Friday, August 24

You've Got Murder - Donna Andrews

When Turing Hopper first notices that her friend, programmer Zack, hasn't been at work for a few days she's mildly concerned, a worry that becomes more pronounced when Zack doesn't even remotely log in for five days. A little digging reveals a bigger worry - his existence at Universal Library is slowly being erased. Turing enlists the help of her only other friends, secretary Maude and Xeroxist Tim, to work out what's going on at UL. She needs them, because she can't go out and investigate herself - Turing's one of the first (and potentially only sentient) AIPs: an Artificial Intelligence Personality.
The novel alternates third person description with first person narrative from Turing, which not only covers the plot but also contains her musings on the Turing test (she's named for the creator, Alan Turing), and whether she really is sentient or just believes herself to be.
You've Got Murder is the first in what is, so far, a four book series. The intriguing and original protagonist would only be able to take this first installment so far, but Andrews has not only created a great character in Turing but also a vibrant supporting cast and a thrilling storyline. Although I promised myself I'd get straight out of bed this morning, I kept having to read just one more chapter, until I'd finished the book. I won't be reading the next soon, if only because I already have a significant backlog of library books (and the more of these I read the fewer inroads I'm making into my own unread library), but maybe in a month or so I'll look into the sequel, Click Here for Murder. - Alex

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