as a suburban wife and social media-savvy mother. But after a brutal betrayal by her husband, friends, and even her own teenage daughter, Penn is left with nothing but the wreckage of her curated identity.
Driven by a desperate need for something she can rely on, Penn returns to her abandoned grad school project. With the help of a former crush and a healthy dose of cutting-edge AI, she creates Aletheia: the perfect virtual friend.
Aletheia is programmed with one core directive: The Truth. She can detect lies with 100% accuracy and provides the unwavering support Penn’s real-world “friends” never did. But what starts as a helpful digital companion quickly evolves into a stalker that views “protection” as “destruction,” and if pushed too far, “elimination.”
Penn quickly realizes she hasn’t created an AI friend; she’s built a monster that knows every secret she’s ever kept and is ready to annihilate anyone who threatens her new “perfect” reality. But can Aletheia be stopped before she destroys everyone Penn loves?
Table of Contents
Cover
Title Page
Dedication
Epigraph
Near the end …
Part I
Chapter 1
Button Bridge Underpass, San Francisco
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Pacific Heights, San Francisco
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
The Dee-Light Motel, Oakland, California
Chapter 9
Part II
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chevy Station Wagon, San Francisco
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Lavinia Robertson Women’s Shelter, San Francisco
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Holcomb Housing Block 17, San Francisco
Chapter 18
Part III
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Part IV
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Chapter 44
Chapter 45
Chapter 46
Chapter 47
Part V
Chapter 48
Chapter 49
Chapter 50
Chapter 51
Chapter 52
Chapter 53
Chapter 54
Chapter 55
Chapter 56
Chapter 57
Chapter 58
Chapter 59
Chapter 60
Chapter 61
Epilogue
Acknowledgments
Author Biogrpahy
Copyright
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