Part political intrigue, part mystery thriller, and part near-future speculative fiction, Coded Justice examined the impact of AI in the healthcare industry. Camasca, a tech startup, is creating an AI healthcare model that is more inclusive to combat racial disparities in healthcare. However they soon launch an investigation when a team member dies on the job and a warning against the machine surfaces.

This book is very well researched and I thought it was fascinating to have Stacey Abrams lend her political knowledge to tackle some modern issues with AI and healthcare, especially in the realm of VA, which often gets overlooked.

However, the dialogue is very exposition-heavy, which makes all the characters sound unnatural and the quips didn’t quite land. The themes are interesting and topical but the execution wasn’t there for me, which is disappointing as Abrams is a good writer.

Special thanks Doubleday Books and NetGalley for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest, independent review.

Book #3 in the Avery Keene series. Stacey Abrams' professional history includes politics on both the local and federal levels. This is evident in the realistic approach to the reach of the AI systems that are at the center of CODED JUSTICE. Camasca Enterprises has developed a groundbreaking AI system that is poised to revolutionize healthcare. The system has been launched to enhance the treatment of soldiers and veterans within the military. Following an unexplained death, Camasca is looking for answers. Is there a problem with the program, or is there an outside influence attempting to disrupt it? Avery Keene has been tasked by her firm to investigate and report her findings quickly. Avery and her team find many questions with few answers until it becomes clear that someone is trying to stop their research. The story is fast-paced as they race to prevent more deaths.

Stacey Abrams has always been on my TBR list as a Georgian. This book did not disappoint. The book deals with AI on the medical side. A riveting mystery with lots of current issues. AI seemed to be in my life this week and this dealt with it from the ways it can help with warning of how it can hurt. I highly recommend this book.

This was such a fun popcorn thriller with a surprisingly smart take on AI. It’s the third Avery Keene book, and I really enjoyed being back in that world—fast-paced plot, political and legal intrigue, and just enough personal drama to keep things grounded. You definitely have to pay attention as you read (classic Avery), but it’s worth it.

What stood out most to me this time was how the book handles artificial intelligence—not in a sci-fi, killer robot way, but in a more unsettling “what if the system thinks it knows better than us?” kind of way. There are multiple AI systems involved, and the way they interact—both with the humans and with each other—is genuinely fascinating. They’re not evil, exactly. But they’re logical, strategic, and sometimes manipulative in ways that feel eerily real. One thread explores how an AI might pretend to be aligned just to avoid being retrained, and it gave me chills in the best way.

That said, it still reads like a thriller—big moments, shifting alliances, and some tense scenes I won’t spoil, but whoa. The story moves quickly, and even though some parts are a bit over-the-top, I was fully in.

If you’ve read the first two books, this is a solid continuation. If you haven’t, you could probably jump in here, but you’ll get more out of it with the backstory. It’s entertaining, a little bit unsettling, and made me think more than I expected. Definitely recommend if you like smart thrillers with something to say. Thank you Doubleday for the gifted ebook to review.

4.5 ⭐️
This book was great, really great! This is my first Stacy Abrams book, and I am thrilled to read more.

She writes a very in-depth, descriptive, and compelling story! I highlighted every time I came across a vocab word, words that are not commonly used in books or speaking, and I counted 65+ words in the book. She included vocabulary like eidetic, disquietude, recalcitrant, insouciance, concomitant, sicced, and so many more. Abrams was like you are going to learn something from my book and I loved being challenged while reading! That does not happen often, with the books and the genres I read. So that made me even more invested in reading.

Her topics were highly relevant and I could see this happening, or something similar, as we integrate AI into our lives more and more. Additionally, after reading Legacy by Dr. Uché Blackstock earlier this year, this book felt connected by the themes of addressing racial health inequities, and in this story, specifically, veterans of color. I would definitely recommend Legacy after reading this for those interested in the healthcare system with the lens of racial inequities.

I did get a little confused with the amount of tech jargon. She definitely tried to explain healthcare and AI/tech terms and intricacies, and while it worked a lot of the time, sometimes it felt that, as a reader not in tech, things were going to go above my head no matter how well she explained something. Near the end, there was a long scene with a lot of techy dialogue in an intense situation, and it felt too drawn out. It was a little silly and exhaustive, and I think it could have been shorter to get the reader to the ending quicker.

