The Cost of Consent

The Cost of Consent by J. X. Miller A psychologically unsettling thriller about power, choice, and the quiet mechanisms of control. Consent is supposed to be a choice. But some choices are shaped long before they are made. In a world governed by protocols, expectations, and quiet power, a woman finds herself navigating an arrangement that appears voluntary, rational, even beneficial. Nothing is taken from her. Nothing is forced. Every step is agreed to. At least on paper. As the boundaries between autonomy and obligation begin to erode, consent becomes something negotiated, rehearsed, and ultimately internalised. The cost is not immediate. It is cumulative. Measured in compliance, silence, and the slow recalibration of what feels acceptable. The Cost of Consent is a psychological thriller that explores how control operates without coercion, how institutions protect themselves through process rather than threat, and how individuals can participate in their own diminishment while believing they are acting freely. Quiet, unsettling, and morally charged, this novel asks a single, uncomfortable question: What does consent mean when refusal is no longer a real option?