The first book in the BetterWorld Trilogy, Sleep State Interrupt centers around Waylee Freid, an unemployed journalist and musician with ever-worsening bipolar disorder, and her countercultural friends in the decaying city of Baltimore. Frustrated by the injustice of a system that benefits only a few, and the apathy of a population content to lose themselves in a virtual reality called BetterWorld, the group busts a notorious teenage hacker out of jail and sneaks into a closed election fundraiser at the Smithsonian castle, where they record incriminating admissions by a corrupt president and a power-mad CEO. Hunted by Homeland Security, Waylee and her friends must reach a substantial audience by broadcasting their video during the Super Bowl. But to do so, they will have to break into one of the most secure facilities ever built.