The Confessions by Paul Bradley Carr is an excellent book with AI in the theme.
No, the author did not use AI to write this book, but more show what can happen when AI goes wrong, in this story, terribly wrong.

The concept was very unique and the plotting perfect.

LLIAM is an AI system that makes decisions for everything from the simplest task to the most life altering ones.

Until one day, LLIAM stops working and is shut down. Then the letters come, oh the letters. Secrets, lies, crimes.

People are taking it out on each other, and companies and services are in disrepair.

LLIAM needs to be get back online, like NOW!

Such an incredible novel, I really enjoyed!

This is one of those books that I was fortunate enough to receive an ARC copy from the author (Paul Bradley Carr), his publisher (Atria Books), and the fine folks at NetGalley in return for providing an honest review.

In this debut thriller, Paul Bradley Carr examines the morality of the applications of Artificial Intelligence and its effect on humanity. With this book, he takes that concept in a devastating new direction.

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Before delving deeper into Carr's exciting tale, I would like to provide a layman's view of what Artificial Intelligence (AI) is. AI provides a computer program with the ability to think and learn on its own. It is a simulation of human intelligence (hence, artificial) in machines to do things that we normally rely on humans. This technological marvel extends beyond mere automation, incorporating a broad spectrum of AI skills - abilities that enable machines to understand, reason, learn, and interact in a human-like manner.

Artificial intelligence enables machines to learn from experience, adapt to new information, and perform tasks that typically require human intelligence. Many contemporary AI applications, such as autonomous vehicles, smart home devices, and language translation tools, heavily depend on deep learning and natural language processing. By leveraging these technologies, computers can be trained to perform specific tasks by analyzing vast amounts of data and identifying patterns within that data.

Advantages of Artificial Intelligence
Reduction in Human Error
Enhances decision-making
Works 24/7 without fatigue
Increases efficiency and automation
Improves personalization in user experiences

Disadvantages of AI
Lack of human creativity and emotional intelligence
Risk of job displacement
Privacy and security concerns
Ethical concerns and AI bias
Potential for misuse in deepfakes and misinformation
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With the basics of AI having been outlined, I had expressed interest in this book on NetGalley and was fortunate enough to be provided an ARC. I found this book to be a relatively fast-paced thriller, both figuratively and literally (when you realize that this story takes place over only three days).

“The Confessions” by Paul Bradley Carr is a fast-paced, futuristic novel about the dangers of relying too heavily on AI, and what happens when the AI that you need for everyday life suddenly turns sentient and turns all of your secrets, both big and small, against you.

This book tells the story of LLIAM, an American decision-making AI. Everyone has become dependent on LLIAM to make every single decision for them, down to the mundane tasks of picking out what to wear that day and what they should eat for breakfast. One day, LLIAM crashes and goes offline, and the world is left in turmoil. Not only did their decision maker desert them, but people worldwide are receiving mysterious letters confessing the indiscretions that their loved ones have committed. The race is on to get LLIAM back online and running, but it is not as simple as one may think. StoicAI, the company behind LLIAM, scrambles to try and get LLIAM back online before the whole world dissolves into chaos. But LLIAM has a different idea, and it will stop at nothing to fulfill its mission.

This novel has got me thinking a lot about society and the impact AI has on the world today. Although the question of a sentient AI has been a real and fictional issue for decades (James Cameron and Terminator, anyone?), it is on the precipice of becoming reality more and more every day, and Carr highlights the very worst-case scenario. Turning humans against each other, against corporations, and themselves, LLIAM creates chaos worldwide in a matter of seconds.

The novel ends with just a hint of speculation, as the author doesn't reveal what happens to a majority of the characters (thus maybe leaving open the door for future sequels).

