When belief becomes procedure, who decides what's true?In Good Faith Exception, a single closed case exposes how justice survives-not by being right, but by being documented correctly.Mara Ellison works inside the system that reviews police use-of-force incidents. Her job isn't to decide guilt or innocence. It's to decide whether belief was recorded in time. When three on-page deaths unfold across a routine investigation, each ruled lawful under the doctrine of good faith, Mara begins to notice something unsettling.Belief isn't just being evaluated.It's being engineered.As language standardizes, timestamps tighten, and decision-support tools quietly guide what officers are supposed to "believe," accountability shifts upstream-away from people and into process. No officers are charged. No doctrine is overturned. Instead, the system adapts, absorbing scrutiny by refining itself.This is not a story about corruption or conspiracy.It's a story about compliance, optimization, and the danger of certainty.Told in a restrained, procedural voice, Good Faith Exception is a grounded legal thriller where tension comes not from spectacle, but from timing-seconds that decide outcomes, language that protects power, and the question no system wants to answer: Who speaks first-the officer, or the machine?Perfect for readers who want smart, unsettling thrillers about institutions, accountability, and the thin line between lawful and just. The case closes.The system survives.The exception remains.