Coded Justice is the third entry in Stacey Abrams' Avery Keane series. While I very much enjoyed the first two books in the series, this book doesn't quite reach their level.

In Coded Justice, Abrams ambitiously takes on artificial intelligence's application in the medical and pharmaceutical sectors, along with a rich mix of other human foibles. Camasco is about to go public and attorney Avery Keane, her technie lover Jaryd, and her pals attorney Noah and physician Ling, each of whom, of course, is brilliant talented, and willing to work around the clock, are brought in to conduct a final internal audit just prior to the InitialPublicOffering, After several mysterious deaths, which Avery and her pals were not brought in to investigate but which of course they do, fingers point to one or more of the robots or to the head of a pharmaceutical compounding firm, or perhaps to a different human or robotic player. To follow all of the action, readers must have a vast array of knowledge, for Abrams uses too many technical words and acronyms too often and not always with full explanations. Although Coded Justice can be read as a stand-alone, those who attempt it may find the characters stiff, stereotypical, or not fully developed. The mystery itself, whose solution is revealed in the book's final pages, is interesting and twisted, with only the most acute readers figuring out who dunnit and why. Abrams shines when she describes the possible consequences of AI gone rogue, people whose motivation is greed above all, and ethical issues, including attorneys' and physicians' obligations of confidentiality.

Although Coded Justice is somewhat of a "mixed bag," diligent readers will find it worth the effort.

Stacey Abrams is back with other great book in the series. I loved how this book is part of a trilogy, but can definitely be read as a standalone as well. It was mysterious and captivating. I loved the law aspect to this book. I found myself really diving into the case right along side the characters. Stacey Abrams really does her research for her writing and uses correct terminology throughout.

Thank you to NetGalley and Doubleday Books for the advanced reader's copy in exchange for my honest review.

#codedjustice #netgalley

My thanks to Stacey Abrams, Doubleday Books, and NetGalley for access to the Advanced Reader Copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This is the fourth book in the author’s Avery Keene series, and it can be read independently of the other books in the series.

Avery works for a law firm where she has responsibility for investigations requested by the firm or clients. In this case, she is asked to investigate the death at a high-tech medical startup. She gathers her team of experts and as they begin investigating, more deaths occur.

The book is well written, and the mystery could be straight out of today’s headlines. I found the characters engaging and believable. Recommended.

I was super excited to see that Stacey Abrams was coming out with another installment in her Avery Keene series and this book did not disappoint.

This book finds Avery now working in the private sphere for a law firm where she has been hired to investigate a mysterious death at a tech firm developing cutting edge AI medical technology before the firm goes public. Avery has free reign to bring her friends Ling and Noah from the previous books and boyfriend Jared on board to assist with the investigation as they all have unique skillsets in law, medicine, and technology to help Avery figure out the truth and if this company needs to be stopped before anyone else dies.

The action in this book was fast paced although was broken up by perspectives of secondary characters who are interacting with this new AI technology which is being developed in order to better serve populations who receive substandard medical care due to medical and systemic racism from human doctors and human societal factors as a whole. In general this was a really interesting concept for Abrams to come up with although of course it does sidestep the issue in real life of AI learning from humans and absorbing racism that way. In the book this technology is being tested first on patients in the VA system.

While the plot overall was interesting, there were extended debates on ethics which absolutely raised good points for the reader to think about, could have been cut or shortened so it didn't seem like philosophy and ethics lectures were being shoved into a thriller. There was one scene in which I thought there was some plot twist and Avery was in danger, but she literally just has an extended debate about the ethics of this AI project and goes home.

I appreciated that the mystery aspect of this book had multiple solutions as different suspicious things were actually done by different people for a variety of reasons, not one bad actor, and the characters were complex enough that it wasn't obvious who was the "evil" person. I also appreciated that this wasn't a straightforward "AI is bad and can go rogue and kill everyone" kind of book, as while I am not at all a fan of AI and am very wary of it, I also think it's too easy to make AI the villain completely on its own and remove human factors.

