reviewsbyerin | "I Think I Was Murdered" by Colleen Coble and Rick Acker

I don't read much suspense, but I was intrigued by this book the moment I heard about it. With that title and the subject of Artificial Intelligence, I knew I wanted to read it, and I was happy when I saw the audiobook was available on NetGalley.

Katrina Foster lost her husband in a car accident about a year ago, but she stays busy as a lawyer with a Silicon Valley tech firm. Her company has developed an AI program in which you could load a loved one's text messages, pictures, email, and online history, and using that information a chatbot talks with you as though they were the deceased person, pulling from the "memories" you have programmed in. Katrina has been talking with Jason throughout the year since his death, feeling comforted by the responses of the bot that so mirror the man she loved.

Until one day when Katrina asks the chatbot a question and it replies: "I think I was murdered."

Katrina's life quickly spins out of control as she looks deeper into Jason's death. She retreats to her hometown and enlists the help of a friend from the past in solving the puzzles being thrown her way. Who wanted to kill Jason? Now that she's looking into his death, will they be coming after her next?

I really enjoyed the story. The characters were complex and layered. I did suspect who the bad guy was from the moment they walked onto the scene, though the authors did a great job throwing red herrings all over the place. My one complaint was that the characters seemed way too unconcerned about their safety, going into "hiding" that wasn't really hiding, turning down security from the FBI, and personally interacting with a foreign mob. They believed they could handle it all themselves. Even with that minor complaint, the story hummed along at an exciting pace but wasn't too intense for this non-suspense reader. I might even have to look into reading more in this genre!

I received my copy of the book from NetGalley. All thoughts in this review are my own.