Published By: Simon and Schuster
Pages: 400
Released On: 21/05/2026
Human suspicion. AI manipulation.
Who can you trust when truth has no meaning?
DCS Kat Frank returns to work at the Future Policing Unit after a tragic loss, only to find herself thrust into a new high-profile case. On the night of Halloween a local MP is found murdered, with a taunting message written in binary code that seems to target Kat specifically: Catch me if you can.
The victim’s anti-AI sentiments suggest a political motive, and as Kat investigates with her partner AIDE Lock – the world’s first AI detective – she finds herself once again battling her own prejudices about the technological future he represents. But when a cyberattack takes out the National Grid, Kat and Lock have to race against the clock to track down the hacker before thousands die.
Tangled in a web of suspicion and deception, Kat must choose who and what to believe when the truth seems to defy both instinct and logic.
Can she set aside her old doubts and put her faith in her AI partner one last time?
Or will this case send Lock down a path she just can’t follow – a path that will leave humanity behind for good?
*****
Thanks to Simon and Schuster for the gifted proof of this title in return for an honest review.
This is an epic conclusion to the series – which includes In the Blink of An Eye, Leave No Trace, and Human Remains – and whilst it is epic, the fact that it’s the last one is just not good news, because this has been just one of the greatest series I’ve read. Whilst Jo has done a wonderful job in rounding everything up, I don’t like the idea that there won’t be another to look forward to.
Like I said with the previous books, Jo has an amazing capacity for writing about grief, which I imagine comes from her own bereavement. As someone who has lost a lot of people, I find it really difficult to explain just how I feel but she’s taken the words straight from my heart and it’s just beautiful.
I think it’s a very timely book. Obviously the whole series is about AI, but this one looks into the safety of it, the job losses, and that is becoming a genuine fear, particularly in the creative industries, and so whilst it was a thoroughly enjoyable book, it is also thought-provoking.
Also this idea of an MP being killed. No matter what their policies, no-one deserves to be murdered, but sadly this is not solely found in fiction.
I found Lock was quite irritating in this one, for the most part (he does redeem himself as the book goes on). That’s not a negative point, but rather a compliment to Jo’s writing. We have seen this “man” go through four books and he has grown and learnt and is as close to human as AI can be, and with that comes new emotions, new reactions, new intelligence, and it’s frightening.
Whilst the other books did focus on AI, obviously, it was more in relation to the crimes. Whereas this one looks at it on a more national and global scale, and looks at how much we rely on AI, robots, electricity, machines; we focus on how it can help and ignore how it can harm.
This is about more than “just” a murder; it has so many layers to it, feels more personal and more targeted.
It is rounded off nicely, everything tied up, but I still can’t believe it’s finished. I’ve spend the last few years excited for the next instalment, and now that’s it. But it’ll be interesting to see what avenue Jo goes down now.
Books By Your Bedside 