The Marriage Act

Britain, the near future. A right-wing government has decided it holds the cure for society's ills: the Sanctity of Marriage Act, a sweeping law that rewards the married and penalises anyone who chooses to stay single. To enforce it, the state monitors couples around the clock — every word, every argument, every private moment recorded and fed back to the authorities.

The Marriage Act follows four very different couples as they navigate love, deception, and survival under constant surveillance, each discovering how impossible a relationship becomes when the government is grading it and every disagreement can be used against them.

Blending domestic suspense with Black Mirror-style dystopia, John Marrs's fourth Dark Future novel is a sharp, unsettling thriller about intimacy, control, and the cost of a society that tries to legislate the human heart.