Book excerpt: The Virtual Life Solution (VLS) is a secret government program created to incarcerate the nation's worst criminals by placing them into a virtual reality world called the Special Operational Unfenced Prison (SOUP). Criminals in the SOUP create their new reality in prison by building upon their own memories and sharing the experiences of others that share their fate. VLS offers substantial cost savings to taxpayers and transforms every aspect of our incarceration system. It utilizes the newest technology with the potential to create a future limited only by the Nation's imagination. It is the perfect solution.Pulitzer Prize winning reporter Alec Richardson is selected by the White House to write the story revealing details of the program to the American people to enhance the electability of the sitting President. Richardson, Network Executive Adelle Hall, and DC police officer Jefferson Grant discover there is more to the VLS Program than revealed, and find themselves embroiled in action, politics, suspense, and murder as they seek to find the truth behind one of America's greatest achievements.