PainPool is a dystopian science fiction novel set in Luma City, where suffering has become a service, a business, and a form of survival.
In a world where advanced neural technology allows pain to be transferred from one body to another, the wealthy can outsource agony, hospitals can package compassion, and the poor can sell their endurance to stay alive. Ava Lin, a call center worker buried under debt, is pushed toward the certified Carrier program when her younger brother Milo faces a time-sensitive surgery they cannot afford.
What begins as a desperate attempt to save her family becomes a descent into the hidden machinery of an industry built on empathy, exploitation, and carefully managed cruelty. As Ava enters the world of professional pain carriers, she discovers that pain is never transferred cleanly. It leaves traces. It changes people. And in Luma City, even mercy has a price.
Blending cyberpunk, medical dystopia, social thriller, and emotional family drama, PainPool explores what happens when capitalism learns how to monetize suffering itself.
Nicole Gonsalves is a speculative fiction author who writes dark, thought-provoking ebooks about technology, identity, obsession, and the future of human behavior. Blending psychological suspense with near-future science fiction, her work explores the unsettling consequences of innovation when it collides with ambition, desire, and fear. Her stories are crafted for readers who enjoy dystopian twists, moral dilemmas, and the chilling feeling that the future may already be here.