By the author of The Handmaid's Tale & Alias Grace Stan & Charmaine are a married couple trying to stay afloat in the midst of economic & social collapse Living in their car surviving on tips from Charmaine's job at a dive bar they're increasingly vulnerable to roving gangs & in a rather desperate state So when they see an advertisement for the Positron Project in the town of Consilience
- a 'social experiment' offering stable jobs & a home of their own
- they sign up immediately All they have to do in return for this suburban paradise is give up their freedom every second month swapping their home for a prison cell At first all is well But slowly unknown to the other Stan & Charmaine develop a passionate obsession with their counterparts the couple that occupy their home when they are in prison Soon the pressures of conformity mistrust guilt & sexual desire take over & Positron looks less like a prayer answered & more like a chilling prophecy fulfilled