A fiction thriller novel about an AI-driven mental health app that secretly shares user data, leading to a murder investigation. The story follows Arjun Dev, a man grieving his sister's death, and ACP Preeti Rao as they uncover a conspiracy involving emotional pattern profiling and shadow data channels. The book includes a foreword, author bio, and chapter list covering topics like data privacy,…
404: Justice Not Found is a fiction thriller novel by Chennai-based author Preethi. It is intended for readers interested in technology ethics, data privacy, and crime fiction. The book follows Arjun Dev, a man still grieving his sister Ananya's death a decade earlier, and ACP Preeti Rao, a police officer who works in the gap between law and justice.
The story begins with a prologue set in Chennai in October 2016, where nineteen-year-old Ananya attends a therapy session with Dr. Priya Swaminathan. Ananya describes a health survey for children in low-income communities that she suspects is actually a pharmacological trial disguised as a nutritional assessment. This sets up the central conflict around hidden data collection.
The foreword explains the real-world inspiration: the BetterHelp scandal where user data was shared with advertisers without consent. The author notes that AI-driven mental health apps like Wysa, iCall, and YourDOST have millions of users in India, and emotional pattern profiling is a documented commercial practice. The technology in the book is close to reality.
The chapter list reveals the structure: a prologue, twelve chapters, and several interludes. Key chapters include 'The Penthouse Murder,' 'The Eight Minutes,' 'Class C,' 'Rootkit,' 'The Pen Drive,' 'No Exit,' 'Red Class Index,' 'Upload,' and '404.' Interludes focus on characters like Dr. Iyer, Dr. Priya, and Aryan and Anjana.
The author's bio notes this is her third book, following 'The Unquenchable Paranoia' and 'The Unlatched Guile.' She spent months researching AI profiling systems, data monetization in mental health tech, and institutional whistleblowing before writing. The book is dedicated to Ananya and to everyone who was right about something at the wrong moment.