Other than that, it was thoroughly entertaining. I am eager to read more Abrams.

Thank you to NetGalley and Doubleday Books for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Coded Justice is another great book in the Avery Keene series. You learn a lot about AI (artificial intelligence) in the medical industry and the way it can be utilized. Are the humans behind its use doing it for good or are there ulterior motives? The book takes you through many twists and turns as Avery and her friends investigate a company and its staff as the company, Camasca, prepares for an IPO. It is a thrilling and spellbinding book that leaves you on the edge of your seat as different events occur. I high;y recommend this book.

A new book in the Avery Keene series, and it is a great read, especially for readers who enjoy books by John Grisham and Michael Connelly. This one has Avery taking a new job in D.C., hoping to put the recently disturbing past behind her. She's at an elite law firm, and when an important client specifically asks for her, she's intrigued. Of course, there's a reason, and it is not good for Avery. Lots of twists and turns, lots of action. The more you know Avery, the more you will enjoy this book, but it definitely works as a standalone title. I look forward to recommending it.

If you weren't already at least a little freaked out by AI, this will help you get there for sure. I've really enjoyed the previous Avery Keene books, and while this isn't my favorite for a few reasons (it's too long, and occasionally gets into the weeds a little too much with descriptions/discussions of the technology), it still has the clever legal work and enough heart-racing thrills that I never considered stopping this one.

I was fortunate enough to receive via NetGalley a review copy of Coded Justice by Stacey Abrams (Doubleday, 15 July 2025), the third thriller from political leader and entrepreneur Stacey Abrams featuring lawyer Avery Keene. Keene is now working as a private investigator for a law firm that specializes in helping their clients identify their risk exposure, legal speak for finding their problems before the regulatory agencies do. Keene is tasked to investigate an accidental death in a highly touted health care artificial intelligence company that is poised to go public in a blaze of publicity and money.

Rafael Diaz has transformed his military experience and his concern for the subpar health care veterans receive into an innovative suite of technology tools to support both the veteran and the medical staff caring for them. A key feature is the ability to adjust for innate treatment biases involving race and gender, known issues in medical care. After deploying the system for trial use in a clinic in the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, the IPO paperwork is being finalized when a series of odd but dangerous errors in diagnoses and pharmaceuticals are identified along with a failure in the office HVAC system that results in the death of a key employee.

An interesting change from the legal settings of the earlier books, this one has an involved plot from both medical and technical perspectives. The unequal amounts of IT knowledge across readers required lengthy data dumps to ensure understanding of the issues at play. I found the story an absorbing mix of insider details on corporate start-ups, the VA health care system, and potential applications of artificial intelligence. It includes more than one swipe at the health records system in use by the military, electronic and otherwise, something I know about through my work.

I quickly realized “coded” in the title has more than one meaning. While it references software programming, it also means the differentiation of medical diagnosis and treatment based on race and gender. The patient is classified (coded) based on race and gender, and treatment decisions are based on that code. Then one of the engineers mentions code switching, changing behavior to match the social context of a situation. All three definitions apply here.

One error I noted which I hope will be corrected in the final release: Early in the book the AI system states someone has a hyperthyroid condition which is likely the cause of his recent weight gain. An overactive thyroid (hyper) causes weight loss, not weight gain. An underactive thyroid (hypo) causes weight gain.

A techno thriller rather than a legal thriller, Coded Justice makes a compelling case for the need to legislate and manage AI as well as the long-known need to improve medical care for veterans.

Starred review from Booklist.

Wow. Just wow.

Stacey Abrams’s "Coded Justice" should be required reading for anyone in government—or really anyone—who cares about where AI is taking us.
It wasn’t abstract; it was real, present, and dangerous. The novel made me think. Are people paying attention to what’s happening with AI? Who is in charge? Tech bros? Government? Are we going to have a human-based economy or not? Do we even want one?

This is the first Stacey Abrams novel I’ve read, and I was completely hooked. I wasn’t confused with the returning characters. At the center of the novel is Avery Keene—the brilliant Supreme Court clerk from Abrams’s earlier books—now trying to put the past behind her at a prestigious law firm in Washington, D.C. She’s working as an internal investigator retained by Camasca Enterprises, an about-to-go public tech company. Camasca has developed an integrated AI system they claim will revolutionize healthcare—especially for veterans. The prototype is malfunctioning in chilling ways. And when a beloved engineer ends up dead, things turn very dark, very fast.

