Reviews with content warning for Kidnapping - In The Blink of An Eye

Reviews tagging 'Kidnapping'

In The Blink of An Eye by Jo Callaghan

14 reviews

book_dragon_julia's review against another edition

dark emotional informative inspiring reflective tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

I don't normally read crime books but I really enjoyed this one. It was an interesting concept and explored the use of AI in police work.
It followed DCI Kat Frank who had taken leave of work after her husband died of cancer. Her boss informed her of the pilot which was taking place with the AI technology and wanted her to head it up investigating the cold cases of two missing boys.
The story had a good pace and I didn't find myself getting bored. It was also very current with mentions of "since COVID" and the "King Charles III" hospital in Birmingham.
I would recommend it to readers who like crime but also to readers like myself who don't read crime fiction as standard.

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bettinab's review against another edition

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dark informative mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

This debut has an intriguing premise and a new, unique take on procedural thrillers. I enjoyed the exchange and even banter between human and machine, there were quite a few surprisingly humerous moments. As a thriller/crime, it fell a bit short for me, even though the resolution was one I didn't see coming. I feel the author cramped a lot into this first book, which limited how much suspence could be built - the story seemed to stall here and there. I appreciate there was a need for a good amount of character building, though, and Kat is a likable protagonist. Obviously this was set up to be a series and I'm excited to read the follow-up book.

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redheadbookgirl's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional informative inspiring mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

I saw John Marrs recommend this a while back so of course I had to read it! This book was INCREDIBLE 👏🏽 I was hooked from the very first page till the last.. the case, the team, the twists, the reasoning behind the crimes. It was so clever + engaging.

DCS Kat Frank was a brilliant MC; honest, stubborn + hard working, I couldn’t help warming to her + I think she was the perfect match for AIDE Lock, who was unintentionally witty + brutally unfiltered. It was strangely heartwarming to watch it learn about human emotion + develop a friendship of sorts with Kat.

The pacing was so fast and didn’t let up throughout, with anonymous chapters of a captured man interspersed and only increasing the tension. The plot was completely addictive: thrilling, unputdownable + very thought provoking. I thought the balance shown between human’s instinct + AI’s logic was perfectly done and showcased why both work well. I was kept guessing till the very end and my hunch was completely wrong!

The fact Callaghan wrote this just a couple of months after losing her husband, and was strong enough to write a similar circumstance into the plot, is awe-inspiring and all the more profound + made me quite emotional.

This is a fresh, original take on crime fiction + an INCREDIBLE debut (!) novel that I HIGHLY recommend 🙌🏽 I can’t wait to read book number two!

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scarlettreadsbooks's review against another edition

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mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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evavstheworld's review against another edition

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challenging emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

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jellyhavana's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

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bookellys's review against another edition

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medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

I had mixed feeling about this book - I really liked the underlying missing person story line and how that all panned out, but I didn’t like the inclusion of AI. I think the book tried to call out the inherent racism and sexism in the police force, and how AI could be the answer to over come personal prejudice, but I don’t feel the AI story was very well thought through.

It failed to address that Lock’s creator had her own personal bias and prejudices which would inadvertently have played through into her creation. Nor did it recognise the fact that Lock would have been trained on police data from old cases, all of which would have been influenced by the personal prejudice of the police officers involved. AI is only as good as the data it is trained on and sadly a lot of the historic data would have been significantly influenced by the institutional sexism and racism in the force, thus ‘teaching’ the AI to do the same - so when Lock spits out all its facts and figures, they are based on data that has hidden biases. This is not addressed by the book, which instead positions AI an ethical, anti-corrupt being.

And on that note, I did not like how it personalised the AI. The hologram was unnecessary and the whole ‘looking around the room’ piece would have required a number of cameras for the AI to take in its surrounds, not just a wrist band.

All in all, the premise was good but I felt like the execution let it down, and that the author didn’t truly understand AI or address some of the key risks and concerns facing the modern world as this rapidly growing technology evolves.

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