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. My non technological brain fought against the very notion … however, the originality of the storyline, paired with brilliant writing, won me over. Lock is programmed with the intention of implementing ongoing learning, there are issues that arise, such as creating a hologram of a missing son, and inappropriate information sharing and thinking, with his mother.

We already have Alexa/Siri/Miss Google, self-driving cars, the braziest cybersecurity solutions you could ever imagine etc. I thought the AI premise was such a brilliant concept, feeling scarily plausible and highly effective. Following eighteen months on leave for personal family reasons, DCS Kat Frank is given a new team, and assigned to work cold cases. I re-read to make sure I was understanding correctly, that in all essence, Lock is a digital robot of sorts.

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. A fresh and intriguing detective double act – I fell hard for all-too-human Kat and her AI colleague Lock . Kat was a feisty character, she had 25 years of experience in the force and did not hold back on her opinions. Lock’s features resemble those of Chad Botwick, I thought that was a cute tribute to the late actor. 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.

The plot cracks along and there are several interesting twists and turns before an unexpected and dramatic ending. Locke was a little annoying at first, literally a machine that can analyse data within a fraction of the time, give stats, probability outcomes for scenarios based on data collated and analysed.I am hoping for the latter as I loved Kat as well as getting to know the team and would be great to see more of them. The narrative is immediately engaging, the characters, not just those of Kat and Lock but the others surrounding them, create a group that the reader wants to spend time with. Her boss put her in charge of a pilot program, working with AIDE (Artificially Intelligent Detective Entity) She is skeptical and is determined that the pilot will fail. 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. Nehezen tudok többet írni úgy, hogy ne mondjak semmit, ezért most abba is hagyom, és csak annyit mondok, hogy számomra az év egyik legjobb könyve volt.

Being honest, I normally run a mile from traditional science fiction but the combination of crime fiction and AI made this such a fascinating concept that I couldn’t resist. It's a novel that I read in a couple of sittings, with such a unique premise, and one that has stayed with me since I turned the final page. But, there’s a catch – she’s also to be partnered with AIDE Locke – an Artificially Intelligent Detecting Entity a. Given everything, I had legit zero expectations reading this book, but I found myself gobbling this up like a Thanksgiving dinner.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. 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. Tasked with reviewing cold cases, Frank, Lock, and the rest of the gang realize something more sinister is afoot. As Kat and Lock piece together what has happened to Tyrone and Will, the edginess increases so that the reader has a sickening sensation that they will not be the last two young men to vanish.