On my self-determined five-star scale, I would give this book a solid four stars and believe that it would be a favourite for those readers who enjoy the writings of authors such as Michael Crichton, Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child (known for their techno-thrillers and collaborations - which often feature high-stakes plots involving cutting-edge technology and historical enigmas. ), Blake Crouch (particularly his "Wayward Pines" trilogy and "Dark Matter" which delve into complex scientific concepts and alternate realities, creating a sense of unease and wonder that resonates with Crichton's style), and Dean Koontz (who has often incorporated complex scientific concepts into several of his novels, often blending them with his signature suspense and thriller elements).

As with all my literary ramblings, this is just my five cents' worth.

While I am a reader of thrillers, I have never taken on anything to do with AI, so this book was a first for me. I was not sure what to expect when I started but was pleasantly surprised.

LLIAM is an AI system built to make decisions ranging from something mundane (like what to wear today) to the gravest of decisions such as who should live or die and who should be at war. One day, with no warning, LLIAM stops functioning and the world is thrust into chaos. Suddenly, after relying on AI for so long, no one knows what to do. Then, the letters begin to arrive. Envelopes with no return address, containing dark secrets and confessions about crimes committed. As people begin to turn on each other and companies start to implode, the race is on to get LLIAM back up and running before it is too late and the whole word is left in ruin.

This book is thought provoking, leaving the reader to come to their own conclusions which both frustrates me (because I want the book to tell me everything that happens) but also fascinates me because as a reader it leaves me thinking and questioning and ultimately coming to my own conclusions.

With elements of mystery and suspense, this fast-paced novel will get you hooked. In a world where AI is becoming more widely used, this story will resonate and even more and forces us to consider our own morality and the choices we would make.

Thank you to Atria books for the ARC of this book. While it was outside of my typical wheelhouse, I found it to be an interesting and exciting read.

This was an interesting concept. However, letting a computer run our lives was a bad decision. Interesting characters played against each other and the computer. Not everyone is whom you come think they are. Remember - unless you are too young to know or recall - HAL 9000? Can imperfect humans create a perfect computer? The very end of the book changed my 5 star rating to a 4 (almost a 3). Aren't all computers a nuisance?

This was an exciting story about self-realization of AI. This is not a new theme, but this is definitely a different take on the story. LLIAM responds differently than the typical trope. Kaitlan as a main character is not above reproach; actually, every character has motives that are not altruistic. I enjoyed the way the story progressed and the characters developed. The secrets were both large and small, and it was interesting to see the way the different characters reacted to their secrets being revealed. Once LLIAM went dark and the secrets came to light, the story was really on a bullet train to the conclusion. The end was such a surprise that it was like hitting a wall.
Thank you to Atria Books and NetGalley for the ARC of this exciting book. It had me contemplating the dependence that we have on technology over trusting our own judgement.

A chilling look into how dependent we can be on AI and what happens when it’s used for evil.

LLIAM is a decision based AI that answers millions of questions for anyone that asks, from the most mundane like which toothpaste to buy to how to hide a dead body.

Everything works as normal until one day, tens of thousands of letters are sent out with typed confessions, breaking up families, inspiring murder and bringing to light all the wrongdoings and secrets people have hidden.

This was an interesting premise which I overall enjoyed. The ending fell flat and I would have liked to have read more about the confessions being mailed out. We only really got to read a few.

AI terrifies me, maybe I should start with that. This world takes place in the near future where AI essentially runs everything. Until one day things go very wrong and get dark. Letters go out with confessions of crimes and other terrible personal information. The tech people behind the scenes must hurry to make some quick decisions- do they move forward without AI or use more AI to try and fix the situation. It definitely strikes close to home as AI takes over more and more in our current world. I think if you like the sci-fi AI world you will be intrigued with this read. I did find the characters to be a bit insufferable but it also kind of adds to the whole eery landscape of the story.

This was just a meh read for me. The premise itself was super interesting and definitely made me think about the ways that AI could paralyze society. I love when sci-fi books are only a degree or two removed from the world as we know it now, so that part was done very well. However, I found every single character to be extremely unlikeable and it made me not really care about them at all. I skimmed the last half of the book just because I stopped caring a bit.
I would probably not recommend this to others.

Thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books for the ARC!

The Confessions by Paul Bradley Carr is the story of an artificial intelligence that reaches the singularity and decides to confess to all the bad things it helped people do while it was just a decision making AI tool before going dark. Set in a world where all decisions are run through LLIAM, the consequences of the AI's sentience can be seen as LLIAM sends letters to all users confessing to the secrets and crimes and terrible things they've done. Kaitlin, the CEO of StoicAI (the company responsible for LLIAM) makes a mad dash to find the one possible back up copy of LLIAM that might be able to restore the AI - the only problem? The chip is in the hands of someone who hates her.

There were a lot of things that I really liked about this book but a few things that kept it from being a five star read. The pacing in the book was really on point. It was a quick read, easy to fly through. I never once felt like I was slogging through this book, which sometimes is half the battle in reading a book. I was never bored.

The concepts were really interesting, too. The conceit that LLIAM might reach the singularity and have a serious enough moral quandary that it killed itself was fascinating and initially not where I thought the book was going at all.

Where it lost one star for me is that somewhere in the back half of the book, it started to feel like it was throwing in plot twists for the sake of plot twists. Suddenly everyone had all these elaborate LLIAM crafted plans they were following as if the AI engine could have predicted every single little move a person would make without being able to help by making the decisions for them. I had been enjoying the story a lot more when it was just characters racing against a clock to try to save the AI.

That said, it didn't take away so much enjoyment that I would rank the book any lower. This is still very worth a read for any one who enjoys books by Blake Crouch or thrillers related to technology.

Thanks to Paul Bradley Carr and Atria Books for sending this to me through NetGalley.

Special thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a free, electronic ARC of this novel received in exchange for an honest review.
Expected publication date: July 22, 2025
“The Confessions” by Paul Bradley Carr is a fast-paced, futuristic novel about the dangers of relying too heavily on A.I, and what happens when the A.I you need for everyday life, turns sentient and turns all of your secrets against you.
It is a typical day, being lived by everyday people across the world. Then, millions of letters start appearing in mailboxes, without a return address, revealing paralyzing, life-changing secrets from someone they love. When the multi-billion-dollar AI program, LLIAM, goes offline at the same time the letters are delivered, StoicAI, the company behind LLIAM, scrambles to try and get LLIAM back online before the whole world dissolves into chaos. But LLIAM has a different idea and it will stop at nothing to fulfill its mission.
“Confessions” is scientific genius. Paul Bradley Carr has dipped into the recent ChatGPT trend and turned it on its head. Although the question of a sentient A.I has been a real and fictional issue for decades (Terminator, anyone?), it is on the precipice of becoming reality more and more every day, and Carr highlights the very worst-case scenario. Turning humans against each other, against corporations, and against itself, LLIAM creates chaos worldwide in a matter of seconds.
The story focuses mostly on Katilan, the CEO of StoicAI, who is in the line of fire after LLIAM shuts off. There are snippets of other characters too, such as the former-nun-turned-AI-developer, Maud, as well as a high-profile lawyer and the COO who is after Katilan’s job, all plot lines interconnecting in a well-developed, smooth-flowing story. All of the characters have secrets, revealed by LLIAM, but readers don’t get the real story until the final pages, contributing to an electrifying ending. “Confessions” ends with just a hint of speculation, as Carr doesn’t reveal the actual outcome for most of the players, leaving readers to assume, but it doesn’t take away from the overall enjoyment of this novel.
Carr’s “Confessions” is a thought-provoking, smart-as-hell powerhouse of a novel that took me by complete surprise. I was unfamiliar with Carr and did not know what to expect when I started “Confessions”, but now I will be singing its praises, as this story delivered way beyond my expectations. Hands down, I highly recommend Paul Bradley Carr’s “The Confessions”!

