Jo Callaghan (1)

IN A NUTSHELL
That was a wonderful read. It had edge-of-the-seat moments of tension, a satisfying mystery, well-founded speculations on the use of AI in the near future and a deeply empathetic understanding of grief and loss.

It was a great start to a new series. I can see why this novel won the Theakston Old Peculiar Crime Novel Of The Year 2024 and the CWA New Blood Dagger 2024. I've already downloaded 'Leave No Trace', the next book in the series.

This was a book that exceeded my exceptions show more and my expectations were already high given the prizes that it had won. This could have been a police-procedural-with-a-twist book, living off the novelty of an AI paired with a human detective and I'd have thought it worth the read. But it was much more than that. This was a book with real people in it, a solid mystery at its heart, and a deep understanding of loss and grief.

It was a tense, clever, page-turner police procedural, even without the AI. I loved that the AI, instead of being an 'Oooh! SHINY!' piece of technology, a sort of digital CSI, became a means of focusing on how we look beyond the statistical probabilities and understand the unique challenges people are facing and the desires, fears, and perceptions that shape their responses.

I found the first few pages, where Kat, the human detective, is challenging the viability of using Lock, the AI on a case that affects real people's lives a little dry but it didn't drag. I liked that the AI technology concepts stood up as near-future possibilities.

For me, everything took off after the first interview with the missing person's mother. The dialogue felt real and was quite affecting. I liked that the case is happening in Warwickshire. It gave the story a very normal, down-to-earth, English feel that made the AI wizardry easier to accept. it helped that the AI stayed plausible and mostly irritating (which seemed about right to me) and that Kat was just the right balance of attributes and history to provide the empathy, emotion and social context needed to move the story forward. For once, the lead detective isn't some bright young thing. She's been on the force for twenty-five years. She's a recent widow and a single mother to a traumatised son. She's not perfect but she is good at what she does. It was easy to be on her side. I became completely immersed in her story,

The mystery at the heart of 'In A Blink Of An Eye' was solid. It would have made for an engaging police procedural story without the AI content. Adding the AI kept it fresh and gave it an edge.Surpisingly, it also made the investigation feel more human rather than more routine or mechanical. It helped that the story wasn't mainly about the AI. It was about the people, those who go missing, those they leave behind, those who are trying to find them and the difficult emotions that they experience. It was about hew we see each other and how much of what we see isn't consciously based on data that can be calibrated, quantified, compared, replicated or even tested. It highlighted that the experience of being human is at its most real and its most powerful when can't be turned into binary code.

This book kept me on edge almost to the last page. It was a very satisfying read. I'm eager to see where the series will go next. I've downloaded the second book, 'Leave No Trace' and I'm looking forward to the third book, 'Human Remains' being released in April 2025. show less

I loved this second instalment from Jo Callaghan. In this book, she achieves everything I’d hope for in excellent, responsible, and inclusive writing.

The rich cast of characters returns, none of whom are perfect or static. Each continues to grow and support one another - for example, Debbie’s ongoing struggle with imposter syndrome contrasts with Kat navigating the kind of empowering leader she wants to be. Rayan and Okonedo’s experiences and their role in challenging white bias within show more the team also illustrate the value of diverse teams, while giving both of them drive and ambition as role models.

The introduction of Judith, with her ex-wife and they/them pronouns, was a lovely addition to the cast. It was wonderful to see her and Okonedo as successful women in STEM roles.

Callaghan’s gentle exploration of AI, ethics, and the character of Lock feels thought-provoking without being heavy-handed.

Potentially a minor spoiler here: having just finished Laura Bates’ Fix the System, Not the Women, I particularly enjoyed how Callaghan wove in themes of female experience of male violence, and how the reversal of bias highlighted absurdities in social assumptions. She addresses these challenges in a fantastic, imaginative way, giving readers both a compelling plot and food for thought about their own actions.

I will 100% be reading the next book! show less

First five star (fiction) read of the year! I don't know if I just had a feeling about Jo Callaghan's novel, or if my childhood nostalgia for Knight Rider was the motivation, but I threw my usual Yorkshire superstition about not paying full price for books and downloaded the Kindle copy on the first day. And I'm glad I did, because the cliché came true - I could not put this book down (even the author's afterword made me cry!)

