*Special thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing this free ARC in exchange for an honest review. Pub date: August 6, 2024

This is the best crime fiction I’ve read in a while—great characters, intriguing plot. I couldn’t put this one down and I’m so happy these characters are returning in a sequel!

What a unique thriller. This book is unlike any other police procedural I have ever read because of the inclusion of using AI as the main characters partner.. I imagine going forward their will be more authors including and implementing AI in their novels but this was excellent. A great story and I think all thriller readers would enjoy this one. Looking forward to what Jo writes next!

A unique premise for a detective novel. Can the use of AI help the police solve crimes quicker?

Kat Frank has recently returned to work as a Detective Sergeant with the Leek Wootton Police in Warwickshire, England after the tragic loss of her husband. Her 18 year old son is all she has left and now children the same age are vanishing with no leads.

Reading the acknowledgments brought tears to my eyes as I realized just how close to home the story was for the author.

Thank you so much Random House and NetGalley for my ARC!

In the Blink of an Eye by Jo Callaghan is a really interesting novel I enjoyed.

Kat Frank knows all about loss. A widowed single mother, Kat is a cop who trusts her intuition, honed through years of on-the-beat police work. Picked to lead a pilot program that has her paired with Lock, an AIDE (Artificially Intelligent Detective Entity)—a hologram that is activated by a device on Kat’s wrist—Kat’s gut reactions about people and motives come up against Lock’s statistical calculations and data analysis that can be devised in seconds.

But as the two missing person’s cold cases they are reviewing suddenly become active, Lock is the only one who can help when the case begins to target Kat personally. AI versus human experience. Logic versus instinct. With lives on the line, can the pair work together to solve the mystery in time?

A dazzling debut from an exciting new voice, In the Blink of an Eye asks us what we think it means to be human.

Thanks to Random House and Netgalley for providing this ARC. I enjoyed this debut release from Jo Callaghan. The plot centers on a widowed police officer returning to work to head a new AI project, about which she has serious misgivings. This seems a perfect candidate for a movie or tv show. The writing was pretty good, the plot moved along quickly, and the topic was very of the moment. The ending opened the door for a series, and I would definitely read another one with Cat and Lock. Recommended for police procedural fans.

Kat Frank is a cop and widowed single mother who trusts her intuition that is selected for a pilot program that has her paired with Lock, an AIDE (Artificially Intelligent Detective Entity). This hologram is activated by a device on Kat’s wrist, and Lock’s statistical calculations and data analysis is often up against her people skills. Two missing person’s cold cases they are reviewing suddenly become active, and Lock is the only one who can help when the case begins to target Kat personally.

Kat had lost her husband due to faulty AI information, so from the get-go she is biased against Lock, and his humorless manner at the start doesn't help. It's why she was chosen for the pilot program, however. Cold cases aren't just data to her, but people that vanished and still need to be found. As they reinvestigate two cases, they see details previously missed, similar situations that preceded the disappearances, and a possible thread linking the two. Unfortunately, Kat's own son disappears as well with the same missing CCTV footage, sending her spiraling into grief and desperation to conclude the case even when her coworkers remove her for being too close to it.

The story itself is in a near future where AI can process information and draw conclusions, where our current AI is not quite there yet. It learns when it's appropriate to dispense information and statistics, and rapidly goes though social media posts, texts, and the hard bits of data that normally takes humans hours. It takes to heart Kat's assertion that police work is not just finding clues but protecting people and helping them feel safe. Because of this, Lock insists on continuing the search and helping Kat solve the crime and bring victims back home. It's a compelling thriller, and kept up past my bedtime to finish it.

I can’t believe this is Callaghan' debut. The plot is multi-layered and complex, and the characterization is strong. Callaghan's knowledge and expertise with AI shine through, bringing authenticity and originality to the plot. It looks like book #2 is on its way, and while I really do not need another series in my life, this one is too good to resist.

