In the Blink of an Eye by Jo Callaghan

In this series launch, a police detective is asked to lead a pilot program examining cold cases with the help of an Artificially Intelligent Detective Entity (AIDE) – basically, a robot – as part of her team, with results that surprise her. Detective Chief Superintendent Kat Frank has been on leave while recovering from the death of her husband and resulting depression of her teenage son but now she wants to return to work. 

She has her own reasons for distrusting AI but if that’s the only opening at police headquarters, she’ll take it and try to solve some missing person cases despite the annoying presence of the AIDE and the supercilious professor who developed it.

She sighed at the sight of the three people sitting around the large boardroom table. Before agreeing to lead this pilot, Kat had requested one DI, a DS, three DCs, an office manager, and some admin support. But McLeish had just laughed in her face. ‘The AI is supposed to do all the analysis and admin, so you won’t be needing a full team.’ So now she had just one DI, a DS, a scientist who looked like she should still be at school, and her bloody machine.

Her mismatched team (including a hologram of the AIDE which makes the machine appear like a man to its wary colleagues) takes on two seemingly unrelated cases involving young men, one black and one white, whose disappearances were not fully investigated when they took place. Kat is exasperated by her interactions with AIDE Lock: its analysis is impeccable but it lacks sensitivity so its candor offends both Kat and the family members hoping for a breakthrough. These interactions as well as the development of rapport amongst Kat’s initially awkward team advance the action and investigation. It’s an unusual police procedural and the author manages to make the technology interesting and plausible, while weaving serious and humorous elements into the narrative. And while Kat’s son Cam is very amused by the way Lock challenges his mother, she and Lock do eventually become a team, which is essential when crisis strikes.

It’s funny writing this review just after a meeting in which it was suggested my department help develop or administer workshops on Understanding AI. I suspect that the municipal staff (including yours truly) probably need to understand it before we can train any residents, but my research has begun.

This is my third mystery of the year for Carol’s Cloak and Dagger Reading Challenge and I already have the sequel on reserve.

Title: In the Blink of an Eye
Author: Jo Callaghan
Publication: Random House, trade paperback, 2023
Setting: Present-day Britain (Warwickshire)
Genre: Mystery/series
Source: Library