Human Remains by Jo Callaghan #HumanRemains @JoCallaghanKat @simonschusterUK #KatandLock #AIDetective #BookReview

 

DCS Kat Frank and AIDE Lock are back in a cutting-edge new thriller.

The truth will always come out, but at what cost? 

Fresh from successfully closing their first live case, the Future Policing Unit are called in to investigate when a headless, handless body is found on a Warwickshire farm. But as they work to identify the victim and their killer, the discovery of a second body begins to spark fears that The Aston Strangler is back. And as the stakes rise for the team, so do the tensions brewing within it.

When DCS Kat Frank is accused of putting the wrong man behind bars all those years ago, AIDE Lock – the world's first AI Detective – pursues the truth about what happened with relentless logic. But Kat is determined to keep the past buried, and when she becomes the target of a shadowy figure looking for revenge, Lock is torn between his evidence-based algorithms and the judgement of his partner, with explosive results.  

When everything hangs in the balance, it will all come down to just how much an AI machine can learn, and what happens when they do . . .

Human Remains by Jo Callaghan was published in hardback on 24 April 2025 by Simon & Schuster and is the third book in this series. My thanks to the publisher who sent my copy for review. 

I ADORE this series!  Jo Callaghan is truly one of the finest crime authors we have, she's created an original and unique detective duo in Kat Frank and AIDE Lock.  Along with the precise and compelling plot lines, she's also expert at creating relationships between her characters. Her human characters, especially Kat, are perfectly created, showing all aspects of humanity and dealing with grief and the effects so very well. 

Whilst Human Remains can be read as a stand alone story, I'd recommend that people read the first two books in the series first. Readers will then be more aware of the back story of all of the characters and how they've moved on through the series. 

The title of this novel is apt.  Kat and Lock are called in to investigate a case where human remains have been discovered. However, it's not a simple case of identification as the body is minus its head and hands. As they do their best to try to identify the corpse, another body is found.  Despite the fact that Kat successfully caught the Aston Strangler some years ago, there's suspicion that the wrong man was jailed and that these killings are the work of the real Strangler.  Kat is hounded by a podcaster who is determined to blacken her name. 

Kat has more to hide than anyone knows and it is her determination to keep certain things quiet that make Lock's quest for the truth more difficult. The reader is also not aware of the truth and this adds an air of mystery and suspicion whilst reading. Add an anonymous narrator who is absolutely determined to do harm to Kat to the mix and you have a tense, thrilling read that really is difficult to put down. 

Jo Callaghan has left readers with a huge question at the end of this book, and I am desperate to know just where she is going to go next with this duo. There's a lot to discuss, a great deal to think about, in terms of advancements and AI and our future. 

An incredible story. One of my favourite series for sure and highly recommended. 

Jo Callaghan works full time as a senior strategist, carrying out research into the future impact of AI and genomics on the workforce. 

She was a student of the Writers' Academy Course (Penguin Random House) and was longlisted for the Mslexia Novel Writing Competition and Bath Novel Competition. 

After losing her husband to cancer in 2019 when she was just forty-nine, she started writing In the Blink of an Eye, her debut crime novel, which explores learning to live with loss and what it means to be human. 

She lives with her two children in the Midlands, where she spends far too much time tweeting as @JoCallaghanKat and is currently working on further novels in the series.