17 Church Row

This is book looking at the modern age of technology not just from now, but the possibilities in the future or not. We enjoy so many more computerised devices now compared to just 30 years ago, things have moved on fast. We have machines that we can ask to switch the television on, or play a certain track of music. We see an actor or celebrity on the television, and know we have seen them in something else but can’t remember, so out comes a phone or iPad, and we search that person, finding out whatever we want to know in most cases. Then most people are constantly checking their Facebook page, twitter or adding a photo to Instagram. Technology is taking over. Now the wizards of technology are working on driverless cars. So who know what will come next, will it be a whole house where every need is anticipated by AI.

There are two stories running alongside each other through this novel, one where it appears a young girl is telling how her father had tried to murder her. Then the other and main part of the story is of the Rhodes family.

Nikki and Ethan Rhodes had gone through so much, they had lost their daughter Grace in a tragic road accident. Their other daughter Bella hasn’t spoken a word since that day, all her communications are done through an iPad. The family decides that they need to move house, to make a complete fresh start, they see a house which is newly designed by Catriona Fisher a house of the future. The house has everything you could wish for and more, it seems to be the ideal solution, it will be safe and secure which is what they feel they need. But how safe will they really be in 17 Church row?

Far from being their dream home, this becomes more like a nightmare, where everything is going well until it isn’t! Alice a sophisticated AI controls the house, she knows when Vikki is having a panic attack and can calm her down, calm her breathing, this reducing her heart rate. But what if Alice decides she wants to take over everything? What if she wants to manipulate the people in the house? If she sees them as inferior.

The story is told through three POV the main one is Nikki, the panic attacks are described with such accuracy, how debilitating anxiety and panic can be. Having personally suffered from this for many years the description was spot on by the author. The second point of view is that of Catriona Fisher. The final narrator is more sinister with chapters dotted through the book.

There are a few plot twists through the book. I’m not sure how far these things could go as it will be in the future, if anything like this is ever invented, as far as we know! I am not sure how much of this story I believed, but it is fiction and anything can go, and it made for an interesting storyline. I liked Nikki her character was totally believable and relatable. The plot itself was good, something different and engaging. There were a few bits I thought weren’t really needed but that’s just my opinion.. it does make you think of the gadgets already within the home now and what they can monitor or hear, or in some cases see.

I would like to thank # Netgalley and #Zaffrepublishers for an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest, fair and unbiased review.

I haven’t read any James Carol books before but I do own “Kiss Me, Kill Me” and I’m fully aware that he is a respected writer with several crime novels already under his belt. “17 Church Row” is a techno thriller like no other and it really does need to be read to be believed. Not so many moons ago, this story would have been classed as futuristic even science fiction. Scarily, now a lot of the story’s premise could be described as very realistic and utterly believable. What the future holds with regards to artificial and even ‘actual’ intelligence is something that is very hard to comprehend and quite scary but with the modern ‘Alexa’ and ‘Siri’ in our households, nothing is unachievable and more and more, robots and AI are taking over manual tasks.
The first half of the book is a slow burn, getting you used to the state of the art house in question with it’s technology and being introduced to the family who have bought it and moved in there. I did feel the emotions Bella’s parents felt due to the accidental death of her sister very palpable and truly understood Nikki’s anguish and panic attacks relating to her feelings of grief. I didn’t particularly like any of the main characters, though I did take to Catriona the architect of the house and thought she played her part in the story well.
This book opens with a superbly intriguing prologue that remains a thread throughout the story and doesn’t become apparent how it entwines itself within the main premise till later in the book and is quite a twist. The denouement is fast paced and I felt it did save the book after a very slow first half. Although a lot of readers may find “17 Church Row” strange or even frightening, I did enjoy reading and appreciated how the author was conveying the message of how AI may take over the function of humans one day in an interesting and well written crime thriller. If you fancy something a bit different, I’d happily recommend this book but if you like your crime mysteries to be traditional and straight forward this may not be for you. Intelligent, chilling and well worth a read!
3.5 stars.

I enjoyed the storyline but found the ending a bit of an anticlimax. Very original though.