Vise Manor (2022)

Vise Manor

Eccentric tech billionaire Winston Vise invites eight guests to his secluded manor to demonstrate his AI synthetic humans. But when a murder unfolds during the event, guests must navigate a night of terror to uncover the killer—who may not be entirely human.

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Dinner. Drinks. Murder.

Vise Manor started as a genre experiment: what if you took a classic locked-room murder mystery—à la House on Haunted Hill or Murder by Death—and dropped it straight into a cyberpunk universe? I’ve always loved stories where strangers are invited to dinner only to find themselves trapped, hunted, and/or put to the test. So I built a manor, filled it with secrets, and invited a cast of eccentrics, opportunists, and ghosts from my past stories.

Literally. Part of the fun of writing this book was bringing back characters from Brigham Plaza and imagining how they’d behave when the lights flickered and the bodies started piling up.

The original spark was a single image: a store where synthetic humans were on display, one of which unexpectedly came to life. Think Child’s Play meets showroom floor. That idea evolved into the heart of Vise Manor—a tech billionaire unveiling his new AI-driven synthetics to an elite group of guests, several of whom don’t survive the night. I love this story not just for its twists and creeping tension, but for the characters themselves—the way they crack, confess, and try to survive once the doors lock and the facade drops. Everyone has something to hide. Some of them aren’t even who they say they are.

Praise for Vise Manor

Filled with murder, mystery & deadly synthetics, Vise Manor is a clever sci-fi thriller that kept me up turning pages well into the night

Reminiscent of the movies Clue and House on Haunted Hill, Vise Manor is a clever sci-fi thriller that kept me up well into the night to see what happened next. Set in a far more technologically sophisticated world than our own, yet still in 2021, synthetics are all the rage. Though few companies have mastered the ability to craft completely human-like synthetic beings complete with intelligence, personality and mannerisms, Winston Vise is claiming to have produced the best synthetics out there. And he needs investors to continue on his path of success.

Vise is an almost unheard of tech billionaire, so when he invites eight carefully chosen members of relevant industries to his manor for dinner and an unveiling of his new products, they RSVP yes, if only to learn more about the elusive man. The disembodied synthetic hand that Vise sent with the invitation as proof of his advances certainly aided in their decision to attend.

But when the attendees show up to Vise Manor, they get more than they bargained for. Communications are jammed, Mother Nature is unleashing her fury, and not everyone is who they claim to be. Throw in a few unexpected brutal murders and the night quickly shifts into survival mode.

Though the story may not be entirely original, and a few parts were even a little predictable, Verastiqui does an amazing job of developing each and every character. I found myself rooting for Carter and Roma, Nancy and Misty (unexpectedly so), and actually shouted aloud during a pivotal character's death just before sunrise. It became almost a game of trying to determine who would survive and who wouldn't, and what paths each character would take along the way.

Once I got to the very end of the story and realized that it left open space for a sequel, I went to Verastiqui's site and learned that this is actually a part of a 7-book anthology series. I will definitely be going back and reading these other stories. Overall, I loved it and recommend to any sci-fi readers interested in a book that walks the line between murder mystery and cyber thriller.

-- Sarah Orren, Reedsy Discovery

Meet the Characters

Adelai Vaught

Owner of Adelai Associates, the exclusive escort service previously mentioned in Brigham Plaza and Hybrid Mechanics. By 2035, her human Associates had been fully replaced by synthetics.

Carter Price

Last seen at the end of Brigham Plaza as Jane Meade’s next client following her encounter with Danny “Guns” Montreal.

Jane Moretz

Introduced in Brigham Plaza under the alias Jane Meade, where she worked as an Associate for Adelai Vaught’s agency.

Diya Singh

Personal assistant to Winston Vise. Prior to her work at Vise Robotics, she was employed by Dahlstrom Academy—an accelerated learning institute featured in Por Vida and Veneer.

Frank Kagan

CEO of the Kagan Group, the powerful conglomerate that controls Vitra Synth. Both Kagan and his corporation were introduced in Por Vida.

Lucas Cotton

Founder of the MESH Foundation and developer of a peer-to-peer communications network that appears in Por Vida and Hybrid Mechanics. His early work eventually evolves into the telepathic tech seen in later novels.

James & Joseph Perion

Father-son duo behind Perion Synthetics, the leading manufacturer of artificial humans. Their mind-mapping tech enables organic consciousness to be transferred into synthetic bodies—a concept explored in Perion Synthetics and beyond.

Calle Cinco de Mayo

A major domestic terror event on May 5, 2009, in which 7,507 lives were lost due to a nationwide air traffic control failure. Initially blamed on the cipher den Calle Cinco and its leader, Kaili Zabora (Guardian Angels, Brigham Plaza, and others), later evidence in 2019 pointed to Vinestead’s involvement in a false flag operation.

Trivia

Developed under the code name Fire Sale.

Content

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