"I've never killed anyone. I've never been attacked by a mob and beaten within an inch of my life. I've never watched a child die in front of me. But I've lived through the memory of all those things."At seventeen, Lain Fisher is the youngest therapist at the Institute for Ethics in Neurotechnology to master the complex art of Mindwalking-using a direct neural link to erase her patients' traumatic memories. And no wonder, given that her late father was the technology's pioneer.When a troubled classmate named Steven Bent asks her for help, Lain's superiors warn her to stay away. Steven's emotional scars are too deep, they say; the risk too great. Yet the more time Lain spends with him, the more she begins to question everything about the Institute and her own place in society. As she defies the warnings and explores Steven's memories, it becomes clear that something is very, very wrong...something the Institute doesn't want the world to discover. Are they really an organization of healing, or one of manipulation and control? And is there more to Lain's father's suicide than meets the eye?