In the Blink of An Eye, Jo Callaghan

No use pretending that the basic premise of this novel, the use of an AIDE entity to assist in a stock standard cold case investigation, headed up by a (not unsurprisingly) sceptical DCS Kat Frank, was what grabbed my attention. So much noise about AI, so little accuracy, so why not an AIDE? By extension, would the idea fly, would the concept come across as vaguely believable, useful, worthwhile, interesting or just a bit of a gimmick.

Anyway, onto the surrounding stuff. DCS Frank is a widowed, single mother of a teenage boy, struggling since the death of her husband to cancer a year ago. Back to work, she wants a safe job - one where there is no threat that her boy, Cam, is going to end up as an orphan. Her supportive boss puts her onto a pilot project - heading up the first ever machine assisted police team in the UK, working with an Artificially Intelligent Detecting Entity on cold missing persons cases. 

The team she is put in charge is made up of three others. Bolshi DI, Rayan Hassan, a man with a law degree, a high conviction rate and a tendency to lock horns with his new boss. Then there's DS Debbie Browne, a constant apologiser with self-esteem issues and a very recently discovered possibly unwanted pregnancy. Finally there's Professor Okenedo, a woman with a serious chip on her shoulder about the police so an odd choice to be the one shepherding the integration of AIDE into this team. AIDE Lock, (himself / itself) is a wristband worn around Kat's wrist that can take on a holographic human form, and when it does, it's tall, slim and black - sort of Idris Elba physical vibes with a hefty dose of Spock logic processing.

For anybody who is now looking for the "I don't do science fiction" exit, IN THE BLINK OF AN EYE doesn't really feel sci-fi(ish). Possibly because the existence of this entity is presented in a very matter of fact manner, with the test bed being a cold case team making it feel like a distinct possibility as a pilot project. Of course, if you pay close attention, it's all a bit odd, and much more advanced than any other digital assistants out there, but then again, we've been using those to manage so much of the mundane stuff around our house for years now that I think about it. Maybe it's because it feels a bit "now" as opposed to "future" that meant it was easier to go along with for a not really into Science Fiction reader like myself.

Maybe it's also because at it's heart BLINK OF AN EYE has a jolly good run at being a character based police procedural, with a lot of personal struggles, that bleed into the approach (and actuality) of the cases being investigated. Personally, this reader had a lot less trouble accepting the Lock's existence than the motivation / connections between the cases which all got a bit too obvious a bit too early on.

Where this novel was interesting, was in the exploration, and potential application of AI in a non-threatening and meaningful way. The cases themselves take the reader into questions of genomics and medical ethics that were more clear cut though, and the emotional aspects of personal bereavement and the potential to skew perception felt like the fundamental point, more than the tech and the gee wizzery. It's not surprising that there is a hefty amount of the author's own life experience and background built into this novel.

Another one where connection to the main character, Kat Frank, is going to really impact the reader's experience of this novel. If, for any reason, the potential for science fiction is intriguing or off putting, at it's heart, IN THE BLINK OF AN EYE, is more on the emotional, case driven, team building, fragile police investigating awful bloody people end of the scale. And there is a second in the series planned.