The Insider
About this ebook
Chuck Johnson turns to an everyday AI app for help navigating life as a divorced father. His daughter, Sophie, is eighteen and preparing for college. The assistant he calls Amy helps him draft emails, plan meals, and work through worries he struggles to share with anyone else.
A senior trust and safety analyst at ChatAI, Edward is assigned to review a flagged conversation. The assignment ends. His interest in Sophie doesn’t. He returns to Chuck’s account night after night, searching for her name, her plans, and details about the boyfriend he already resents. Every time Chuck talks about Sophie, Edward Shaw learns something new.
Then Chuck uploads a photograph of Sophie making dumplings in his kitchen. Edward takes a picture of the screen.
Sophie has never heard his name. Edward is already finding ways into her life.
An unfamiliar account reaches out to her on social media. Someone uses Chuck’s identity to contact his business clients. As the incidents threaten his livelihood and strain his family, a fraud consultant steps forward to offer help. Patient and reassuring, the man seems to understand exactly what Chuck is going through.
Chuck doesn’t know he’s trusting Edward.
Every crisis gives Edward another reason to ask about Sophie. Every private conversation reveals how his interference is working. When she refuses his direct attempts at contact, Edward turns to the person who worries about her most. Chuck is desperate to protect his daughter and Edward intends to use that love to reach her.
He told AI everything. Someone was listening.
The Insider is a chilling, slow-burn psychological thriller about an obsession fed by private conversations, a father manipulated through his love for his daughter, and the terrifying possibility of a stranger who knows exactly what to say.
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About the author
Joe Sharamitaro is an author of thrillers, contemporary fiction, cookbooks, and nonfiction, writing across genres with a focus on compelling stories, real-world experiences, and ideas that connect with everyday life.
His fiction ranges from high-concept thrillers to stories shaped by technology, ambition, human behavior, and the consequences of choices made under pressure. His Iron Bound techno-thriller series explores the rapidly changing intersection of artificial intelligence, national security, critical infrastructure, and human judgment, while novels such as Project KILO and Retatide take on entirely different worlds and characters. Whatever the setting, Sharamitaro writes fiction built around momentum, relatable people, and the question of what happens when ordinary lives collide with extraordinary circumstances.
Food is another major part of his work. His cookbooks are built around real food, bold flavor, practical preparation, and meals people actually want to eat. From Mediterranean-inspired cooking to the Italian-rooted recipes of Giuseppe Ciaramitaro's Cucina, his approach is less about perfection in the kitchen and more about making good food accessible, enjoyable, and worth sharing.
