Oct 2024 Group Read - n the Blink of An Eye, by Jo Callaghan

[David]

In the Blink of An Eye, by Jo Callaghan

"DCS Kat Frank knows all about loss. A widowed single mother, Kat is a cop who trusts her instincts. Picked to lead a pilot programme that has her paired with AIDE (Artificially Intelligent Detective Entity) Lock, Kat's instincts come up against Lock's logic. But when the two missing person's cold cases they are reviewing suddenly become active, Lock is the only one who can help Kat when the case gets personal.

AI versus human experience.
Logic versus instinct.
With lives on the line can the pair work together before someone else becomes another statistic? "

Discussion Leader: Shell
Link to Book on Amazon UK: https://amzn.to/4epT7lx

[Shell]

After a bit of a shaky start, I very much enjoyed this book, although it did have it's problems. The relationship between Kat and Lock was refreshing and good that there was going to be no romantic involvement. I was very interested in comparing the human instinct and experience against the fabulous number crunching and data searching of the AI gadget. Some bits of it stretched belief. For example, I'm not sure anyone would have let Lock appear in that boy's bedroom, just in case his Mother walked in. I don't think that would have happened. Also, I couldn't understand why all the other coppers couldn't feed recordings of their investigations into Lock's database as they went along. They seemed to go off on their own and have to report back later. Small niggles really, because, by the end of the book I was sure I'd go on with the series. A steady 4 out of 5 for me this time.

[Chris]

Just past the ‘introduction’ and I have a couple of thoughts. My first reaction was, okay, we’ve got the technology to make Commander Nathan Spring’s Box now, that’s fair enough. But the big reveal gave me a - oh, someone’s an Asimov fan then moment. Not quite R Daneel Olivaw, but probably going to be annoyingly close.
I’ll see how this soft sci-fi line progresses.

[Chris]

Finished. 3.5 if GR let you do halves.

Still not sure why the author wanted a character without emotional filters in their story then did what they did, because I tend to skip over any such postscripts - the story should, well, tell the story, and not have to be explained. I can see why folks would get very enthused by the concept and wouldn't be surprised if a TV production company took an interest in it.