Not human. Not machine. A being that’s eerily prescient and hungry for revenge..
Henry, a brilliant but agoraphobic robotics engineer, has achieved the crowning discovery of his he’s created an artificially intelligent consciousness. He names the half-formed robot William and spends most of his hours studying it in his attic laboratory. But all is not right with William. The A.I. is filled with jealousy for humanity, for its capacity to love and create life. Henry is uneasy at first, then terrified when William develops an unsettling fixation on Henry’s pregnant wife Lily. Left with no other choice, he is forced to terminate the A.I, but somehow William’s consciousness survives. Henry and his wife wired their home to be the smartest of smart homes, a decision that may prove fatal since a vengeful William has now seized control of the house and its inhabitants.

IN A NUTSHELL
Wow! What a marvellous horror novel. A perfect Halloween read. One of the most original, surprising and menacing pieces of dark fiction I’ve listened to in a long time.

‘William‘ is now one of my “I must recommend this to anyone who will listen” books. It’s 220 pages of pure pleasure.

‘William‘ takes place on Halloween, in a house that is all Gothic Victorian Mansion on the outside and all Smart Home, high-security technology on the inside – much like the story itself. This is a novel that, like ‘Frankenstein’ considers the consequences for the creator of bringing a new, independent intelligence into the world. Except, both the creator and the creation that Mason Coile conjures are totally modern and instinctively duplicitous.It is a story not just about the dark potential of AI but of the dangerous hubris of those who create them.

The story is told in a straightforward way, without melodrama or slasher movie Jump Scares but, from the first page, it is quietly disturbing. You can feel that something is not quite right but you can’t name what’s making you uneasy. Is it that Henry, who is socially awkward and desperately keen to win the approval of his estranged pregnant wife, Lily, is struggling to understand why Lily has brought two guests to the house and what she expects of him? Is it the we-know-something-you-don’t way that the guests, the handsome Davis and the brusquely confrontational Paige, treat Henry? Or is it Henry’s obsession with his creation, William an AI-powered robot with all the charm of the ventriliquist’s dummy talking to Anthony Hopkins in ‘Magic‘?

It doesn’t take long before unease becomes menace, as a sense of impending doom settles over the people in the house. As the menace became palpable, reached a climax and morphed into pathos, I thought I knew what was going on. I was so wrong.

Everything changes in the final section of the book. Menace becomes sheer terror as the reality of the situation is finally revealed. The ending was unexpeced and superb.

If you’re in the market for something memorable, original and gripping, get yourself an audiobook copy of ‘William‘ and settle down for five hours of satisfying story telling perfectly narrated by Honey St. Dennis.