This book had a cute little love story wrapped into this tale of murder. As a girl who enjoys IT, this was an interesting concept but it fell flat for me. There wasn’t enough action for me. I had to push to keep listening, however the narrator was great.

I thought this was just going to be a sci-fi/technology thriller. And it is....but with romance, and random mentions of Jesus and prayer thrown in here and there. All in all this felt like Hallmark Movie type of story with some extra fast paced pizazz to make it more exciting. It was kind of cozy.

This review is for the audio version. Thanks to the publisher for the opportunity to review this book before its release!

Overall, a book I very much enjoyed listening to! This was first Colleen Coble/Rick Acker novel and I was not disappointed! The narrator is Karen Peakes and she does an excellent job! From the beginning, the novel pulls the listener in. What personally attracted me to this, was the fact that artificial intelligence is part of the novel - it's something I'm very interested in (but also very leary of!). I was not shocked at the twist/ending (I had it figured out midway through). I don't want to say it was predictable - it was just easy for me to figure it out. This, however, did not dampen my enjoyment of the book!

One area where I was somewhat lost those is some of the Norwegian terminology/phrases/traditions that are mentioned. I do feel the book would have been helped by an explanation of this at the beginning.

Fans of Christian fiction will enjoy this as will romance suspense. Fans of the thrillers may enjoy as well as those interested in artificial intelligence (AI) may also find this novel enjoyable too.

As far as the romance goes, it is fairly tame and not steamy at all (as is usually the case of with Christian fiction).

This audiobook was pretty good! I did not see the twist at the end coming. I think the main character was kinda annoying, she is veryyyyyy quickly getting over her husbands death by dating her high school crush/he had a crush on her. That part made me mad. Like if you loved your husband, how would you so quickly move on??? None of the relationships seemed genuine.

Thank you to NetGalley, to the author, and to the publisher for this complementary ARC in exchange for my honest review!!!

4 ⭐️
This was a fun, interesting mystery that kept me hooked! I really enjoyed the use of AI in the storyline, I haven’t read anything like that before. The romance aspect was super cute, and I enjoyed that as well. I didn’t know this was a Christian book going into it, but I thought that aspect was well done. Overall, it wasn’t the best mystery I’ve ever read but was pretty good! I definitely will check out the other books by these authors.

Thank you to NetGalley, Colleen Coble, Rick Acker, HarperCollins Christian Publishing, and Thomas Nelson Fiction for the ARC

While I didn’t dislike this book, I also didn’t entirely like it.

There were many moving parts including AI, bitcoin, Norwegian heritage, a mild friends to lovers romance, national parks/hiking, a mystery to solve, religious overtones, career change, love triangle, found family, pregnancy, corruption, and death of a loved one(s) to name a few. With so much going on in one book it was difficult at times to keep focused on the plot. The synopsis doesn’t give big clues to how many topics will be covered. A series of books may have helped spread out all the interests and subplots that were occurring.

I enjoyed the narrator and felt she did a good job. I also enjoyed the main characters Katrina and Seb but overall I felt the plot could have been a little more streamlined. I didn’t mind the religious overtones but for someone who does they would never know religion was part of the book so more obvious disclosure would be better.

Above is my honest review. Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for this ARC.

Just a year ago, Katrina Berg was at the peak of her career. She was the rising star at a high-profile AI chatbot start-up, happily married to a devoted husband, and enjoying financial freedom beyond her dreams. But her world soon crumbled. Her husband, Jason, was killed in a horrific car accident. Her company's CEO was indicted, and as the company’s legal counsel, Katrina now faces hard questions as federal agents take over, barring her from her own office. The final blow came with the passing of her cherished grandmother.

Katrina's most treasured possession is a beta prototype of a new, hyper-advanced chatbot loaded onto her phone. She filled it with data from Jason’s emails, social media history, photos, and every digital trace she could find, and for the past six months, she’s “talked” to him through it every day. Astonishingly, the bot mirrors his expressions and phrasing so well that at times, it feels as though Jason is right there beside her. Although she knows it’s hindering her ability to grieve, she can’t bring herself to stop.

One especially difficult day, she types: Tell me something I don't know. The screen flickers for a moment, as if frozen, before a message appears: I think I was murdered.

This book was a bit difficult for me to get into with a lot of characters being introduced. But I did get into it and then I couldnt stop listening. AND THE TWIST!!!!!

MUST READ!

Thank you NetGalley, HarperCollins Christian Publishing and Colleen Coble and Rick Ackerman for this ARC of I Think I Was Murdered.

Bread this book I realized that the storyline in this book is actually something that could definitely happen in today’s world! This book kept me highly intrigued with all of the AI and human helpers that are available today!

I definitely recommend this book, not only for the suspense, but for the glimpse of what right at our fingertips.

This was a such an interesting read. It had me hooked pretty early on with all the twists and turns and unexpected points.

The aspect of AI was terrifying but very intriguing, it really added a lot to this story to give it more of a thriller vibe.

