I received a free DRC of this book through Netgalley. The topic of AI's responsibility versus human responsibility is a big one in current events and I think it will be even bigger in coming years. This book is a mixture of one family's life and aftermath in the lingering effects of a car accident. It exposes the hidden lives of it's participants and looks at the idea of culpability from several angles. It definitely made me think about the issue from several angles. It was written in an interesting way albeit with some scientific papers added here and there that I just skimmed as I wanted to get back to the family in the story.

Culpability is about a family who is driving in an AI equipped vehicle when it wrecks into another vehicle and kills the other passengers. Who is to blame, the AI who the humans thought they could trust, or the human at the wheel?
This was well written and kept my interest as we follow this family through the aftermath of the crash. I will forever look at AI and the consequences of its actions differently after reading this.
Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC!

I received an ARC of this novel from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

A 17 year old boy is "driving" a self-driving car with his parents and sisters as passengers. The car in involved in a fatal accident that kills two passengers in the other car. Ethics and AI are in question.

This book didn't strike a chord with me. I felt the development of the characters was lacking. It was an okay story, but a little too contrived for me. Perhaps so much happened during the course of what was a couple of weeks that it was just more than I found believable. A few timing flaws tripped me up too. The lack of communicating and secret keeping was odd and excessive to me. I can't say I hated the book, but I didn't love it either. It was a meh book for me. One I will probably quickly and easily forget I ever read. The AI bot interaction with Alice (eye roll). They build up to meloncholy with one of the daughters never really went anywhere. The whirlwind romance with the son was an interesting story line even if I found it unbelievable in the course of 3 days of knowing each other. The parent story line... ugh. Thanks for the ARC Netgalley and Spiegel & Grau.

Bruce Holsinger is meeting the moment with this thought-provoking scenario of a family involved in a fatal car crash in a car considered the safest in the world.

I always perk my ears up when I hear that Holsinger has written a new book since I read and enjoyed The Gifted School. He is intelligent and insightful in his writing and the same holds true for this selection.

When I think of AI fiction suspense, I always go to 2001: A Space Odyssey or some other horrorifying scenario of robots, etc taking over control from humans. These selections usually are frightening but feel far-retched at the same time. Here Holsinger is shining a light on the AI we have invited into our lives under the guise of convenience and safety. These AI are more subtle in how they have integrated into our everyday lives from the smart house controls we have monitoring the thermostat or pulling up a recipe in the kitchen with video tutorial to the autonomous driving in our cars. We even name our AIs and teach them how to interact with us so that they feel like friends or personal assistants who have a stake in our well being (Holsinger would argue they absolutely do not).

And this is the beauty of how Holsinger tells his tale. This is a novel of suspense. We do not know how the car crash is going to affect the family members exactly or who is culpable. We do get the impression from Holsinger that we should all take a beat to make a conscious choice of how we invite AI into our lives, homes, cars, transportation systems, governments and world. He isn't arguing that all AI is bad but he would like us to consider that AI doesn't like us, love us and doesn't really have skin in the game as to our survival or well being. As one of the family members suggests, AI will never sacrifice anything for you like your loved ones will.

Circling back to the previous fiction featuring AI as malevolent, this selection is even more bone chilling because Holsinger argues AI is what we make it and right now we are expecting it to act like a human with loyalty and emotions for us. If that is what we are focusing on, we have taken are eyes off the ball and may not like the world we see when we look up.

This is such a bingeable book! It captured my attention from the opening moments of the book and kept reeling me in every step of the way.

On the way to a lacrosse tournament, the Shaw family's autonomous minivan is involved in a fatal car collision. They must each come to terms with what has happened. In the aftermath, they take a trip to Chesapeake Bay, to get away and try to heal, but the repercussions follow them. I loved the use of some interesting plot devices in the story, and how individual family secrets play a big role in the decisions and choices that are made.

Things to consider |
•Feelings about AI
•Roles of parents
•Moral and ethical questions
•Consequences
•Realistic family drama

I think this is a book to watch for. It will make you question how you feel about AI and moral consequences, and what your culpability is in a given situation. This is so relevant in today's world. Don’t read the synopsis of the book, I feel like it gives too much away. Such a compelling story!

Highly recommend! Loved this one. 👍4.5/5 stars

[Thanks to the publisher, Spiegel & Grau @spiegelandgrau and @netgalley NetGalley for the advance electronic copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.]

⚠️| Contains some instances of strong profanity, not frequent. Some mentions of drug use, and a very brief steamy scene, with mild details.

DNF - although I can see what other readers will come to love about this book, it did not work for me. I found the style a bit tedious but this is not to say that it was bad.

Back to the honor of reviewing an advance reading copy, this time for Bruce Holsinger’s “Culpability”. I had only read one of his books, 2022’s superb “The Displacements”. I was so thrilled by it that he instantly shot up my “keep an eye out for whatever’s next” list! I jumped at the chance to read an advanced copy of his next novel, even rearranging my reading list and bumping back both the new Stephen King (my favorite author, which speaks volumes) as well as the new Linwood Barclay (who, oddly enough, made me discover Bruce Holsinger’s “The Displacements” as he had highly recommended it at an author event I attended). Yes, that placed the bar quite high for Culpability to live up to. And it ended up easily clearing that bar.

