Archives of Ash
The first Aris Thorne novel
A seventeen-year-old boy is accused of murder after a recorded confession appears to prove his guilt. The voice is his. The confession is not.
Tracing the recording leads Aris Thorne into the world of synthetic voices, forgotten archives and a wartime research programme that officially ended more than eighty years ago. As the evidence unfolds, the investigation becomes deeply personal. Hidden among the missing records is the story of Margaret, Aris's grandmother, whose service during the Second World War left questions she never answered.
What follows is not simply an investigation into a single piece of technology, but an exploration of memory, history and the unexpected ways the past continues to shape the present. As forgotten lives emerge from the archive, Aris discovers that evidence survives in places no one thought to look and that some truths can be documented without ever being resolved.
Archives of Ash introduces Aris Thorne and the world he inhabits. Where technology is never just about machines, but about the people whose lives become part of them.
What you'll find in this novel
- A contemporary mystery rooted in real technology.
- Hidden wartime history with consequences in the present day.
- Artificial intelligence, voice cloning and digital evidence.
- Family secrets spanning generations.
- An investigator who follows evidence wherever it leads.
Read an extract
Read the opening chapter of Archives of Ash and meet Aris Thorne.
Read Archives of Ash Chapter 1
Release date: Tuesday, 17 August 2026
Archives of Ash will be available in paperback, hardback and ebook.
