A chilling read
It's almost Spooky Season! I love October book releases as a chance to indulge my love of the Horror genre. My first October release read for 2024 is William.
Henry is an engineer, a tinkerer and creator of robots - his latest creation William is a robot with Artificial Intelligence. However, when his wife brings her colleagues over to see William, William seems to have his own plans...
AI is a bit of a hot topic at the moment, and this horror really taps into the convenience of technology working against its owners. I loved the idea of a smart home going wrong, with doors locking and appliances being switched on by themselves. There are some truly gory moments within the novel which kept me gripped.
I really empathised with Henry and Lily throughout, but I think the colleagues lacked a bit of depth. Paige in particular had a brilliant story arc but the fact she came off as quite unlikeable and one-sided hindered the impact of this. I think this is actually a 3-star read but I really enjoyed the cleverness of the ending which added a star in my opinion.
Overall, William is a chilling read to kick off the Halloween season - I certainly won't be installing smart locks in my home after reading it! Thank you to NetGalley & John Murray Press - Baskerville for the chance to read the ARC in exchange for an honest review.