Dear friends. If you love crime thrillers and haven't yet encountered DCS Kat Frank and AIDE Lock, the world's first AI detective, I hope my review will get you started.
This is the third book in the Kat and Lock series, and the stories get bolder and more enthralling as the series develops.
Today is my stop on the blog tour.
Publisher's Description
Fresh from successfully closing their first live case, the Future Policing Unit are called in to investigate when a headless, handless body is found on a Warwickshire farm. But as they work to identify the victim and their killer, the discovery of a second body begins to spark fears that The Aston Strangler is back. And as the stakes rise for the team, so do the tensions brewing within it.
When DCS Kat Frank is accused of putting the wrong man behind bars all those years ago, AIDE Lock – the world's first AI Detective – pursues the truth about what happened with relentless logic. But Kat is determined to keep the past buried, and when she becomes the target of a shadowy figure looking for revenge, Lock is torn between his evidence-based algorithms and the judgement of his partner, with explosive results.
My Thoughts
Wow, and wow! I love a book that hooks me in from the start, and is so gripping I don't want to stop reading. Human Remains is just that. Like all good crime novels, it is thought provoking too. The author works in the field of AI, and AIDE Lock gives us a fascinating glimpse into the future.
The human remains of the title start with a skeleton found by a man fishing on farming land. Running parallel to the story of the skeleton is a former case of Kat's which is now the subject of a true crime podcast.
Kat is being vilified by the host and by social media as the podcast claims the wrong man was imprisoned. Any mention of the case, and the podcast, gets Kat's heckles up. Why is she so reluctant to talk about it?
We also learn that someone is watching Kat and their intentions are sinister.
AIDE Lock continues to prove himself as an outstanding partner to Kat, although his increasing capabilities are worrying to the team. Lock has a very literal take on life and the instructions he's given, which sometimes results in laugh out loud moments.
Jo Callaghan is well versed in the AI world. Sometimes I am blown away by what Lock can achieve; sometimes I am chilled by the same notion. For the first time we feel uncomfortable as Kat ponders on Lock's desire to have a physical form - to be a robot, rather than a hologram.
These books would make the most amazing TV series.
I devoured every word and was at the edge of my seat as we neared the denouement, with Kat's life in danger. A five star read.
About the Author
Jo Callaghan works as a senior strategist, carrying out research into the future impact of AI and geonomics on the workforce.
After losing her husband to cancer in 2019, she started writing In the Blink of an Eye, her debut crime novel and the first in the Kat and Lock series, which explores learning to live with loss and what it means to be human.
It was a BBC Two’s Between the Covers pick, as well as a Waterstones Thriller of the Month, and went on be a Sunday Times bestseller and 2024 winner of both the prestigious Theakston Old Peculiar Crime Novel of the Year and the CWA ILP John Creasey (New Blood) Dagger awards.
To date it has been published in over fifteen different countries.
Jo lives with her two children in the Midlands, and loves connecting with readers on social media as @JoCallaghanKat.
She is currently working on further novels in the series.
Thanks to Anne Cater from Random Things Tours, the author and the publisher for the advance digital copy in return for an honest review.
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Leave No Trace by Jo Callaghan
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