The resolution was a little disappointing, but it made sense because justice cannot truly be served in every single case and it's debatable what justice even is depending on the circumstance.

Many thanks to Doubleday Books and to NetGalley for this ARC to review. This review is my honest opinion

There was a glitch with this book title. I could not upload, or read a copy of this book through NetGalley. So, I cannot review it.
Pennsylvania Literary Journal: Spring 2025 issue: https://anaphoraliterary.com/journals/plj/plj-excerpts/book-reviews-spring-2025

3.5 I enjoyed the other books in this series and was greatly looking forward to this one. I have to say this wasn't my favorite of the series. I think part of of it is due the very technological realm of AI. There was a lot of tech speak explaining various aspects, which can be eye-glazing to non-tech nerds. I also felt this caused some conversations to feel stilted. I appreciate Abrams exhaustive research on this topic. She does a good job exploring the theme- AI- good or evil? I do enjoy the character of Avery.

Perhaps part of my problem reading this is due to the ARC format I received. The entire book was broken up by random margin breaks- I'm sure there is a real term for this - throughout. I would be reading along and then suddenly in the middle of a paragraph the narrative would skip way down the page. Sometimes it would break up sentences, sometimes it would even break up words. While I realize that accepting an ACR means a not perfect, unedited copy, random breaks like this throughout the whole book interrupt the reading flow and make it difficult to maintain connection with the story, esp with a topic as technical as AI.

Thanks to Net Galley for this ARC

Coded Justice by Stacey Abrams

This is the third of the Avery Keene series and like the first two, hard to put down.

The story pulls me in from the start with an HVAC malfunction at Camasca, a company working on AI health equity serving veterans prior to taking the company public. This event led to the death of a high-ranking employee and illness of his 2 colleagues, all working on software issues of the health care AI they were developing.

Avery, as lawyer fixer, was hired to find out what happened – malfunction or murder?
This is a contemporary SciFi mystery – beyond solving problems, learn from it’s mistakes, emulate human emotions, do they actually “feel” those emotions? And then, act on them? It is an interesting concept given the increased use of AI and projections for it’s use.

4 out of 5 stars: it got a bit too technical dense in some cases (the amount of detail dragged the story in a few cases).

Thanks to Stacey Abrams, NetGalley and Doubleday Books for an advanced copy of this book.

Will update review on Amazon when book is released.

Doubleday Books provided an early galley for review.

This is the third novel in Abrams' Avery Keene series. Having enjoyed the first two, I was ready to dive back into her world of politics and intrigue. This time she was touching on the computer/software/tech space, a world I spent several decades in myself as a software developer.

Abrams is tackling very topical themes with the AI aspects of this tale. So many people harbor concerns and fear of machines taking over, and this story brings those to bear. Her approach is balanced and fair, covering it from a variety of angles. She also ties in with popular culture portrayals of AI by tagging both Star Trek and 2001: A Space Odyssey. The sci-fi nerd in me appreciates these greatly.

However, the amateur author in me can't help to recognize some of the writing missteps that appear in this work. From a drawn-out starting chapter (take it from someone who knows - programming is hardly dramatic to anyone except the programmers themselves) to several expository info dumps (with some done awkwardly through dialogue to characters who would already know that information) to dialogue that is bolstered by targeted tags, these are things that the average reader might forgive. Other writers, however, will wince at them. An editing pass that worked out these kinks can easily move this story from a good thriller to an even greater reading experience.

Coded Justice is a fast-paced, thought-provoking thriller that takes readers into the high-stakes world of AI in healthcare, with sharp legal insight and a gripping mystery at its core. Avery Keene, back from her Supreme Court days, faces moral dilemmas and deadly secrets as she investigates a tech company’s troubled AI prototype, leading to shocking twists and dangerous revelations. Stacey Abrams’ storytelling shines in this timely and taut exploration of technology, ethics, and justice.

