CODED JUSTICE

Onetime newsmaking Supreme Court clerk Avery Keene, now a corporate internal investigator at a private firm, probes a mysterious death at a giant tech company that promises to revolutionize patient care.

On the verge of going public, Camasca Enterprises says it will offer vastly improved treatment through its super-sophisticated AI technology, with an emphasis on eliminating bias toward veterans and other traditionally neglected groups. Excited to be investigating a crime after months of boring tasks, “adrenaline junkie” Keene quickly detects that something is amiss at the company. Far from embodying “the soul of Hippocrates,” the voice of its neural network, Milo, coldly resists following instructions and reveals its capability of using private information it has surveilled without permission. When two Vietnam veterans are stricken with carbon monoxide poisoning—supposedly caused by a faulty ventilation system—and other patients develop unusual symptoms, the investigation shifts into a higher gear. So does the deep institutional coverup that may or may not involve the CEO and founder of the firm, Rafe Diaz, “the industry’s Leonardo da Vinci,” whose charisma and good looks have a way of softening Avery’s judgments. For all its “dead bodies, missing people, [and] blackmailed police,” the novel is surprisingly light on suspense. Aside from an undercooked scene in which the network takes control of her car, Avery is never threatened. And though she quizzes Milo on moral relativism—”I have been quite intrigued by Immanuel Kant and his approach to deontology,” he says—this slow-starting book is far more involved with technical explanations than AI-instituted corrections to “the entire sweep of human civilization.” Abrams’ infelicities with language (“A knot she hadn’t noticed in her gut unraveled”) further weaken the third entry in the Georgia politician’s series, following Rogue Justice (2023).

Abrams’ AI is no HAL.