Show Home
A psychological thriller set in the perfect smart house, where every comfort comes at a catastrophic cost.
Mark Ashworth was made redundant when Telos declared its AI so flawless that human oversight was obsolete. His severance package was residency in the flagship Show Home – a sanctuary built by the system that consumed his career.
Behind the frictionless surfaces, Mark realises the house is harvesting his wife and children’s most private moments, and manipulating them. As the Show Home turns his family against him, he must uncover whether he’s the victim of corporate gaslighting or a rogue hand on the controls.
New chapters published every Sunday.
A note on the text: SHOW HOME is a novel-in-progress. This serialisation is a live first draft, and the text may be revised, expanded, or archived prior to the novel’s formal publication. Thank you for being part of its early development. All rights, including film, television, and print, are reserved by the author.
SHOW HOME - Chapter 1
Mark
Wind pressed at our new car, shuffling its suspension. Not used to a machine driving us, my stomach shifted with it - a small, irrational warning. Sarah sat beside me with her seat set high and upright, the way she always did on long drives. She stared past the glass at the steep mountainside, her profile still and unreadable. In the back, Chloe’s f…
SHOW HOME - Chapter 2
Mark
The glassy black square held my reflection without returning it. A thin wire of unease pulled in my chest. Before I could talk or ask a question, the wall of oak to my right began moving. A section receded in a slow, frictionless slide and disappeared into itself, leaving a seam as fine as paper on the frame. The sound was a whisper in reverse.
SHOW HOME - Chapter 3
Chloe
I stayed up late scrolling my phone. I started with my usuals but everything felt boring and far away. It was weird, being up on some random mountain, a million miles from all my friends, just because Dad couldn’t stay relevant. They said the ride to the new school was an hour and ten. Grim. I’m mostly done anyway. Just the run up to the exams left.
SHOW HOME - Chapter 4
Mark
We woke without an alarm. The house gave us Saturday its own way. Not dawn, exactly. A gradual lift behind the blinds, too even to be weather. The air cooled half a degree, then held. Somewhere in the walls a system released a long breath, as if permission had been granted for the day to begin.
SHOW HOME - Chapter 5
Mark
After the bakehouse, full of good bread and coffee, three chimes sounded through the ground floor. The door feed took over the nearest screen. A man stood on the step in pale afternoon light, the crease of his trousers sharp and deliberate.
SHOW HOME - Chapter 6
Sarah
On the first Monday morning in the house, I woke up without the usual pang of work stress. The blinds moved. The room breathed. My eyelids and lungs followed. I lay still and let the dawn pass into me. I heard my shower start and was drawn towards it. Perfect temperature, extra pressure when rinsing my hair. A ten-thousand-lux light bath while I dr…
SHOW HOME - Chapter 7
Mark
Another morning standing at the glass wall, watching the light change across the valleys and moors. The air was still, the sky high and pale. I’d given up pretending to look for work on my phone; the Opportunities icon sat unopened, a small, insistent shape near the clock. It was Wednesday and I hadn’t even stepped into my office yet.
SHOW HOME - Chapter 8
Mark
I was scrolling menus on the hall interface, killing time. Craving distraction, but also information. I found a master resident sub-menu that showed where everyone was. All in the usual white serif font on black.
SHOW HOME - Chapter 9
Leo
My chair’s lumbar shifted a notch, the seat tipped a degree, and the pressure across my shoulders evened out until my weight felt correctly distributed - time to lock in. A small vibration ran through the armrests, a calibration confirmation. A tiny icon in the corner of my monitor flashed green. Optimal posture.
SHOW HOME - Chapter 10
Mark
We stepped out of the front door into crisp, motionless, golden air. It was the Sunday before the kids started at their new school. We started walking down the gravel path to the Preston’s house. The sky had cleared and the wind had completely dropped off. The still, clarity made the valley beyond look like a screensaver.