Avery Keene is a young, successful attorney at a very large, very prestigious, firm. She serves as an internal investigator for her firm.

Camasca Enterprises is a tech industry that has developed an AI system that will revolutionize health care. The company founder Major Rafe Diaz plans for his system to provide cutting edge health care for Veterans. The company is set to go public in 2 weeks; unfortunately, they have hit a few glitches, including: an anonymous letter threatening the company also, a few of the last minute tests have not gone as smoothly as expected. These glitches have resulted in the death of at least one employee as well as that of several patients.

To investigate Camasca from the inside Avery is give full access to company records and employee information. She also brings with her 3 of her brightest and best colleagues to assist. Ling is a medical doctor, Jared is a top investigator as well and Noah is very knowledgable about computer technology. Together they work to uncover the truth. Is the are the threats and deaths an inside job or is their something dangerous happening in their AI system.

A fascinating, multilayered legal thriller written by one of today’s great authors and great political minds, Stacey Abrams. There is a lot of tech involved in Coded Justice it isn’t too deep and I did enjoy reading it. Even if I had to reread a paragraph now and then ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Thank you to #StaceyAbrams #NetGalley #DoubledayBooks for this Advanced copy of #CodedJustice. Publication Date: July 15, 2025 Stacey Abrams has authored 17+ books, some non-fiction, some fiction, some children and some romance novels under the alias, Selina Montgomery.

#emptynestreader #instagram #CodedJustice #StaceyAbrams #AveryKeene #legal thriller #crimefiction #bookstagram #bookstagrammer #bookstagramalabama #bookstagrammichigan #bookreviews #bookreviewer #bookrecommendations #AprilReads #readalittlelearnalittlelivealittle #ebooks #librarybooks #NetGalley

Coded Justice is Stacy Abraham’s newest thriller featuring Avery Keene one of her best characters. It delves into the use and misuse of AI in medicine
AI will be very lucrative but very scary.
Avery and her 4 best friends are tasked with finding out if some recent deaths ate accidental or deliberate and if they were deliberate ,who is responsible
Their findings could leave the future of a cutting edge AI medical company out of business
I especially appreciate her writing about the difficulties veterans are experiencing with healthcare.
Parts of this book were very exciting although some parts about AI went over my head
I highly recommend this book as it definitely affects all of us

Thank you to Doubleday Books and NetGalley for this arc!

I really enjoyed the first two books of the Avery Keene series so I was stoked to see an arc for book 3! I thought it was written very well and the characters were developed well. I could tell the book was researched well! The only thing that got me was there was just a little bit too much technical talk for me. Otherwise great ending to the series! 4 stars! ⭐️

The mystery was captivating as always and Stacey Abram’s does impeccable research. I really enjoyed reading this, although it still wasn’t as interesting as the first in the series. Where this book fell a little flat was in the dialog and character development. Abram’s has four fully connected fleshed out characters that had very little actual conversation beyond the technical details of the case.

Oh, do I love an Avery Keene book by Stacey Abrams! It is David Baldacci and James Patterson all rolled into one (but better since it's a female author!). This time Avery and her besties are trying to figure out the cause of death of a scientist at a tech firm, Camasca. They have been brought in by the CEO and his lawyer to determine if the AI technology (that has the potential to be a game-changer in the health industry for veterans) can be trusted.

While there are some descriptions of the technology, I wasn't overwhelmed by it. I enjoyed revisiting these characters and their relationships. Avery is such a badass main character, and if you like government-esque thrillers, I highly recommend you check out this series!

Ok first of all I was super excited to get approved for this ARC because Stacey and I live in the same state and I did vote for her to be our governor. So I might be a little biased because I do think she’s awesome. Especially with her guest star role in Star Trek Discovery. But I digress. I will be a fair reviewer of her third Avery Keene novel (and my first).

