Realer

Set in a near-future world still scarred by pandemic, David Hewson's thriller follows sixteen-year-old Charlie Mackintosh, a socially withdrawn teenager whose father works for Realer, a virtual reality platform offering users an escape from a fractured, anxious society. When her father is killed while she watches helplessly through her VR headset, Charlie finds herself drawn back into the very system she relied on for comfort, now using it as a tool to hunt his killers. What unfolds is a taut conspiracy thriller that interrogates how far technology can substitute for real human connection, and whether retreating from the world ever truly protects anyone.

Gemma Whelan brings sharp authenticity to Charlie's voice, capturing the character's guarded interiority without tipping into melodrama. Her performance keeps the tension taut across the runtime, navigating both the eerily polished virtual sequences and the rawer emotional beats of the real world. At just over eight hours, the pacing is tight, making this a compelling single-listen thriller.