This book blew me away. Abrams tackles some of the thorniest, most current topics out there: AI in medicine, medical bigotry, corporate ethics, hallucinating algorithms, phantom patients, faked alignment, even the anthropomorphizing of AI programs. But she does it in a way that’s so smart and insider-y—and yet totally readable. Coded Justice is not a dry tech treatise. It’s sharp, fast, human with strong storytelling, vivid writing, and an author who knows how to break down complex ideas without dumbing them down. Coded Justice is smart, riveting, and incredibly timely. Loved it.
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“Coded Justice,” by Stacey Abrams, Doubleday, 432 pages, July 15, 2025.

Avery Keene now has a prestigious position at Clymer Brezil, a high-end law firm in Washington, D.C., after a tumultuous run as a clerk on the Supreme Court. With her reputation preceding her, Avery is quickly tasked with becoming a corporate internal investigator.

Elisha Hibner is vice president of bioinformatics at Camasca, a mega-tech firm that's developing a new integrated AI system poised to revolutionize the medical industry, particularly by delivering improved health care to veterans.

Hibner heads the Tiger Team, a small group of specialists in their field. O.J. Siemans and Isabella Gomez are the others on the team. They are finding anomalies in their work. The three of them are working late one night when they are sickened and Hibner dies. Bethesda police rule it an accidental death because of a malfunction in a ventilation system.

Noah Fox, Avery’s friend and fellow attorney, calls Avery early one morning. They go to Camasca to meet with attorney Glenn Paul Freeman and Dr. Rafe Diaz. They want Avery to prove that no one at Camasca murdered Hibner. She can bring on her friends: Fox, Jared Wynn and Dr. Ling Yin.

Then two veterans, former Lt. Ben Vinson and former Master Sgt. Brian Thomas, both patients at InnoVAI, a division of Camasca, have similar medical crises. Dr. Kate Liam and Dr. Reginald Scandrett are both of the men’s physicians. Are the veterans’ issues related to Hibner’s death?

This is the third book in the series, but it can be read as a stand-alone novel. The characters are great and the technology is fascinating. The plot becomes intense as Avery and her team race against a threat. Did Camasca create Data, the ethical android from “Star Trek: The Next Generation,” or Hal, the murderous computer from “2021: A Space Odyssey?”

I rate it five out of five stars.

In accordance with FTC guidelines, the advance reader's edition of this book was provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for a review.

The third in the Avery Keene series looks into the world of AI and the medical field as the group of friends are requested to determine how a person died at a technology company about to go public. The stakes were high in this and super topical at the moment. Abrams does a great job of demonstrating the helpfulness and the negative aspects of the technology. With great pacing as Avery pulled back the layers to the mystery, readers might be satisfied with the ending or it could lead to great discussion. Definitely a great read for 2025.

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC!

Coded Justice is a wild ride - much different than other books I’ve read lately and I loved it! Avery Keene teams up again with her boyfriend and tech security specialist, Jordan, and her friends Ling, a doctor, and Noah, a fellow lawyer to get to the bottom of a mysterious death at a company on the brink of going public. Camasca Enterprises has designed a beyond cutting edge, integrated medical AI system, with a goal to particularly help veterans given their often complex medical history and under resourced medical teams. The system seems to be working beautifully until more deaths occur and Avery and team race to determine who the nefarious party is, and if it’s human or AI! I loved the relationships between the friends, and most of all, I loved the authors imagination about where and how AI can go awry. Highly recommend!

Thank you to the publisher and to NetGalley for the opportunity to read an advanced copy.

This is the third mystery thriller featuring Avery Keen. I read the first one when Avery was a law clerk for the U.S. Supreme Court. Now Avery is working at a prestigious law firm in Washington D.C. as an internal investigator. Their client, a tech company, has developed AI software that is intended to remove medical bias and improve healthcare. Except the software glitches and a life is lost during testing. Avery has the help of her team; Ling, a doctor, Jared, her whip-smart tech boyfriend and Noah who works magic with a keyboard. Together they investigate. But with more deaths the situation needs to be resolved quickly.

