In the UK, someone is reported missing every 90 seconds. Just gone. Vanished. In the blink of an eye. DCS Kat Frank knows all about loss.

A widowed single mother, Kat is a cop who trusts her instincts. Picked to lead a pilot programme that has her paired with AIDE (Artificially Intelligent Detective Entity) Lock, Kat’s instincts come up against Lock’s logic. But when the two missing person’s cold cases they are reviewing suddenly become active, Lock is the only one who can help Kat when the case gets personal.

AI versus human experience. Logic versus instinct. With lives on the line can the pair work together before someone else becomes another statistic?

I’m reviewing a book from my Audible library

In The Blink of An Eye was the Waterstones Thriller of the Month in January 2024 and the sequel is due in the very near future. After hearing so many of my fellow bookbloggers showering praise on this book and knowing they are champing at the bit for the next Jo Callaghan release I felt it was time to catch up. I had Audible credits and was very much in the mood for a read which would throw a different dynamic into the mix.  An AI police officer sounded like something too good to pass up.

A good choice – Kat Frank is a lead character I immediately found myself rooting for. She’s a recently widowed mother, her husband’s terminal illness was mentally and physically draining. After his death Kat and her son have tried to rebuild and adjust to their new lives, as we join the story Kat is returning to work and her boss wants her to head up a new team. It’s suggested Kat leads a pilot project reviewing old (cold) cases of missing people, the taskforce which is assembled to review these cases will be assisted by an Artificial Intelligent Detective Entity (AIDE) which has been given the name Lock.

The reader is told Kat has issues with AI. We learn why and we wonder if this partnership is doomed from the outset. Prospects for success seem even bleaker when it also comes to light that Lock has been developed as his creator doesn’t believe the police force is fit for purpose – Lock is to remove the possibility of corruption and prejudice, bias and human error. It can do menial tasks in the blink of an eye, it can learn, analyise and adapt.

Lock should be an asset but for Kat it will also bring huge problems, not least it does not understand nuance, compassion or how a police officer with twenty years of experience will have a gut instinct for what is right and what feels wrong. It will be a learning experience for all involved.

As I previously mentioned: Kat, Lock and her team are reviewing missing people cases. What the reader knows is that an unknown narrator has contributed to the story too – someone who’s been taken. Is locked alone in a room, drugged, possibly interfered with (in some way they cannot determine) and they are not alone in their unusual, medicated prison. The drugs this unknown person is given keeps them weak, mostly asleep and far too disoriented to do much beyond survive day to day. It is a chilling form of captivity and this was conveyed very effectively in the audiobook where narration duties moved from the excellent Rose Ackroyd (who takes the lead for 99% of the book) to the equally impactful voice of Paul Mendez.  Giving the mysterious captive a different voice hit home.

I don’t like to make a habit of comparing authors when I put together a review however…if you enjoy the awkward, often stilted pairing of Poe and Tilly in the excellent books by M.W. Craven then the scenes with Kat and Lock will delight you. I’d go further to compare In The Blink of An Eye to a fusion of the great American thriller writers: Robin Cook and Michael Crichton. It’s a terrific read bringing elements of tech, police investigations, medical undertones and a cast of characters who find it difficult to relate to each other and accept “their” way of working is not the only alternative.

I touched briefly on the fact I listened to the audiobook.  Huge plaudits to Rose Ackroyd for a wonderful listen. She brings Jo Callaghan’s words to life and had me listening longer than I’d planned as I was totally drawn into the story. There are many characters who all sounded, acted and felt unique and it is refreshing to hear an audiobook where the narrator can convincingly “do” the regional accents they attempt! My current audiobook has an American reader spectacularly failing to make her Irish character sound like a resident of the Emerald Isle.

The time I need to invest into an audiobook is two or three times more than it may take me to read the same book in paperback. I like my audiobooks to be a top quality listen and In The Blink of An Eye certainly hit that mark. One minor quibble would be about a plot thread being a bit too obviously signposted; but when that event did come to pass it actually played out better than I had feared and I enjoyed the subsequent fallout from said event.  Bit cryptic but no spoilers will be found here and it certainly would not deter me from recommeding In The Blink of An Eye.

This book hits hard emotionally as it deals very well with loss, illness, isolation, grief and prejudice – but Jo Callaghan keeps the mystery flowing, the tension high and the humanity of Kat Frank to the fore. It’s a storming book and I enjoyed it immensely.  I’m more than ready for more Kat Frank in my TBR please.

In The Blink of An Eye is published by Simon & Schuster and is available in paperback, digital and audiobook format.  You can order a copy here: https://www.waterstones.com/book/in-the-blink-of-an-eye/jo-callaghan/9781398511194