Culpability is timely and thought-provoking- a book that left me reflecting long after I finished reading. It reminds us that, in a world increasingly shaped by technology, the randomness and richness of human life are things that no algorithm can predict or control. This book is a must-read for anyone interested in the intersection of technology, morality, and the human experience.

Bruce Holsinger’s Culpability pulled me in right away with its premise: a family road trip gone horribly wrong when their autonomous minivan collides with another car, leaving two people dead. Seventeen-year-old Charlie is behind the wheel, but the van was in self-driving mode—and every family member was distracted in their own way. What follows is less about the accident itself and more about the ripple effects, secrets, and guilt that surface in the aftermath.

I really liked how Holsinger explored questions of responsibility in the age of AI. Who’s at fault when a machine is designed to do the thinking for us? Where does human error end and technology begin? These are big, timely questions, and the novel tackles them in a way that feels both thought-provoking and eerily plausible. Much like The Gifted School and The Displacements, Holsinger uses a family drama to probe deeper issues in society, and that blend really works.

The characters were also a strength here. Each member of the Cassidy-Shaw family is flawed, secretive, and human in a way that makes them feel believable, even when they’re not exactly likeable. The dynamic between Lorelei, a brilliant AI ethicist, and Noah, her insecure lawyer husband, was particularly compelling. That said, the book is a bit of a slow burn, and the reveals sometimes dragged more than I would have liked. There were moments where I wished the pacing was sharper to match the tension of the premise.

Overall, I enjoyed Culpability and think it’s a great pick for book clubs—there’s so much to unpack and debate. Holsinger’s writing is strong, the themes are timely, and the story lingers long after the final page. At 3.75 stars, this was a smart, layered read that might not have completely blown me away, but definitely gave me plenty to think about.

After reading and thoroughly enjoying ‘The Gifted School’ and ‘The Displacements’ I was very excited to read Bruce Holsinger’s newest release. The premise sounded very intriguing with the theme of moral responsibility in the age of artificial intelligence. I really enjoyed this story, I thought the characters were well depicted and felt true and human. The characters all hold their own secrets which slowly come to light over the course of the book. The writing is very good and the discourse about the use of AI is very timely. This book is a good mix of family drama and AI ethics and I would highly recommend it to anyone who is looking for a slow-burn story with secrets and morally grey characters.
Thanks to Spiegel & Grau and netgalley for the opportunity to read an early copy of this book in exchange for an honest review

I was super excited for this one, but it ended up really dragging. I kept waiting for big reveals that never really came. I like the concept of this book more than the book itself.

Whilst i found the start of this book interesting J struggled to get into it and as a result failed to finish.

A modern day novel about a topic that is changing the world - AI. Both entertaining and thought provoking, this book is a must read.

Before fall fully takes over, I have to share one of my standout summer reads.

CULPABILITY is a thought-provoking page-turner that follows a family in the aftermath of a tragic accident involving their self-driving car with their teenage son behind the wheel.

At its core, CULPABILITY asks big questions: Who bears responsibility when technology fails? Where does human error end and AI begin? And what happens when morality collides with innovation? Much like in previous novel The Displacements, the story starts with a gripping premise and gradually deepens into a layered exploration of guilt, truth, and consequence.

It’s no wonder Oprah chose this for her Book Club; this novel couldn’t be more timely. With AI dominating headlines, there’s so much here to unpack, debate, and reflect on.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the complimentary copy.

Noah, his wife and their kids are on their way to the son's lacrosse tournament in a self driving van. The van veers into the path of an oncoming car. The accident kills the elderly couple in the other vehicle. The son Charlie was in the driver's seat, his father in the passenger seat and the wife and other siblings are in the back, and none of them are hurt. Each one of them was pretty distracted at the time of the accident, and from here comes a lot of speculation as to who has "culpability" for what happened. As it goes along, you can see how each one of them feels responsible in some way. This is a very timely story bringing up so many issued with the use of AI. Definitely thought provoking and brings up things you may not have thought of but just may very well be in our future. It really made you stop and think. This is an excellent pick for a book club discussion and I can see why Oprah picked it for sure. Great writing and a smart commentary on the ever present AI and it's future implications, the good and definitely the bad.

