It’s hard to know where to start with this book. I was very lucky to receive an advanced copy, and I tore through it. It has everything you would expect from the genre but wait – Jo Callaghan has taken a typical police procedural and blown expectations wide open. Combining a strong female protagonist, DCS Kat Frank with a (maybe not so) futuristic Artificial Intelligent Detecting Entity (AIDE) Lock, Jo has created such an intriguing concept it deserves a genre all of its own. The premise is based around the thousands of people that go missing in UK every year. Kat, Lock, and a small investigative team are tasked with firstly finding people, but more importantly, testing the capacity of AIDE Lock. With fully ‘fleshed’ out characterisation, we follow the story from Kat’s point of view. An emotionally intelligent woman, widowed with a grown-up son, she develops a bond with Lock that she hasn’t had with anyone except her late husband. The internal story this creates is dealt with, with so much empathy and tenderness, I couldn’t help but cry (mascara warning: the living room scene). The pace thunders along in places, slows down to observe the interactions between human and AI, then speeds up again to take it to a breath-taking conclusion.
I knew when I finished reading it that Jo had a best-seller on her hands, and I am thrilled to see this book riding high. It deserves every accolade it achieves, and I’m guessing there will be a few.