Janus Origin: Threads of Control is out in paperback, ISBN 1068476303, at £12.99. There is a hardback, 1068476311, at £18.99, and an ebook at £3.99. Thirty-five chapters, about 115,000 words.
It opens in a café on the Flag Market in Preston, looking across at the museum, on a wet morning in October, twenty minutes before the rush.
Who is in it.
Nathan Longton
Twenty-five, and he owns the café. His parents ran it before him and signed it over on his twenty-second birthday. His dad pretended he had lost the keys and had Nathan search the whole place, and when he found them they were tied with a ribbon to the chrome milk jug. He was adopted. His mum told him once that they could not have children of their own and never made it a sad subject after that. He wears a silver pendant he was told his birth parents left him, and has almost never had it off.
Lan Nguyen
Anne, reviewing on Goodreads in March 2026 from a NetGalley copy, put it better than I would: 'Nathan is just running his café when Lan walks in wearing a pendant identical to his. She is hearing a voice in her head that is not hers, and it is not just whispering. It is guiding her. Sometimes controlling her.'
The Voice
It gives Lan instructions, second person, her name in each one. 'Lan, study hard.' 'Lan, move to England.' 'Lan, Nathan Longton is key. Get close to him.' Asking it questions never worked. It told, she did. Afterwards she cannot always account for what she has done. Soha Amer, Goodreads, 22 March 2026, four stars, called the book 'a psychological sci-fi thriller that blends mind control, identity crisis, and slow-burn romance'.
Marcus Johnston
He gets chapter eleven to himself. Nathan and Lan find him in a flat in Croydon, about sixty, unwashed, with whisky bottles across the coffee table like fallen soldiers. He helped build the encryption on the pendants. 'Can't answer that, top-secret stuff. Signed the Official Secrets Act,' he says, and then burps at them. Owen Prescott, Amazon, 21 October 2025: 'Marcus and Ollie added great depth and personality to the story.'
Ollie
Nathan's friend of twenty years. He held the bin bags open when Nathan's nan died. Somebody gets to him with a threat against his mother and a hundred thousand pounds, and what they want is where Lan is. SM Harrison, Amazon, 19 October 2025: 'Ollie's snarky comments cracked me up even when things got dark.'
Leanne
With Marcus. He tells her there are hundreds of folders on the drive and David would hardly have labelled one 'passwords'. She looks anyway and finds a folder called Passwords.
David Holt
One of the scientists who built the project, old now and living in Scotland under another name. He opens a 1974 single malt and gives Marcus until the end of the bottle to ask his questions.
Nhi
The project was her idea. What she is by the time the book opens is the thing it takes Marcus a bottle of whisky to find out. Henry Clarke is the money. David's description of him: 'a second-rate scientist from a rich family... a very rich pompous prat, and he helped fund our secret little project.'
Jim
First regular through the door every morning. Americano, two sugars, thermal cup. 'Morning, Nathan. Miserable out there, isn't it?'
Chapter thirteen is called Project Janus Origin.
Two reviewers said the same thing about the opening, which is worth passing on. Emilio Andrade, Amazon, 21 October 2025: 'It took me a few chapters to really get into it, but once I did, I was hooked.' Shamanta, Amazon, 26 November 2025: 'It started out slow but quickly got a hold of me once the plot started rolling.'
It does not land for everybody either. Debbie gave it three stars on Goodreads on 22 February 2026: 'It's the sort of book I normally like, urban thriller with a sprinkling of Sci-Fi. I tend to lean to complex literary thrillers. This was most of that and had some relationship dynamics that really didn't pull me in.'
H. Arnett, Amazon, 7 November 2025, went the other way: 'This book totally fried my brain, in a good way.' Ria, Amazon, 27 November 2025: 'I loved the twists that kept me on my toes.' KATH HOBIN, Goodreads, 26 August 2025: 'I can't wait for the next book in the series.' That one is Janus Origin: Red River Secrets, paperback ISBN 1068476346 at £12.99, hardback 1068476354 at £18.99, ebook £3.99.
Paperback 1068476303 at £12.99, hardback 1068476311 at £18.99, ebook £3.99.