There’s a lot to be said for a book title, especially when they constantly linger in your mind as you read the book. It was the case with Holsinger’s “The Displacements”, and it’s very much the case with “Culpability”. What a word! There’s a lot to unpack in the title, a lot of layers of complexity and deep thoughts. Holsinger weaves a perfect tale of family drama combined with a very timely moral reflection on Artificial Intelligence (AI), a personal and technological recalibration of sorts!

Culpability is a story of tragedy and fault, the very interpretation of responsibility and accountability, within the microcosm of a family and in society at large. A moral tale about the varying levels of truth, and a requestioning of technology’s place in our very lives. Culpability is a matter of perspective, or rather, perspectives and interpretations. Richly crafted with complex character development and impeccable setting, Holsinger delivers a story that’s certain to stay with us long after we’ve read it and bound to become more and more relevant in the not-so-distant future.

One of the rules of reading and reviewing an advanced copy is not to quote it. This is quite unfortunate as Culpability contains so many perfectly crafted sentences that made me both think and say “Wow” out loud. And I am not one to Wow easily! Not only was the pace just right, but the descriptions of physical places as well as emotional states of mind were so well written that they amplified the story’s already heightened impact.

While this was only my second Bruce Holsinger read, it furthers my admiration and thorough enjoyment of his pen and his approach to storytelling. I give this book a rock solid 5/5 stars and really hope it soars to the top of the bestseller lists after its release, as it truly is deserving of the attention and success. What a literary treat! Bravo, and well done.

From the blurb and the fact the main character is a lawyer, I expected this book to focus on AI through a moral and legal lense, The MC's wife is a philosopher specializing in AI and even so, we get a lot less philosophy than expected. The main plot of this book is family drama, with technology and philosophy consistent on-going themes, The book feels contradictory at times: sometimes using technology (cell phones for example) as a tool to will misfortune on children in the book (the driver texting, the teenager falling off board while trying to save her phone) as well as some fear mongering regarding the use of drones, Other times, the book talks about military use of AI, etc and while the author wrapped it around the wife's secret work project, the super-secret NDA fell flat and the execution of this "plot-twist" felt lackluster. This book had the potential to be a groundbreaking novel on AI and moral responsibility and instead felt like an exploration of family dynamics with a small side of technology fear mongering.

I think this book has the perfect formula of all the things that make reading amazing and so valuable in my life!

-a quick grab entry into the book
-engaging plot that doesn't waver
-good character development
-multiple POV's, and I didn't prefer one over another! A rare thing.
-a strong look at decisions and after effects
-a lot of morals to consider, and makes the reader unsure how one should handle the situation
-a few twists that keeps the reader engaged
-light mystery with a concern for those involved
-makes the reader assess their own life

You don't need to know a lot going into this one, but here are a few points of interest to know if it's for you. The effects of the looming AI in our real world, and the devastating effects that can be brought upon us by a computer of sorts. Interpersonal relationships within our own families, considering that a "secret can be more wounding than a lie".

This is an easy recommendation for me to share. I literally read this book in one day which I haven't done in years.

Thank you to NetGalley and Spiegel & Grau for the gifted e-arc of this book.

I really liked the themes of A.I.in this book. The author did a good job explaining the dangers of A.I. in the near future. The story started off kind of slow, but ultimately the story really picked around the halfway mark. If you like sad and complex family dynamics/storylines then this will delight your reading taste. I thought I would like the overall story more, but it is a well written novel about what is truly important in life.

3.75 ⭐️
This is definitely a book that will make you think.If you are interested in a story about family drama that intertwines AI and the ethics surrounding it this might be a novel for you . The story also dives into themes of guilt, privilege and responsibility .

I felt it dragged a bit and I didn’t really like any of the characters , but that might be the point—the novel to me seems less about likable people and more about uncomfortable truths.

A thank you to the author and publisher for providing an e-ARC via Netgalley.

‘Culpability’ is about a family escaping a tragic accident and how it haunts them. The setting is in a remote house, with their neighbours being tech billionaires. We follow the family dynamics but also how the family ends up entwined with their only neighbours.
The setting is haunting and creates a really eerie tone to the novel, something just always feels off. The novel poses the question of, who is really to blame when technology, and AI, fails us? It delves into many ethical and philosophical debates and theories and directly throughout the novel relates the narrative to scholarly sources. This was a really unique and engaging concept. It reminds the reader continuously that these are real problems we have to consider.

Thanks to #netgalley for this advanced copy of #culpability.

Culpability by Bruce Holsinger is a haunting and high-stakes family drama that dissects responsibility in the age of artificial intelligence.

The novel opens with a crash; a self-driving minivan has collided with an oncoming car, leaving an elderly couple dead and the Cassidy-Shaw family forever fractured. Seventeen-year-old Charlie was in the driver’s seat, (though technically he wasn’t driving at all). His mother, Lorelei, a world-renowned AI researcher was lost in her laptop while her husband, Noah, sat beside their son working on his phone. In the back, preteens Izzy and Alice were buried in their screens.