IN THE BLINK OF AN EYE by Jo Callaghan is an impressive debut, being chosen as the winner of the Crime Writers' Association’s John Creasy New Blood Dagger Award and the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year. Callaghan has created some memorable characters: Detective Kat Frank and Lock. The former is a recently widowed Mom to eighteen-year-old Cam who has had his own struggles with grief. Part of a pilot test, Lock can be activated as a hologram and is called an AIDE (Artificially Intelligent Detective Entity) who is overseen by Professor Okonedo with the goal to learn more about policing and determine to what extent AI can be helpful in that arena. Kat, with 25 years of experience and a well-developed "gut" intuition, has her reservations as do the other members of her team, DI Rayan Hassan and DS Debbie Browne. They soon learn that Lock does have skills (e.g., speed of reviewing and analyzing social media contacts) to contribute despite its lack of emotional intelligence. The team is assigned to cover cold cases and they begin to look at the disappearance of two young men. The story does get a bit dark, but the characters are wonderful and I would happily read Callaghan's next mystery, especially if Kat Frank is involved. Fans of police procedurals will be enthusiastic readers (and perhaps viewers as The Independent says, "With well-drawn characters, believable emotions and an interesting premise, you can see this becoming a TV series.").
4.5 stars

I have been looking for a good police-procedural book for some time, and In the Blink of an Eye by Jo Callaghan didn't disappoint. I love trying to figure out mysteries in a book, but when the book shows how police detectives might solve a case is truly intriguing.

When Detective Chief Superintendent, Kat, is approached to pilot a new program pairing her with an AIDE (Artificially Intelligent Detective Entity), Lock, she is hesitant. She is determined to prove human instinct takes precedence over a machine when it comes to solving cold cases.

My favorite part of the story is Lock, of course. He made me laugh in his responses, but it also made me wonder how much AI is actually used in police work these days. It was obvious that the author, Callaghan, had done her research about AI and genomics to write an interesting book.

I loved the twists at the end, and the book wrapped up nicely.

I gave this book four out of five stars. Callaghan is a strong writer and definitely kept me entertained.

Thank you to NetGalley, Simon & Schuster, and Jo Callaghan for my free copy of this book. This review is my honest opinion.

I read most of the book, it's a fast read. It's just my thing. I'm not into sci-fi at all. But I gave it a chance. The writing was good. Just not my kind of book.
Thanks to netgalley, the publisher and author for the chance to read this ARC.

In the Blink of an Eye by Jo Callaghan’s is book one in the Kat and Locke series. This is Callaghans debut novel and wow what a fantastic debut!! If you like books about missing persons, mystery, police procedure, AI, and cold cases then you will love this book.

In the Blink of an Eye goes behind the scenes of a detectives investigating the disappearance of missing teenage boys. Not only do we get to go along with DCS Kat Frank and her team as they investigate the missing boys, but we also get to watch Kat learns how to do it (although unwillingly) with AIDE (Artificially Intelligent Detective Entity). Kat and Locke had an unconventional work relationship and investigating methods. This book did a great job of exploring the relationship between AI technology and human intuition coming together to solve the missing persons case. Kat brings her years of experience, intuition, and her sympathetic side. Locke catches things that Kat and her team miss or may take awhile to locate. By the end they learned a lot from each other.

The plot was so well written and complex and characters were so well written. I was very impressed with Callaghan's knowledge of police procedures and his knowledge AI, it brought authenticity to the story. I cannot wait to read more from this author and can’t wait to read book two in this series. Thank you to Random House Publishing Group and NetGalley for letting me read this book in exchange for my honest thoughts and opinions. READ THIS BOOK!!!

Such an interesting premise…using a AIDE (Artificially Intelligent Detective Entity) to aid police departments solve crimes. Kat, a police officer returning to work after the death of her husband, mirrored my own doubts and skepticism surrounding their ability to assist. Kat was tasked with leading a pilot program to determine the benefits and drawbacks of using AIDES. At first antagonistic, she struggled to keep her frustrations in check. Her back story dovetailed perfectly with her investigation. I so enjoyed the way she led the investigation, putting the boys at risk first. Also appreciated the way her instincts ultimately proved her abilities to her former task force.
The most fascinating part was Lock, the AIDE, who was actually able to visually appear and talk. His dynamic with Kat showed the beginning of a fascinating partnership for them both. His abilities were truly amazing, saving the department vast amounts of time researching and accessing information. I sense a deep connection between them, as well as another book featuring their developing understanding of each others strengths.
There were undercurrents of attractions between several of the characters which also added to my enjoyment of them.
All in all, this seemed like a real representation of what might happen as an AIDE in introduced to a typical police department. I still struggle with the logical fact based approach compared to the “following a hunch”. Definitely food for thought!
Many many thanks to Jo Callaghan, Simon & Schuster, and NetGalley for affording me the opportunity to read an arc of this thought provoking dilemma. I highly recommend it.