Thank you to @netgalley and @spiegel&grau for this advanced copy.

Tho Culpability is terrifying to read, it is timely on so many levels that it's a must read. AI is quickly entering our world and we must learn to coexist with it on so many levels. To me, the subplot of the bot relationship is the scariest part. But the entire book is on point.

🧠For my friends who like family drama centered on AI impacts on everyday life.

CULPABILITY by Bruce Holsinger

Thanks, @spiegelandgrau, for the review copy via #NetGalley.

“When the Cassidy-Shaws’ autonomous minivan collides with an oncoming car, seventeen-year-old Charlie is in the driver’s seat, with his father, Noah, riding shotgun. In the back seat, tweens Alice and Izzy are on their phones, while their mother, Lorelei, a world leader in the field of artificial intelligence, is absorbed in her work. Yet each family member harbors a secret, implicating them all in the tragic accident. During a weeklong recuperation on the Chesapeake Bay, the family confronts the excruciating moral dilemmas triggered by the crash.”

Many, many people are raving about this one, but it didn’t work for me. The twists and reveals were good, but as a slow-burn story, those reveals took too long. I don’t do well with this type of family drama—the angst of waiting to see if a child will be held responsible for an accident. The AI portions were certainly something to contemplate, though, and I thought the depiction of the relationship between insecure Noah and brilliant Lorelei was interesting.

I was very excited to read this, especially since I really enjoyed reading The Gifted School by Bruce Holsinger. This, unfortunately, fell a little flat for me. I found the narrator to be too whiny and probably would have enjoyed it more if it was told from a third person point of view. I also don't think all the plot threads were woven together super successfully. This book was trying to do too much and ended up just okay.

Thanks to Spiegel & Grau and Netgalley for the digital ARC in exchange for a digital ARC!

2.75 rounded up to 3 stars! This was a disappointment for me as one of my most anticipated releases of the year and one of my must-buy authors. This story of a family's self-driving vehicle killing an elderly couple and the consequences that ensure was supposed to be a commentary on the dangers and ethical dilemmas of modern technology like AI, but it fell flat. It tried to be a family drama, thriller, and deeper commentary on technological advancement and our society all at once, so it didn't do any of them well. I did not hate it, but I definitely prefer Holsinger's other two novels.

There is plenty of AI technology—self-driving cars, chatbots, drones both weaponized and life-saving—inside Bruce Holsinger’s up-to-the-minute CULPABILITY but the real magic here is the levels of moral and psychological complexity within the novel’s central family, the Cassidy-Shaws of Bethesda, Maryland. Dad’s a corporate lawyer, Mom’s the country’s foremost expert on the ethics of artificial intelligence, oldest son Charlie is soon to enter UNC on a lacrosse scholarship, and Alice and Izzy are still in their tween years. When the family car hits another vehicle on the way to a lacrosse tournament killing an elderly couple, the Cassidy-Shaws begin to implode under the pressure of the police investigation and the stress of assigning blame. Charlie was at the wheel — Is the accident his fault? But their autonomous minivan was in self-driving mode when the accident occurred - Is it AI’s fault? So many thorny moral questions and tightly-held secrets swarm inside the pages here, making this not only a propulsive family drama but a wicked smart exploration of how much control we really have over our complicated lives, even as we become more and more dependent on sophisticated technology, and as a society, we sink deeper and deeper into judgement and blame. No doubt, this’ll be one of the best novels of the year.

Culpability drew me in right away with its careful attention to character and atmosphere. The writing has a steady pull, never rushing but always moving with purpose, which made me want to settle in and really experience the story. The tone is dark without being overwhelming, and I appreciated how the tension simmered just under the surface.

What stood out to me the most was how layered the characters felt. Their choices, flaws, and motivations were revealed gradually, in a way that made me think about how complex people really are. The dialogue feels natural, and the interactions between characters drive the story forward in a believable, sometimes unsettling way.

I also appreciated the balance between suspense and reflection. There’s an undercurrent of unease that makes it hard to put the book down, but it’s matched by thoughtful writing that gives you space to consider what’s happening. It’s well-crafted, compelling, and leaves you with plenty to think about after the last page.

