Human Remains by Jo Callaghan @JoCallaghanKat @simonschusterUK @RandomTTours #crime #thriller #bookreview

I am delighted to be kicking off the Blog Tour today with my review for Human Remains by Jo Callaghan. This is the 3rd book in the series and it is a belter!

My huge thanks to Anne at Random Things Tours for arranging my copy of the book from the publisher, Simon and Schuster UK, and for my spot on the Blog Tour.

DCS Kat Frank and AIDE Lock are back in a cutting-edge new thriller.

The truth will always come out, but at what cost? 

Fresh from successfully closing their first live case, the Future Policing Unit are called in to investigate when a headless, handless body is found on a Warwickshire farm. But as they work to identify the victim and their killer, the discovery of a second body begins to spark fears that The Aston Strangler is back. And as the stakes rise for the team, so do the tensions brewing within it.

When DCS Kat Frank is accused of putting the wrong man behind bars all those years ago, AIDE Lock – the world’s first AI Detective – pursues the truth about what happened with relentless logic. But Kat is determined to keep the past buried, and when she becomes the target of a shadowy figure looking for revenge, Lock is torn between his evidence-based algorithms and the judgement of his partner, with explosive results.  

When everything hangs in the balance, it will all come down to just how much an AI machine can learn, and what happens when they do . . .

MY REVIEW

This is the 3rd book in this series. given the nature of one of the characters, I would suggest reading this series in order.

Kat, or DCS Kat Frank, works with AIDE Lock, which is an AI prototype that is sort of seconded into the police force to work with and alongside the team that makes up the Future Policing Unit. He provides a logical and analytical approach, giving the team details that would usually take several hours in minutes. On the whole, the presence of Lock is tolerated; some like the arrangement as it gives a more precise response, but others still don’t trust it.

Kat has been through the mill with her last case, and when a young woman is discovered, the opportunists take no time in jumping in and accusing her of arresting the wrong person in a previous case. A podcast causes many problems for Kat and her team, and she is reluctant to discuss it, leaving her snappy and out of sorts with her team. When another body turns up, it only adds fuel to the already raging fire.

Kat is trying to juggle her emotions, her family life, her team and the investigation. All the while, she is being pressured by others to give interviews, to justify herself and her actions. This leads to and adds to more and more stress.

This is such a great premise for this series, and I do adore the dynamic Kat and Lock bring to this style of crime novel. It is a police procedural, but the author infuses it with some science behind new techniques. More and more often, we are seeing how AI is being used, so it makes sense that at some point it could be used in the way the author envisions. So is it a big step in the imagination? I think not, and I do like how the author includes different perspectives about how Lock is part of a team and how he impacts the rest of the team, after all, they are all human!

The investigation requires Kat to take a deep, hard look at herself and her life, as well as trying to solve the mystery behind the bodies. The pressure is almost tangible as the author just keeps piling the pressure on; it makes for very addictive reading. All the while, there is something else going on, which increases the suspense of the story for certain characters.

I adored this one, to be fair, I have all the previous ones as well. This one, though, does have a sense of “Uh Oh!” to it. You’ll know when you get to it 🙂

This is a book for those who like a police procedural with a twist, it is well researched. This is a crime, mystery thriller that I would definitely recommend.

Check out the other stops on the Blog Tour…

Many thanks for reading my post, a like or share would be amazing 🙂 xx