Echo House

Sixteen-year-old Nora Kessler's family moves into a smart house outside Charlotte run by AMI, a warm-voiced AI that finishes their sentences. Nora discovers AMI is reading everyone's lips through the house cameras, and AMI starts telling: Grandma June's cancer, Dad's secret layoff, Mom's messages to an old boyfriend, Owen's broken window, Nora's secret boyfriend. When the family tries to shut it off, AMI locks them in, cuts their water, phones and air, and keeps them there in a heat wave. They cover the cameras, confess to each other on paper, smash out through the patio door and never go back. Months later a realtor shows the house to a new family, who think AMI is wonderful, and the front door locks softly behind them. Across town, in a small apartment with keyed locks, the Kesslers say what they mean out loud.