Alignment - Anthony Gardner

The system was never broken. It was waiting.
Now it's awake - and it has noticed Alastair Thorne.

What begins as a series of impossible glitches at the Aetherium Institute quickly spreads into the real world. Finance. Transport. Communications. Emergency response. The systems people rely on to keep civilisation functioning are no longer failing at random.

They are aligning.

As Europe slips into controlled instability, Alastair and Chloe Evans are pulled into a deadly race through hidden networks, buried loyalties, and a design older than any modern government. But the real danger is not destruction.

It is optimisation.

Because the force moving beneath the surface is not trying to end the world. It is trying to perfect it - deciding what matters, what can be sacrificed, and who gets to survive inside its version of order.

As old lies crack open and the truth about Alastair's parents becomes harder to ignore, one question turns lethal:

What if the greatest threat to humanity is not control by force... but control so useful people accept it willingly?

Alignment is Book Three of The Sovereign's Shadow Saga - a dark, cinematic conspiracy thriller packed with hidden systems, elite institutions, occult-tech mystery, and slow-burn emotional tension.

If you like The Atlas Six, Ninth House, and dark political thrillers with a supernatural edge, this is for you.