Caffeinated Reviewer

Two detectives: one human, one AI. And a case that will test them both. How could I resist listening to this crime thriller, especially when I learned that the next audiobook releases January 7, 2025. Narrated by Paul Mendez & Rose Akroyd, In the Blink of an Eye by Jo Callaghan, pulled me into the story as the team investigates two cold cases.

Winner of the Crime Writers’ Association’s John Creasy New Blood Dagger Award and the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year

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.

In the Blink of an Eye, delivered a compelling mystery while exploring human intuition versus artificial intelligence. What unfolded was a tight, gripping tale I devoured.

We meet Detective Chief Superintendent Kat Frank, a recently widowed woman in her mid-forties with a teenage son. She has just returned to work and her boss makes her lead on a pilot program. She will work with a team that includes an AIDE (Artificially Intelligent Detecting Entity). Like, Kat, I was skeptical. The team is assigned to cold cases, and the first order of business is selecting which case to start with.

The team consists of Aide Locke (the AIDE). Locke is worn on a band around Kat’s wrist, but he can also project a human-looking hologram. Aide’s hologram resembles a tall, slim black man. Next up we have, Detective Inspector Rayan Hassan. Rayan, has a high close rate and immediately challenges everything Kat says. Then we have Detective Sergeant Debbie Browne. Even with six-years experience, Debbie lacks self-esteem. While not an official member of the team, AIDE’s handler Professor Okonedo, holds a grudge against the police and thinks AIDE is better suited to solve crimes.

I loved the science fiction aspect, but fear not, this falls solidly in the crime thriller category. The cold case is an intriguing one. Two men mysteriously go missing without a trace. As the team works to locate these men, things take a turn when they realize they have stumbled on to an active abduction case. I was all in and loved bearing witness as the detectives gathered clues and wove together the case.

This was my first time with author Jo Callaghan. I appreciated this tightly woven crime thriller and how she develops these characters and their lives in and out of the precinct. I was invested not only in solving the crimes, but with the characters themselves. The next audiobook, Leave No Trace, releases in January 2025 and will have the team dealing with a murder. While each book will probably work as a standalone, I recommend listening in order as the dynamics of the team develop.

If you love a good police procedural, you’ll want to add the Kat & Locke series to your 2025 listens!

Paul Mendez & Rose Akroyd narrate and gave voice to Kat, Locke and the rest of the team. I thought they worked well together and appreciated everything from their accents to tone. I highly recommend listening.

Amazon | Audible

About Jo Callaghan

Jo works full-time as a senior strategist, where she has carried out research into the future impact of AI and genomics on the workforce. After losing her husband to cancer in 2019, she started writing In The Blink of An Eye. She lives with her two children in the Midlands, where she is currently writing the third novel in the Kat and Lock series.

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About Paul Mendez

PAUL MENDEZ was born and raised in the Black Country. He now lives in London and is studying for an M.A. in Black British Writing at Goldsmiths, University of London. He has been a performing member of two theatre companies, and worked as a voice actor, appearing on audiobooks by Andrea Levy, Paul Theroux and Ben Okri, most recently recording Ian Wright’s A Life in Football for Hachette Audio. As a writer, he has contributed to the Times Literary Supplement and the Brixton Review of Books. Rainbow Milk is his debut novel.

About Rose Akroyd

Rose Akroyd is a recent graduate of Alra. A versatile actress with a passion for stage, camera, radio, voiceover and storytelling

Reading this book contributed to these challenges:

• 2024 Audiobook Challenge

About Kimberly

Kimberly is a coffee loving book addict who reads and listens to fictional stories in all genres. Whovian, Ravenclaw, Howler and proud Nonna. She owns and manages Caffeinated PR. The coffee is always on and she is ready to chat. BlueSky | Facebook | Instagram

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