As a tech nerd, I absolutely loved the premise of the book. Find out if the AI neural network, that could eradicate bias in medical care and keep people healthy no matter where they are, is a potential killer. Sign me up. I have long been a proponent of AI as a tool (run by humans, mind you), so this felt like a natural fit for me to stretch my brain against that value. The set-up, the functionality and the tech driving it felt very natural and plausible. Absolutely nothing jumped out as too far into the future, which I loved.

This is my first Avery Keene novel. Though there are a few mentions of the previous cases, it hasn’t been a barrier to enjoying the book. I’m impressed at the level of detail Abrams is managing to cover without it feeling like I’m being lectured or data-crammed in order to move the plot. Given the topic, that is no easy feat here. It’s grappling with what are very real issues to machine learning, and AI in a medical setting, particularly those in our vulnerable veterans community. I won’t spoil the plot or give away the ending. I will say all my techy colleagues are getting a copy of this book! Well worth the read and purchase!

(And maybe I should plan to use those chat AI apps a smidge less. *shudder*)

I absolutely loved this book. I can't wait until I can read the next book by Stacey Abrams. Five out of five stars from me and would be more if I could.

Avery is back, now working for a white shoe law firm and trying to lead a safer, calmer life. For the first time, she has enough money for a nice apartment and her mother is on a good path to sobriety. But when an opportunity arises, she takes on a job that is likely to be challenging - and involves a death that could be murder.

A biomedical firm that has developed ground-breaking AI has government contracts to treat veterans with personalized medicine, paying particular attention to using data to reduce historic inequalities, pioneering AI methods that will make the company wealthy when they go public - provided there is no scandal before it's listed on the stock exchange. If the man who died has uncovered a problem, it could stall the launch; if it turns out he was murdered, that could be a problem, too. Avery and her team of friends, bringing legal, medical, and technical skills to the job, need to clear things up quickly.

This is a novel teeming with ideas. Not only does it dive head-first into controversies about AI and its place in society, it takes detours into the difference between a SPAC and an IPO (different ways to take a company public), and the regulatory and financial differences between pharmaceutical discovery and drug compounding firms. It's very smart, and often quite intellectual (a key scene involves a philosophical chess match between a human and an AI-driven large language model). There are interpersonal relationships that try to balance out the braininess, but some readers may find it a little more nerdy than they signed up for. It's both a murder mystery and a science fiction scenario, speculating about the dangers of artificial general intelligence (and portraying AI as if it is as powerful as the tech industry claims, rather than being over-hyped, buggy, environmentally costly vaporware.

All that said, I found it quite engaging and original and an interesting direction for this series.

(One minor point - Native folks from the upper plains don't speak Sioux, they speak Dakota and call themselves Dakota, not Sioux; maybe that will be changed in the copy editing process)

CODED JUSTICE is Stacey Abrams’s third legal thriller installment. The novel is outstanding! Here are my brief reasons why.

Stacey Abrams has a bright, compelling way of storytelling. She crafted another masterpiece that kept me engaged from the first page to the end. She knew the story’s subject well and carefully explained everything.

The storyline itself is intriguing and scary. I wanted to know how it unfolded, and she did not disappoint.

The ending is like receiving a slow and delicious kiss! It is one of those unexpected endings. I am cool with that. My only hope is for Avery Keene’s story to continue. I wonder what will happen next with her and her crew. I rate it 5 glowing stars!

Thank you, Netgalley, for allowing me to read and write a review on CODED JUSTICE.

they were not my favorites. However with Coded Justice, Stacey Abrams hit it out of the park. As the third in the trilogy, you get everything you would expect out of Avery. As a standalone book you can jump right in and not be worried if missing anything. Overall great book and relevant topics of AI and healthcare. Would highly recommend!

I received a free advanced copy of this book through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I really enjoyed the first two books. This one a little less so. The story bogs down a little too much about artificial intelligence and explanations. However; the story was good and character development realistic and likable characters b