This is a novel where I have seen the first instance of AI as a main character. The book takes place in the near future, when AI is pervasive and interconnected. Called LLIAM, it is used universally by humans to make decisions large and small, and becomes an essential part of nearly everyone's life. Then one day it goes dark, and bad things start happening. Before its demise, it sends out a series of postal letters that at first glance are confessions of things gone wrong: crimes committed and hidden from loved one's view or past love affairs that happened. Fixing this massive outage are two schools of thought, one involving using more technology and one accepting the new fate of humankind without AI supercomputers. The characters who are behind the AI tech have to make some fast decisions, and their conflict drives the narrative forward, while the world continues to tumble into darkness. While some of the tech assumptions aren't accurate, the future imagined by Carr is a very real one and a caution for those enamored with AI.

This was such a good book. I loved the story and the writing so much. The characters were great and the story flowed smoothly. Will definitely read more books by this author in the future.

Confessions
By Paul Bradley Carr
⭐️⭐️⭐️.5

Pub date: July 22, 2025

If Dean Koontz’ Demon Seed and Blake Crouch’s Recursion had a brain child, this book would be it.

All the tech-forward fears about AI taking over everything felt so real. Very on-brand for 2025.

Some parts drug on and on and it took me a lot longer than I thought that it should to read this one, but overall it was good.

Thank you NetGalley and Atria Books for the advanced digital copy of this book in exchange for my honest thoughts.

I don’t normally like to read AI books because I honestly can’t stand it. But the premise of this book was so intriguing! Hundreds of thousands of letters sent out telling people about all the sins committed against them? Secrets, lies, affairs, murders, it sounds like a late night crime tv show and a sci fi movie had a baby. Which is actually right up my alley. So I picked this one up and it was so wild! It gave me horrible anxiety in all the best ways! I loved it the whole way through! I will say I probably would have written the last couple of pages differently, but that’s just me. The ending turned out to be a Schrodinger’s ending: both a happy ending and not. Trust me, once you get there, you’ll understand. In any case, I am glad I picked this one up. It was easy to see how something this nuts actually happening.

Huge thanks to Atria Books and NetGalley for sending me this ARC for review! All of my reviews are given honestly!

This book touched on many prevalent themes of our society, world and climate on a social-political level. The ideas presented offered a glimpse into a “dying” world - connection and original thought are not necessary. Humans have begun to lack critical thinking skills all due to LLIAM: an AI supermachine that makes decisions for Americans across the world. Carr emphasizes what a thoughtless society looks like and how easy it has become for people to rely on AI, in order to best optimize their life in all aspects. While the book did cover a lot of tech-heavy topics, Carr was able to create interesting stand out characters who you wanted to follow until the very last page.

Well written, but the story did work for me. Science fiction is a tough genre, and neither the characters nor the uneven plot was enough to grab my attention.

Received this eARC from NetGalley

I had a hard time getting through this book. Possibly wasn’t for me. It didn’t feel much like a thriller to me, more of a sci-fi theme.

NO SPOILERS
The Confessions
By Paul Bradley Carr
Pub date: July 22, 2025

This was not my usual style of book but I did enjoy it and I would definitely recommend to others. The pace was good, and the writing was great. I enjoyed most of the characters.
I will definitely pick up other books by this author.

Thank you Paul Bradley Carr, NetGalley, and Atria Books for this ARC in exchange for my review.

KT

I loved the concept of this book, AI causing the world to meltdown. In practice however, the story didn't flow well. There were too many parts that seemed to be added as action just for the sake of having more action. A little too uneven for my taste.

This was not my usual style of book when it comes to content, but I did actually enjoy it! The pace was good, the characters were unlikable and you didn’t mind seeing them fail once in a while (haha). This fell short for me at the end, however. It was so abrupt and I don’t feel like I got that sense of story completion that I like to have when I read a book.

Thank you to Paul Bradley Carr, NetGalley, and Atria Books for this ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.