Such a good read that I enjoyed! I'm so glad that I got the chance to read it early and will definitely be recommending it to multiple people who enjoy these types of novels. I enjoyed the characters and especially enjoyed the writing by this author. I'm excited to see what the author comes out with next as I'll definitely be reading it! Thank you to the publisher for my early copy of this book!

I had seen this book on a British bookstore’s website and was quite intrigued. I was delighted when it became available in the U.S. and thrilled to get an early review copy of this series starter.

Jo Callaghan has already received awards and praise for her debut. She is the Winner of the Crime Writers’ Association’s John Creasy New Blood Dagger Award and the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year. These are huge accomplishments and, in my opinion, well deserved.

Readers will not forget Kat and Aide. Kat is a detective who has been paired with an artificial intelligence device. It is an experiment to see if and how AI might be useful in investigations. Aide can assume bodily form as a hologram, at times causing much consternation. He also can be rather outspoken. There is much interplay between Kat’s intelligence and emotions as compared with Aide’s brilliance and lack of tact.

Kat, Aide, her team and the creator of Aide Lock are tasked with the investigation of two (cold) missing persons cases, both young men. One is a Black student missing from Uni. The other is a white theater graduate who is from a well to do family. Are these situations independent or linked?

In this novel, there is an excellent mystery plot and added to this are the AI elements of the story. Both kept me turning the pages and sad to reach the end of the story. Luckily the sequel, which is out in the UK, will be coming to the U.S. before too long.

The other aspect of the story that I enjoyed was the characters. Each had enough back story to keep them interesting. In the case of Kat, she is widowed and has a teenage son. One of her investigators has a sister who had a bad experience at university while another, Debbie, seemingly lacks confidence. The relatives of the missing young men and others also very much come to life.

This book is easily one of my favorites of the year. I hope Callaghan writes many more titles.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group for this one. All opinions are my own.

Brilliant! This book took a unique approach to a police procedural by introducing AI and it was so much fun!
Recently widowed single mother Kate Frank is a cop with 20 yrs experience. Ehen she is selected to head a pilot program using AIDE (Artificial Intelligent Detective Entity) named Locke she is not too pleased with the idea to say the least. Her 2 deputies are not enamored of the idea either but are willing to give it a try...and the fun begins.
The group decides to focus on cold cases which they can delve into and hopefully find resolution. Lock is a holographic image of a male, who analyzes everything. When the deputies select 2 probable cases, Lock immediately dismisses them (using logic) stating that they should focus on recent cases which have a higher probability of being solved. I would probably have reacted like Kate and been not too pleased with AI questioning my every decision and analyzing every move. The interaction was amusing, as they tried to work together, and put aside their programming (with Kate relying on instinct and past successes and Locke using statistical analysis and probability which were programmed into it).
AI could sift through mountains of data in a few minutes which would have taken a huge team of police days to begin to analyze. There were funny moments, and frustrating ones too - that fit right into the story. The story took a dark turn when Kate's son goes missing and becomes a case for the team to solve. The resolution was satisfying and I hope to meet the team again in a future book.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a free ARC of this book. The opinions expressed are my own.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group for the eARC.

Artificial Intelligence books have just really come across my radar and I am thoroughly enjoying them. This one was so different with the idea that AI could assist in investigations and/or solve cold cases - wow. Really really enjoyed this one by Jo Callaghan.

In the Blink of An Eye is book 1 in the Kat and Lock series by Jo Callaghan.
A thrilling police procedural.
This book is so wonderfully written. This is the beginning of a great series and I can't wait to read more from Callaghan.

In the Blink of an Eye (Kat and Lock #1) by Jo Callaghan

DCS Kat Frank and her son, Cam, are daily living with the loss of Kat's husband/Cam's father, to cancer. After two years away from work to caretake her husband and also to help Cam heal after her husband's death, Kat is back to work and she'll be taking on a special assignment. AI played a role in the death of Kat's husband and her boss thinks she is the person to lead a pilot program utilizing Lock, an AIDE (Artificially Intelligent Detective Entity). A device worn on Kat's wrist will allow Kat to make use of Lock's abilities while also allowing the AI to learn while on the job. Lock even comes with several "human" holograms for a more visual experience. More often than not, Kat wants to turn Lock off in more ways than one. Hopefully by leading this pilot program Kat can be instrumental in squashing this AI program out of existence

Kat, Lock, and her team are to work on cold cases but quickly the cold case(s) they pick become more than missing person investigations. There is even a chance they have kidnapping and murder involved in the missing person cases. Things soon get very personal for Kat and she tries to stay under the radar of her boss as she delves deeper than he'd want her to delve. Unluckily for her, Lock, the AI, has "telling all" programed into him so once all his info is downloaded, everything about Kat is downloaded, too. How much she drinks, how much popcorn she eats, vital stats, embarrassing stats. No one needs that kind of all encompassing overview and Kat is furious.

