Today is the paperback publication release of an absolutely brilliant debut book IN THE BLINK OF AN EYE and I loved it so much, I wanted to reshare my original review with you all.
In the UK, someone is reported missing every 90 seconds.
Just gone. Vanished. In the blink of an eye.
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?
In the Blink of an Eye is a dazzling debut from an exciting new voice and asks us what we think it means to be human.
Book Info: Print Length: 415 pages. Publisher: Simon & Schuster UK. Publication Date: 19 Jan 2023
My Review:
I met Jo at Capital Crime in London in September 2022 and was lucky enough to get a proof of her new book In The Blink of An Eye which has had some absolutely RAVE reviews and the word on the street is that this book is going to be HUGE….!
Now I don’t normally listen to the hype but the premise of the book sounded very intriguing; an Artificially Intelligent Detective Entity teaming up with a seasoned DCS to review cold cases sounds like science fiction but I’ve been to see ABBA Voyage 3 times in the past few months and seen how technology is evolving so in my mind “anything is possible”.
Firstly, this is a brilliant debut and I absolutely loved Jo’s writing. The main character is DCS Kat Frank, a newly widowed single mother who is returning to work after her husband’s death. She is tasked with running a new pilot programme which pairs AI’s with humans to solve cold cases of missing people. Kat has a major issue with anything technical and isn’t particularly happy about having to team up with AI Lock. She believes in gut instinct, experience and being able to read people’s emotions which is everything the AI Lock can’t do and is only programmed to work on logic and facts.
When two of their cold cases appear to be connected, it’s down to Lock and Kat to try to solve the case and find the missing boys.
This book is so wonderfully written. Kat’s grief for her husband and her guilt for her teenage son were raw and emotional and it was so clear that Jo was writing this story from her heart. I absolutely loved her relationship with Lock which grew throughout the pages. The humour and dialogue was fabulous and you really need to believe the hype – because it’s so fresh and original that I wasn’t able to put it down.
This is the beginning of a brilliant series and I personally can’t wait to read more from Jo.. and hopefully when I meet her again, she will sign my book and spell my name correctly this time.
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