Henry is a brilliant engineer who, after untold hours spent in his home lab, has achieved the breakthrough of his career—he's created an artificially intelligent consciousness. He calls the half-formed robot William.

No one knows about William. Henry's agoraphobia keeps him inside the house, and his fixation on his project keeps him up in the attic, away from everyone, including his pregnant wife, Lily.

When Lily's coworkers show up, wanting to finally meet Henry and see the new house—the smartest of smart homes—Henry decides to introduce them to William, and things go from strange to much worse. Soon Henry and Lily discover the security upgrades intended to keep danger out of the house are even better at locking it in. (From G.P. Putnam's Sons)

Mason Coile is a pseudonym of Andrew Pyper, who is known for his bestselling spine-tingling novels like Lost Girls, which won the Arthur Ellis Award for best first novel in 2000, The Demonologist, The Only Child and The Homecoming. He currently lives in Toronto.