Very interesting plot involving mystery, AI, grief, and bitcoin currency. Definitely see this becoming more an issue in the near future, but listening to this murder mystery story was interesting. I would recommend to anyone that is interested in mysteries and current events.

The audio version was decent as well. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

A gripping thriller that keep you listening until the end. A young widow still “talking” with her late husband through an AI program. An u expected message force her to ask for help in order to unearth the truth about his death. Karen Peaks makes an excellent job with all the emotions,

Fun listen kept me engaged till the end
The story and the characters and
The writing very easy to listen to

Ok wow. I only requested a review copy of this book because it was one of the few Christian audiobooks available. I loved it so much more than I expected! The cover made me think it was going to be all tech-y and suspenseful. While it does have an AI aspect to it and plenty of suspense, it also has the cozy small town vibes I love. I also loved learning about the influence of Norwegian traditions in Katrina’s life. And! The small town is on the coast of Northern California, a beautiful area I’m very familiar with. Ok, enough with the fangirling. I guess you want to know what it’s about.

Katrina’s husband passed away a year before in a car accident. She’s able to continue “talking to him” through an AI chatbot. Of course it’s not really him, just an app that has access to every message he ever sent. During a conversation with the chatbot she finds out he was actually murdered. This book follows the story of her following clues to find out exactly how and why his death happened. She also goes back to the small town where she was raised and reconnects with an old friend who’s able to help her.

A few of my favorite things…
-the audiobook narrator did a great job!
-the goat on the roof of the Norwegian restaurant
-Northern California scenery
-family reconnecting
-the message about doing what’s right even when it’s hard

I didn’t care for…
-one of the characters, but the way it ended I liked

Know that…
-one of the main characters is pregnant and we realize she’s had a history of sleeping around

Perfect for…
someone looking for a suspenseful read.

Mystery with heavy religious and romance overtones.

I like thrillers that have to do with cutting edge technology and my impression was that this book was about an AI app and also about bitcoin. Although those were parts of the story, the main focus was on the character of Katrina Berg and her Norwegian family in North Haven. The concept of hygge (mood of coziness, warmth and comfort) is also emphasized and appears constantly within the prose. In addition, her romance with a restaurant owner, Seb Wallace, is another huge piece of the novel.

This was fast paced and a quick read, but it just had too much sappy romance for me. I would have liked much more focus on the AI chat bot aspect. Lots of family, home, hearth, sentimentality, and a bit too overly sweet.

I was able to listen to the audiobook while also following along in the e-book ARC, both provided by the publishers. As always, a good narrator can enhance my enjoyment of a book, and this was well done. I always believe, however, that a larger cast with male and female voices would add to the quality of an audio production.

This book was different in a good way. Katrina is grieving the sudden loss of her husband and not well. She’s communicating with a chat bot that has all her husband’s online info. It chats like he would. And then one day he says I think I was murdered, and hunt begins to see if he was.
I really enjoyed the characters in this book, although Katrina’s obsession with the chat bot got a bit annoying. At the same time, I’m not sure I wouldn’t have done the same if the technology was available when I lost someone.
This book was extremely well written and I look forward to more offerings from this duo.
I listened to this as a free audiobook from NetGalley and am leaving this review voluntarily.

This story was launching into the future with its AI references and bitcoin.

I wasn’t prepared for the twist and turns of the story! You feel bad for the main character at point but she is determined and strong after the death of her husband.

An amazing thriller that kept me hooked! Colleen Coble and Rick Acker are my favorite duo suspense authors. It's amazing how far AI has gone and the twists it brought to the case was outstanding.

Another suspenseful whodunnit from one of my favorite authors. I was introduced to a lot of terminology that I wasn't familiar with but as the story revealed itself I came to understand the technicalities. The characters were endearing and while the mystery unfolded I had a hard time determining who was the killer. The narrator was great too and I highly recommend this intriguing and complicated novel.

I think I was murdered

Katrina is a young widow dealing with a myriad of difficult situations- aside from her husbands death, the business she works for is being investigated, more death in her family and she just finds herself unable to cope.

This is when she uses a chat bot in her phone with sophisticated AI that uses Jason’s email, phone and other personal data to chat back with her so she can pretend he is still alive.

Then one day the chat bot / Jason replies “I think I was murdered.” This leads Katrina in a journey to learn if there is any truth behind the statement.

I was very intrigued by the AI aspect of the plot and feel it was well done while not the whole focus. I enjoy the thought provoking sentiments of the book and the “what would you do” in the same situation.

Thank you to NetGalley and Thomas Nelson and Zondervan Audio for the ALC in exchange for an honest review. Release date 11/12/24.

Another great suspense novel from Colleen Coble and Rick Acker! They did a great job dealing with technology and AI. It piqued my interest but didn't confuse me. I loved the characters and the mystery! I had my suspicious and did figure out whodunnit. I listened to the audiobook, which was well done.