Charley believed she had left her past behind. Then the murder of Anthony Warren leads her to a case file that has been manipulated since 2016. The evidence appears complete, logical and impossible to challenge. That is precisely why Charley begins to question it. Behind the constructed chain of evidence is ORISON/LACUNA: an AI-powered system that evaluates contradictory data, fills gaps with probabilities and transforms them into an apparently coherent truth. Missing evidence is no longer treated as a reason for doubt. Instead, it becomes an operational objective. People are declared suspects because an artificial intelligence has calculated that they must be guilty.

As Kenneth O’Hara begins the hunt and Damon Gambler – Charley’s former colleague and sometime lover – re-enters her life, Charley must discover who controls the system. Yet every step she takes changes the digital evidence against her. Deepfakes, synthetic identities and manipulated memories blur the boundary between truth and calculation. Charley is not a helpless woman on the run. She is a former professional contract killer, an experienced intermediary and a woman governed by her own moral boundaries. This time, however, she is fighting an enemy she cannot threaten or shoot: a perfectly constructed version of her own guilt.

In “CODENAME: DARWIN”, Charley worked as an intermediary for Martin Sanders, known as Darwin. After the dramatic events of the novel, they both attempted to leave their lethal pasts behind. “CHARLEY, THE EVIDENCE LIES” continues the story after those events and tells it from Charley’s perspective. Martin/Darwin returns, but deliberately remains a supporting character. Charley stands at the centre of the novel – along with her past, her decisions and an enemy capable of turning her identity into a digital weapon.

While GOLIATH reconstructed a suppressed truth in “CODENAME: DARWIN”, ORISON/LACUNA creates a different kind of danger: a completely manipulated chain of evidence that is almost impossible to distinguish from the truth.

The novel can be read as a stand-alone thriller while also continuing the cinematic world of “CODENAME: DARWIN”.

What happens when artificial intelligence no longer merely analyses information, but begins deciding which version of the past should be accepted as true? “CHARLEY, THE EVIDENCE LIES” combines action, psychological suspense, artificial intelligence, surveillance and cyber-noir in a modern techno-thriller. The novel asks one disturbing question: What remains of the truth when the evidence is perfect – but still lies?