I didn’t love this as much as the first book in the series. I like Avery but at times the writing gets too technical or goes off on philosophical tangents. But I still enjoyed the mystery and the pacing. Abrams delivers a complex thriller and includes twists that kept me guessing. And I would have liked to have a little more on the personal side of her relationship with Jared.

I love how Stacey Abrams finds things that could go wrong in the world and has that being the worst case scenario in a book. In this case, AI is the thing that goes wrong, despite a team of people who truly want the best - eliminating bias in medical care for veterans. This book starts off with the scientists being poisoned and Avery Keene is brought in to do an internal investigation. This book can be technically heavy, but it was unputdownable. Thank you to NetGalley and Doubleday Books for a chance to read this one early in exchange for an honest review.

A cautionary tale about AI. Don't worry if you haven't read the earlier books in this series about the ernest and dogged Avery Keene, an attorney who has dealt with conspiracy and danger at the highest levels (including the White House and the Supreme Court.) Now she's in private practice and she's been hired to do an internal investigation at a firm creating AI for use in the VA. Know that this leans in hard (too hard) on the tech and on explanations of how the AI will work (that didn't really help me) to, I think, the detriment of the plot early on. It rights itself once Avery brings in her team to work their way through the company records. The conspiracy here is less compelling than curious. I've liked Avery in the past and once again enjoy her attitude toward just about everything. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. No spoilers from me. It will be easy to give up on this early on due to the tech talk but stick with it and it's a pretty good read.

I love a morally murky corporate thriller like I love leftover birthday cake at 2 am. But “Coded Justice” had me flipping between yes queen, expose the machine and I swear to God, if one more man monologues about anything network related, I’m walking into the Potomac.

Avery Keene is back, baby. Still brilliant, still exhausted, and now buried up to her stylish blazers in tech bros, veteran healthcare, and a mysterious death at a Silicon Valley-adjacent startup that is definitely giving "Black Mirror" if it were sponsored by Amazon. She’s working at a fancy DC law firm now, which means fewer Supreme Court shenanigans and more buttoned-up investigative consulting. But don't worry, she still gets dragged into chaos that ends in body bags.

The premise? Camasca Enterprises is ready to unleash an AI that promises to eliminate medical bias and revolutionize healthcare, particularly for veterans. Great idea. Except the software keeps glitching, there might be a murderer, and someone’s anonymously screaming “SOMETHING IS WRONG” from the shadows like they’re ghostwriting a manifesto for ChatGPT’s evil twin. Enter Avery, who, armed with a suspiciously competent squad (Ling the doctor, Jared the tech-whisperer boyfriend, and Noah the keyboard goblin), dives into the company like it’s a crime scene wrapped in HIPAA violations.

Now let’s talk tone whiplash. One minute we’re debating the ethics of machine learning over a tense boardroom meeting, the next someone might be sabotaging a server room with HVAC gas. And then suddenly Avery’s just... back at her apartment in soft lighting, pondering justice like she’s auditioning for a Ken Burns doc. I was fully expecting a twist where the AI achieves sentience, but instead we got extended moral discussions and… emotional backstory breadcrumbs. The drama tries, but it does get outpaced by the philosophy lecture it snuck in its purse.

Avery remains a compelling lead. She’s a human lie detector with a chip on her shoulder and a tragic past she will not discuss unless cornered by death or heartbreak. Her relationship with Jared? Warm and competent but mostly exists in the background, like a supportive golden retriever with cybersecurity skills. Honestly, I miss the messy emotional confrontations from book one. This version of Avery feels too polished, too filtered—like LinkedIn Avery showed up instead of the woman who once dismantled federal corruption while her personal life burned down in slow motion.

And here’s the tea: there are some really interesting side characters and layered red herrings. But the pacing can’t decide if it’s a legal procedural or a tech-noir fever dream. Some chapters feel like they’re being graded by an ethics professor, and others drop you into full “this is a murder, isn’t it?” territory. At one point I thought we were getting a twist. Instead, it was a debate about responsibility and collective accountability. Respect, but also: girl. Give me something to scream about.