As the dust settles and lawsuits loom, the family escapes to the Chesapeake Bay in search of stillness. But the isolation only highlights the tension. When the neighbor in a the heavily guarded estate next door turns out to be Daniel Monet—a tech mogul with ties to Lorelei’s past and secrets of his own. Noah cannot help but be suspicious.

What makes Culpability so effective is its refusal to settle for simple villains or easy resolutions. Holsinger doesn’t just pose questions about responsibility in the age of AI—he examines how those questions play out within families, industries, and individual consciences. It's a novel that lingers not because of spectacle, but because of its precision in capturing what it means to live and make choices under the weight of modern technology.

#Culpability #BruceHolsinger #ArtificialIntelligence #SpiegelAndGrau

Thank you to Spiegel & Grau for the advanced copy in exchange for the honest review.

I'll be thinking about this book for a long time. AI is a topic that has been on my mind and heart a lot lately and this book really brought forward many of my own questions. What do we do now? How do we move forward? Do we ignore AI? Do we embrace it? Who is responsible for ensuring it's ethical? Is there any stopping it?

The story and the family hooked me immediately and I was eager to see how each of their lives were impacted. I did not expect some of the twists and turns and loved how it all came together in the end.

I definitely recommend!

I loved this book. I was a huge fan of The Gifted School, and Culpability absolutely lived up to it—maybe even topped it. The themes are so timely and thought-provoking, but never heavy-handed. The character development? Incredible. Holsinger nails the complexities of family dynamics in a way that feels both emotionally real and uncomfortably relatable. There were a few twists I didn’t see coming, and I found myself totally absorbed from start to finish. Smart, layered, and genuinely hard to put down. 5/5 stars, highly highly recommend.

This is not a subject I’m particularly interested in, though based on this book, perhaps AI should be more to the forefront of my life and thoughts. I don’t knowingly use AI e.g. Siri, ChatGPT, but I’m sure it’s there in the background.
As to this book, I didn’t like all the AI papers etc. supposedly written by the mother Lorelei, in fact I skipped over them. There were some good twists, which took a while to come, so I felt the story dragged a bit, especially with regards to the father not telling his wife things he had found out, particularly concerning Charlie.
A reasonable write which may appeal to those more interested in AI.

I received this book as an ARC from NetGalley.

As up to date as today’s headlines, Culpability has the reader consider who is to blame when artificial intelligence (AI) makes the wrong decisions. We know AI takes an active role in self-driving cars, drones, the written word, and much more to come. Perhaps the greatest problem is the interaction between ordinary people and AI-controlled machinery.

In Culpability, a family of five is riding in their new self-driving minivan. An accident occurs and two elderly people in another car are killed. Where does the culpability rest?

This book felt very timely in a world where AI is so front and center! It tells the story of a family grappling with the aftereffects of a car crash they were all involved in, wherein their teen son was behind the wheel of an autonomous vehicle. You get to see the perspective of each family member as they work through their own sense of responsibility for the accident, while at the same time the author intersperses commentary on the larger world of machine learning and human vs robot moral relativity. It was a slow start for me, but I'm glad I stuck with it as I ended up really enjoying it.

NetGalley/Spiegel & Grau ARC

Culpability started out as a page-turner but slowly devolved into a magnum opus about AI (Artificial Intelligence), algorithms, and their impact on human morality and conscience. It was a bit too technical for me and I found it very repetitive.

The narrative is centered on an autonomous vehicle driven by AI that happens to collide with another vehicle head-on. The issues arising from this crash are several: What is the culpability of Charlie, the 17-year old son of Noah and Lorelei, who was at the wheel and texting at the time of the accident? Was AI at fault or was it human error? How does one carry, in their conscience, the deaths of two other drivers in the other vehicle? What is the role of morality and choice in this age of AI and algorithms?

Lorelei and Noah have three children: Charlie has just won a full La Crosse scholarship to the University of North Carolina; Izzie, a sweet and ethereal child whose leg is broken in the accident, and Alice, a mysterious child who suffers a concussion in the accident. The Drummonds are the elderly couple whose lives were lose in the accident.

Lorelei comes from a family of very high achievers. She teaches at Johns Hopkins and has various speaking engagements and private contracts. Noah comes from a lower echelon family than Lorelei. He is an attorney but does not have the status of Lorelei. He thinks that her family looks down on him.

Along with the narrative about the accident and its aftermath, the reader is bombarded with information about AI, most of it excerpts from papers that Lorelei has published. To be honest, the mathematics and algorithms of AI did not interest me and they were way above my grade level. What did interest me were the ethical and moral considerations concomitant with the ubiquitous use of AI in our culture.

The novel has mystery, romance, and familial dissonance alongside its examination of AI's impact on humankind. What stands out for me is the way the author explored culpability, conscience and guilt in our technologically infused world. This book was a poor choice for me to read. I am not a techie, nor do I have more than a basic understanding of higher level mathematics. I think scientists, mathematicians, and perhaps ethicists would be a better audience for this novel.