This was very good. Kat is asked to lead a pilot scheme to see whether an AI aide can help the police with investigations. I don't know enough about AI to tell whether what is depicted here is realistic and likely to be rolling out in police forces any time soon, but (other than Lock's need to appear as a hologram) I found it reasonably convincing. There were interesting points made about bias, assumptions and hunches.

The actual plot was a pacey police procedural as Kat's team look into two missing persons cases which (surprise surprise) turn out to be linked. I hope there will be more in this series. ( )

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 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! ( )

In the Blink of an Eye was my last read of 2022 and what an absolute cracker to end the year with. I think it's probably fair to say that a lot of policing is based on instinct, that gut reaction that something isn't right, somebody isn't telling the truth, as well as detective work. But instinct can be skewed - police officers are only human, after all.

DCS Kat Frank is returning to work following the death of her husband. Her boss wants her to lead a pilot into working with AIDE Lock to see if using AI has a place in modern policing and can help solve crimes and cold cases, or if it's just basically a load of cobblers (which is kind of what Kat thinks to begin with). Lock is a fascinating creation and I think I was a little bit wowed by it and what it was capable of. The two detectives (Lock often appearing in hologram form) and their team set about trying to find out what happened to two missing people and I really enjoyed watching the thought processes on each side. Lock, of course, is very literal so when Kat told it not to speak again until it's spoken to she has to accept the consequences when it doesn't let her know a vital piece of information. Many times I had to smile at how what was and wasn’t said was interpreted by Lock.

I loved Kat too and was so pleased to learn that there is going to be a second book featuring her and her team (including Lock). All the way through this book I was thinking the story and characters were ripe for a series. In the Blink of an Eye is such a brilliant and original read, a police procedural with a difference. What makes this even more special is that it's not just about the unusual detective partnership, it has a fantastic plot and some shocks too. This is a book that has it all and is one for all crime fiction fans out there. What a debut from Jo Callaghan! ( )

Crime fiction with a speculative twist, In the Blink of an Eye is an impressive debut from British author, Jo Callaghan.

DSC Kat Frank, newly returned from bereavement leave, is unhappy when her boss directs her to lead a pilot program to test the suitability of using an AIDE (Artificially Intelligent Detective Entity) in a police investigation. Professor Okonedo, determined to better the operation of the force, asserts that the AIDE is not only capable of collating and analysing vast amounts of data in a fraction of the time required by a human, but has been programmed to filter out the bias and prejudice that can taint investigations. Kat doesn’t believe algorithms can truly account for the vagaries of humankind, or replace the experience and instincts she, like most good police officers, often rely on.

With input from her small handpicked team, consisting of DI Ryan Hassan and DS Debbie Browne, along with AIDE Lock, who presents as a lifelike hologram with the default appearance is as a fairly nondescript 6ft tall white male, and Professor Okonedo as an observer, Kat selects two missing person cold cases for them to review. Unexpectedly the investigation’s into the current whereabouts of university student Tyrone Walters and wanna be actor Will Robinson converge when the team discovers a sinister link in their disappearances.

Essentially In the Blink of an Eye is a police procedural, Kat and her squad conduct interviews, investigate clues and gather evidence to explain the fate of the missing men. Callaghan develops a solid mystery and I thought it played out well. There’s plenty of tension, enhanced by the anonymous perspective of a young man suffering at the hands of shadowy figures, and effective twists in the plot.

The speculative elements of the novel are thought-provoking. The conflict inherent in Kat and Lock’s different approaches to investigation, and how each affects the case, is fascinating, with the strengths and weaknesses of both methods fairly illustrated. Lock’s superior ability to gather and analyse information is undeniable but Kat proves that empathy, discretion, and an understanding of nuance are also valuable investigative tools.

I really enjoyed the unique dynamics of Kat and Lock’s partnership. Kat is a likeable lead character. As a decorated police officer, with 25 years of experience in the force, Kat is a dedicated investigator who has confidence in her abilities, but she is a little emotionally fragile given the recent death of her husband, caused in part by of a misdiagnosis by an AI, which fuels her antagonistic attitude towards the AIDE. Kat is also a mother, with her teenage son on the cusp of relocating to begin university, and as such there are aspects of the cases that she strongly relates to. It’s surprisingly difficult to refrain from ascribing human motivations and emotions to AIDE Lock. Solely driven by statistics and logic, though capable of deep learning that gives it the ability to adjust its behaviours, it nevertheless has a distinct character which I really grew to like.

With its clever, provocative premise and appealing, complex characters, In the Blink of an Eye is a compelling novel, and I believe only the first of what promises to be a great series ( )