In Dark Site by Stephen Baker, one of the most powerful computer chips ever created isn’t in the hands of a government agency or tech corporation—it’s embedded in the brain of 15-year-old Alissa Terwilliger.
The year is 2043, and the world is on the brink of making brain implants available to everyone. China has already launched the first, their Boost chip, and the US is testing its own Victory chip in Mexico.
Alissa’s grandfather, Win Cooper, uses his vast riches to make it possible for her to get the Chinese Boost chip implanted in her head. Why? Because she’s his granddaughter, and he claims he wants her among the privileged first to “make magic” with the chip. She’s dubious at first, but once the chip is there she explores all the different services and apps available to her.
Far from a trained operative, Alissa is a typical teenager navigating the everyday chaos of adolescence, such as school, her dog, and her shifting emotions. Yet she’s also fluent in the language of technology, capable of using her chip to access the minds of the most powerful people in the country.
Soon Alissa discovers that her downstairs neighbor, Nicole, also has a Boost chip in her head, placed there by the government to spy on the Chinese chip technology.
Nicole is the ex-girlfriend of Alissa’s father. Alissa makes contact with Nicole through their chips, but takes the connection a step further, secretly utilizing the “Shotgun” app to hear and see everything that Nicole does.
Nate, Alissa’s boyfriend, is sympathetic to the “Renegades,” a movement opposed to the chip implant. His Renegade cousin, Javier, was recently abducted by a drone and carried off to a “Dark Site” owned and operated by corporate powers.
The Boost chip in her head becomes the center of her life, as well as a tool for others to use her by accessing it.
Her romantic life with Nate and Nate’s cousin, Javier, prove far deadlier than she could have imagined—and not only to herself.
Win Cooper’s motives for getting Alissa the chip come into question when she wonders whether his intention was truly benign or if he had plans to make her a “mule” for gathering secrets.
Stephen Baker’s Dark Site is a gripping exploration of what happens when cutting-edge technology falls into the hands of someone too young to fully grasp its consequences.
It’s a fast-paced, thought-provoking thriller that blends the tension of a spy novel with the raw unpredictability of teenage rebellion, raising timely questions about privacy, responsibility, and the price of unchecked innovation. Through the lens of a teenage girl caught between adolescence and overwhelming power, Baker delivers a cautionary tale about surveillance and the dangers of technology evolving faster than our ability to manage it.