I had high hopes for Culpabiliy, and I wasn't disappointed! This is a wonderfully written, unflinching look at responsibility in our tech-advanced society, where culpability is a slippery slope. I loved how all the characters were flawed in their own way, making them so relatable. You could put yourself in their shoes as they grappled with scenarios both real and imagined. Culpability leaves you feeling both hopeful and uneasy, as it reads eerily realistic. Much thanks to NetGalley and Spiegel & Grau for the opportunity to read this wonderful eArc in exchange for my honest review.

A family is driving in their self-driving minivan when it collides with an oncoming car. Charlie, on the verge of leaving for college, is at the wheel. His father is in the other front seat, and his mom, who happens to be one of the world's leading AI researchers, and his sisters are in the backseat. In the weeks following the crash, the family travels for a family vacation, hoping to recuperate and put the incident behind them. But it turns out each member of the family is hiding a secret that is preventing them from moving on, all while the consequences of the accident loom over their futures.

This is an interesting and timely story, exploring complex issues in an engaging and thought-provoking way.

Highly recommended.

Culpability is a story centered around the intersection of humans, AI, and responsibility. When the Cassidy-Shaw family departs on a roadtrip, 17 year old Charlie is behind the wheel of their autonomous minivan, with his dad, Noah, riding shotgun. Charlie’s mom and sisters are riding in the back. The van collides with another car and the accident is fatal for the other car’s passengers.

The Cassidy-Shaws attempt to process the accident and its impact, and reset for a weeklong stay in a house they rented elsewhere. Noah tries to hold the family together and works to protect Charlie, but several family members are keeping secrets.

Culpability is a timely and thought-provoking story, exploring themes about human responsibility, especially in relation to the use of AI and other tech. I wasn’t sure where the story was going at times, and it would start to feel unwieldy. I didn’t necessarily like the characters but appreciated that they weren’t perfect.

I felt similarly about Culpability and Holsinger’s other book I’ve read, The Gifted School — I liked them both enough but didn’t love either — 3.5 stars

This was okay, it sort of felt like two different things, like it was a family drama, but was also trying to say something about AI and social classes.

In the end the well off family still gets away with everything, and it’s sort of up to the reader to determine if the AI should be blamed or the human, and the human who creates the AI tries to find a way to be redeemed.

It was an interesting listen, but I haven’t really landed on how I feel about it yet. Just okay I think. I liked the family drama aspect of it, but I wanted everyone to be held accountable in some way and they weren’t really.

I remember reading The Gifted School by this author back in 2019 and I gave it 5 stars, but I was a different person then 😂.

Thank you @netgalley and @spiegalandgrau for sending this book for review consideration. All opinions are my own.

Is this a domestic drama? A horror novel? A literary thriller? A story that takes as its jumping off point a fatal crash involving a self-driving minivan driven by a teenager travelling with his family as passengers is certainly going to bring up all the feels. Who is culpable and why? The teen at the "wheel", the mom who is an AI expert and chose the car, the dad in the front seat who was not paying attention? And what about the driver's two siblings in the back seat? What is their culpability, if any? And moreover, what is AI doing to our society and how do we infuse our "humanness" and our "goodness" into an AI system? Weighty issues, difficult answers, and all of it well handled by Holsinger in this intriguing novel. Thank you to Spiegel & Grau and NetGalley for this DRC.

This book tackles the “black box” of alogrithims and artificial intelligence, which can be opaque even to the people who make them. This may even by design, as a way to avoid the titular culpability.

If you want to skip the slow burn family drama, you could start reading halfway through when there’s even more action than the car crash in the book summary and a wider discussion of the impact of AI on the wider world. I personally enjoy the character development and tension building.

The reason I recommend skipping ahead is so more people access the important themes in this book.

A particularly time-pressed reader could also get a primer on ethics and AI by simply skimming the sections of the book that are excerpts from the philosopher character’s book: Silicon Souls: On the Culpability of Artifical Minds by Lorelei Shaw.

I recommend reading Empire of AI by Karen Hao if you want to dig deeper into the real world impacts of AI technologies and companies. Bruce Holsinger’s novel can be read much more quickly and has the potential to galvanize even casual readers around one of our time’s most pressing technological turning points.

I received a digital advance reader copy from Spiegel & Gray via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.