Newly returned to work after a personal tragedy, DCS Kat Frank is show more selected to lead a pilot programme pairing the police with artificial intelligence, namely AIDE (Artificially Intelligent Detective Entity) Lock. Kat, Lock and two junior detectives, Hassan and Browne, are assigned to investigate missing persons 'cold cases' as a test of computer logic and speed against human empathy and intuition, but soon find themselves caught up in a medical conspiracy that has personal consequences for Kat.

From the moment Lock started snarking about human limitations, I was hooked. 'He' - although, in the time honoured tradition, Kat will only refer to her new 'partner' as 'it' - communicates and monitors Kat through a band on her wrist but also appears in the form of a hologram, programmed by his creator Dr Okonedo in honour of the late actor Chadwick Boseman, to form a connection with his human colleagues. Lock is programmed to learn through observation and experience but of course he's very blunt and coldly rational, against Kat's professional 'gut instinct' and compassion for the families of the missing boys they are investigating. He is all about evidence and statistics, whereas she has learned not to generalise and to focus on the case at hand. And where Lock is fresh out of the box, so to speak, Kat is weighed down with professional duty and personal cares, mainly her teenage son Cam. A familiar detective 'odd couple', but brought vividly to life by the police procedurals and details about everyday life. I don't usually read detective novels but the investigation was equally engaging as the characters.

I also loved the concept of creating an AI police presence too, and theoretically balancing the recognised failings of an organisation that is a microcosm of the society its officers are supposed to protect. As Okonedo explains: 'I believe in justice, democracy and the rule of law. I just think the policing of humans is too important to be left to humans.' Of course, she is prejudiced by personal experience, as nearly everyone on Kat's team seems to be! And both Lock and Kat demonstrate that the police can also make a positive contribution, while learning faster about humanity's failings than a computer program can.

'And yet, the human-centric premise of these films and much of your scientific literature is that it must be the ultimate ambition of androids or AI to become human, to be at the mercy of your irrational thought processes and emotions.'

Kat was frustrating at times, although believable and sympathetic, but I fell in love with Lock! (I can never resist a smug AI.) His attempt to 'fit in' with Kat and her son at home, pretending to sit on the couch and watch Terminator 2 with his feet on the coffee table, was wonderfully endearing, and I loved his constant reminders that he is in fact a computer and can watch films and sift through social media in a fraction of a second.

I hope now that Kat has worked through her pronoun protest and finally stopped telling Lock to STFU that there will be further cases for the futuristic detective duo to investigate! show less

The chilling ending of book three in the Kat and Lock series, Human Remains, left me champing at the bit for book four and my goodness, what a book it is and what a truly brilliant finale to the series as a whole….sob.

After the terrible events of book three, DCS Kat Frank is getting back to some normality with AIDE Lock, the AI detective which resides in a bracelet on her arm and which manifests itself as a hologram, by her side. The two characters and their interactions are what make this show more series so very special and Body of Lies is no different. Lock, as you might expect, is very literal and the juxtaposition of AI and human can be really funny at times. It’s no laughing matter, though, when an MP is murdered in a very public and disturbing way. Kat and Lock begin their investigation but things get even worse when there is a major cyberattack on the National Grid.

This is a fast-paced and VERY exciting book. Thrillers don’t get any better than this for me and I particularly like the AI aspect which illustrates all the good and bad sides of a technology which feels both futuristic and a part of everyday life. AIDE Lock exists in that way, working alongside the police, which makes it feel like just another member of the team. Just as AI is already all around us, largely unregulated and gaining in power, it all feels very believable and possible.

I’m bereft at the end of this spectacular series (tears were shed). I honestly can’t praise it enough. Body of Lies rounds it all off nicely, being both an outstanding story in its own right and the perfect conclusion overall. The murder aspect alone is utterly gripping but add in the thrill of the race against time to save the UK from the consequences of an extended period without electricity (think about how much we rely on it) and Body of Lies is pretty much the ideal crime thriller. In case you couldn’t tell, I absolutely adored it. show less