The Empty Platform

THREE WITNESSES SAW SOMEONE. EVERY CAMERA SAID HE WAS ALONE.

At 06:58, Marcus Aldwych dies beneath an arriving train at Cheltenham station.

Three witnesses describe the same thing: a dark figure standing directly behind him moments before his death.

But the station's cameras show no such person. Its occupancy systems confirm that nobody was standing behind him. There are no missing recordings, no unexplained movements and no evidence that the mysterious figure ever existed.

The witnesses are certain of what they saw. The technology is equally certain of what it recorded.

Called in by Detective Inspector Owen Harland, independent investigator Arthur Tanner faces a seemingly impossible death.

As his investigation moves beyond the railway platform, Tanner uncovers a disturbing connection to experimental behavioural research, predictive technology and a series of deaths that may be far from coincidental.

In the Britain of 2152, where almost everything can be recorded, Tanner must confront a terrifying possibility: what happens when human perception and flawless technology tell two different stories?

THE EVIDENCE IS ACCURATE. THE CONCLUSION IS IMPOSSIBLE.

The Empty Platform is the second novel in the Tanner detective mystery series, combining classic impossible-crime fiction with psychological suspense and the unsettling possibilities of a near-future world.