The story is fascinating and sad from many angles. The grief is real and you need to be sure to read the author's experience that led to writing this book. The crimes are steeped in grief, too, with families who've lost their young members while having no idea what happened to them. There are the issues of overreach in several areas, medical, AI, and more and the story brings up a lot of issues that have me even more adamant about which way I'd want to go when faced with certain situations. There is another book after this one and I'm ready to meet up with the team again, a team that will be stronger for all they've been through so far.

Thank you to Random House Publishing Group - Random House | Random House Trade Paperbacks and NetGalley for this ARC.

Jo Callaghan's debut novel, "In the Blink of an Eye," has a fascinating back story. Be sure to read Ms. Callaghan's acknowledgements to learn about its genesis. The author is knowledgeable about artificial intelligence and genomics (the study of an organism's genome), and she has written an engrossing police procedural that touches on such themes as the trials of being a parent and the grief of survivors whose loved ones have passed away. Forty-five year old Detective Chief Superintendent Kat Frank frequently reminds her subordinates that she has paid her dues, having been a member of law enforcement for nearly twenty-five years. Therefore, she expects her team to trust her judgment, obey orders, and speak up when they have useful information to share.

Kat's boss and mentor, Chief Constable McLeish, introduces Kat to Professor Okonedo, a brilliant woman who, along with her fellow researchers, has created a revolutionary tool, Artificially Intelligent Detecting Entities (AIDE), that could change policing forever. AIDE will supposedly boost efficiency and save time and money. A skeptical Kat asserts that AI could never replace highly trained and experienced detectives. Nevertheless, McLeish convinces Kat to head up a pilot program to test AIDE on cold cases involving the disappearance of young adults who seemingly vanished into thin air.

What follows is a mesmerizing tale of psychological suspense that features a charming hologram named Lock who irritates Kat to no end with his know-it-all attitude. Kat looks into what might have happened to Will Robinson, a twenty-one-year-old aspiring actor, and eighteen-year-old Tyrone Walters, a first-year university student. Kat and her officers interview witnesses and follow up on every possible lead, while Lock sifts through reams of technical data at lightning speed. The hologram is unintentionally funny and eager to learn, but it adamantly insists that humans are irrational and, therefore, inherently flawed. "In the Blink of an Eye" has vivid characterizations, a juicy plot, and a slam-bang ending. It is too bad that Kat, who is clever and insightful, is also annoyingly controlling, defensive, and hot-tempered. What she and her colleagues discover about their case blows their minds, and "In the Blink of an Eye" will encourage readers to take a hard look at the impact that cutting edge technology is already having on our everyday lives.

AI to the rescue?

DCS Kat Frank is ready to rejoin the world after grieving the loss of her husband to lung cancer. She is still concerned about her heartbroken son, Cam, but she needs to get back to work and find a new normal.

To her horror, Kat is assigned to supervise a pilot AI experiment, using a hologram humanoid device named Lock. Lock is capable of reading and reviewing reams of complex data in mere minutes, but he has no feelings and - as Kat points out - can't experience intuition or hunches.

Everyone on the force feels threatened. Kat Frank is irritated by the whole project. How can a computer, lacking feelings with which to interpret the nuances of various witnesses' testimony and body language, be a valid replacement for a seasoned inspector?

Everyone had their own hidden agenda in this experiment. I applauded the character growth toward the end of this long, twisted investigation into the disappearance of two young men.

That shocking ending was perfectly executed - I was at the edge of my seat the entire time. Good job! All in all, this was a highly enjoyable read and the author certainly did her homework and seemed very comfortable with statistical analysis.

I'm rating this a 4.4 out of 5 stars, rolled back to a 4 because the final "summing up" chapter took the sizzle out of the shocking "big reveal" that preceded it. I guess I wanted this to end on a "big bang" but since this is part of a new series, I suppose it fulfilled an important function. Highly recommended.

My thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for an ARC of this novel in exchange for an honest review.