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Mona is the creator of an AI designed to write poetry, and her company is acquired by venture capitalist Avram Parr, who has an intriguing portfolio. After the purchase, Mona retreats into seclusion (I too would like to throw my phone into the river), but she’s drawn back when Parr dies under suspicious circumstances.
The book quickly evolved into an engaging thriller, taking unexpected turns in both its plot direction and the business sector it explored. Despite the AI elements mentioned in the plot description, this is definitely a human story.
Despite her sarcasm and dry wit, Mona was an enjoyable point-of-view character. Her musings on the depth and importance of language and poetry were fascinating, especially when another character later explored these themes from a very different perspective. She might have inspired me to start reading poetry!
The Hildegard AI’s occasional poems between book chapters were an interesting addition and quite unsettling.
There was a diverse cast of characters that kept me guessing about their motives. Although he played a minor role, I grew quite fond of Mona’s neighbour Del. Parr and the detective were also particularly interesting and well-developed characters.
Some readers may find some of the procedures described upsetting, but we the reader are not “present” for them.
Thank you to Skyhorse Publishing for providing this book for review consideration via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.
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