They call themselves the Brethren: three disgraced former judges doing time in a Florida federal prison. One was sent up for tax evasion. Another, for skimming bingo profits. The third for a career-ending drunken joyride. Meeting daily in the prison law library, taking exercise walks in their boxer shorts, these judges-turned-felons can reminisce about old court cases, dispense a little jailhouse justice, and contemplate where their lives went wrong. Or they can use their time in prison to get very rich?very fast.

Louisa Clark is an ordinary girl living an exceedingly ordinary life?steady boyfriend, close family?who has barely been farther afield than their tiny village

What value can be put on a human mindHow Joe Roberts does what he does is a mystery. He has a brain that seems able to outperform a computer. To a games company like Venstrom that promises big profits if his abilities can be properly exploited

Hu-bots ?e” robots that humans created as perfect versions of themselves ?e” now control the world. They seized power in a war that almost wiped humankind off the face of the earth

After a catastrophic motorcycle accident, Jacob Underwood woke up believing he was already dead. This unusual condition has a name?Cotard?s syndrome?and a surprising benefit: Feeling dead makes Jacob frighteningly good at his job. A contract employee of the multinational corporation DBG, he can now carry out his assignments with ruthless precision, untroubled by guilt, fear, dishonor or any moral conflict?the perfect skills for a hired assassin.

In a peaceful retirement village, four unlikely friends meet up once a week to investigate unsolved killings