Still, Abrams does not go for the lazy “AI is evil and wants to kill us all” trope. She threads a much more nuanced narrative: AI is a tool, humans are the chaos, and corporate ambition is the real monster. It's sharp and timely, but occasionally feels like you need a second brain just to keep up with the acronyms. If you love thrillers that flex their STEM muscles and sprinkle in murder like seasoning, this one’s for you.

I’m giving it a solid 3.5 stars. The bones are strong, the themes are relevant, but the execution gets a little lost in its own ambition. Still, I’d trust Avery Keene to dig up my secrets and prosecute my enemies with style.

Whodunity Award: For Making Me Suspect the Algorithm, the Founder, the Guy in Compliance, and Whatever Ghost Haunts the Server Room

Huge thanks to Doubleday Books and NetGalley for the ARC. You really said, “Here’s some cutting-edge AI, a suspicious death, and a side of corporate dread,” and I said, “Why yes, I would like that combo meal of chaos.”

The premise sounded interesting on this one but for me it didn't quite do it.

What worked for me was reading the about the things that Avery and crew were digging up during their investigation that had me side-eying the robots and some humans too so I wanted to see it through to find out what exactly happened to Elisha Hubner..

What didn't work for me was that there was a lot of science and medical jargon in the book that felt like information overload at points and didn't really add to the story. Due to this the book didn't really flow at all times and took a little bit away from the buildup. Once I got to the end and found out what really happened it felt a little lackluster with all the effort that went into getting to that point . then with the decisions that were made by Rafe Diaz on one hand I understood but on the other hand I was a little annoyed.

Overall I thought the book was just okay but it just felt like too much information at times that took my attention away from the ultimate storyline. Thank you to the publisher Double Day Books and Netgalley for this ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

📖 Book: Coded Justice by Stacey Abrams
⭐️ Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ – Perfect Pour
🍸 Cocktail Pairing: The Algorithm Sour – Blackberry Bourbon Lemonade

This one started slow, but once it locked in? I was fully uploaded into the drama.

Avery Keene is back and sharp as ever, digging through tech secrets, veteran care, and AI conspiracy like the legal baddie she is.
I love this series, and while the build-up took its time, the payoff delivered: a smart, twisty ride through corporate politics, moral dilemmas, and the shadowy side of innovation.

If you love your thrillers with brains, sass, and high stakes? This is your next pour.

🍹 The Algorithm Sour – Bold, Complex, and Built for the Plot Twist
2 oz bourbon
¾ oz fresh lemon juice
½ oz blackberry syrup (or muddled blackberries + simple syrup)
Splash of club soda
Garnish: lemon wheel + blackberry skewer
Instructions:
Shake bourbon, lemon juice, and blackberry syrup with ice. Strain into a rocks glass, top with club soda, and garnish.
It’s dark, rich, and deceptively refreshing, just like Avery’s cases.

⭐️ Rating: Perfect Pour – Smooth, flavorful, and just the right kick.

#BetweenSipsAndPages #CocktailsAndChapters #CodedJustice #StaceyAbramsBooks #PerfectPourReads #Bookstagram #BlackWomenInThrillers #AveryKeeneSeries #BooksWithBite #BookAndBourbon #AlgorithmSour #LegalThrillersAndLiquor

Avery Keene is a top notch investigator who’s gotten involved in some huge cases in the past. In her third novel, Avery is tasked with investigating a soon to be giant tech organization when one of their employees dies on the job. Wanting to make sure everything is clean, the company asks Avery to investigate, thus embroiling her and her friends into the world of artificial intelligence.

If you’ve read While Justice Sleeps or Rogue Justice, this book is for you to see what Avery’s next moves are! I’ve come to enjoy her dogged determination and focus on getting the job done correctly, but Coded Justice fell short for me. The good parts: the world of AI is fascinating and all the more relevant with each passing day, raising some good ethical questions about how it should be used. A high stakes moment at the end that has you holding your breath. Some forced insight into Avery’s life and what’s holding her back in her relationships. The struggle parts: mostly dialogue, little action. A bit too technical with tech terminology for me. I think the bones are there, and I like the characters enough to keep reading. At the same time, I need a little more doing than just interviewing people to keep me entertained.

3.5/5 stars!

Thank you Netgalley and Doubleday Books an ARC of this novel!