Publishing date: 7th November, 2023
Genre: Cosy (Cozy) Mystery, Crime
Score: 8/10
A Killer App by Linda Lovely is a fast-paced, enjoyable book. Set in the USA, it follows ex-Coast Guard investigator, Kylee Kane, and her family and friends as she solves mysterious crimes.
The main premise of this book, and main plot, is all centered around Artificial Intelligence (AI) and deepfake technology. These areas of the technological world are right on-the-money with where technology is today and where it is heading. With the prolific use of chatGPT in the past 12 months, AI is a talking point online and in newspapers and magazines. A Killer App takes the potential for use that AI has and twists it into an evil, murderous tool.
It is this ultra-modern idea that sets this book apart from most other contemporary crime novels. It is on the border of science fiction, but based in technological fact. This aspect of the book really appealed to me and I found the brief, non-technical explanations of AI very interesting. The deepfake technology is manipulated to groom members of the public remotely, online into becoming crazed killers of specific targets that the master manipulator behind the crimes wants to be rid of.
The characters are vivid and lifelike and I really felt myself warming to Kylee, her mum, Myrtle, her partner, Ted, and his son, Grant along with a handful of other likeable characters. The book is written in the first person format and in present tense. That, coupled with a hefty amount of dialogue from the characters, made A Killer App flow very easily and made the book a very quick and fast-paced read. I honestly found myself turning page after page rather than putting the book down for a break.
The novel was definitely a Cosy (Cozy) Mystery story but a little more adult and serious than I had encountered before from this genre by other authors. Having said that, there was a lot of fun in the book too, especially with Kylee’s thoughts on conversations and situations.
I really enjoyed reading A Killer App and I will definitely look out for more books by Linda Lovely in the future. It’s an intriguing subject matter for a crime story with vivid, likeable characters. Great stuff!