Book Review: "William" by Mason Coile

I did not think I would find a good new-age Halloween read this year but, yet again I was wrong. Dystopia is fine, horror is fine, but when we combine both of them to create what is a great new-age thriller - that is something else entirely. When I heard of this book I knew I had to have it straight away.

I was scrolling through Twitter and saw an advertisement from Waterstones where this book was being sold - it was one of those where I thought 'well, I hope this is a Halloween read' - and it was. The dystopia, the horror, the tension, it all added up to something entirely unreal with an ending seen and thought about but still - unpredictable.

The book starts off with Henry who is an agoraphobe, married to Lily though she is pregnant, he ignores her for the want of working on an artificial intelligence named William. William is something of a wonder - he has the intelligence to speak but not walk but, he does have the intelligence to be a 'character'.

Once he meets Lily, something happens within him that makes him want to show off, even though this very ideas of showing off may come at the harm of others. William proves to be sociopathic, but is also not expected to understand human emotion. Yes, he has an excuse - what excuse does Henry have?

The writing in this book is tense, fast and creates a brilliant sense of character right from the outset. There is something really incredible about reading these short, spliced chapters in which so much happens which means that you cannot read it as quickly as it is going since - if you blink, you will miss it. The author knows this and has done it on purpose in order to make us really pay attention to what is going on in the novel.

One of the parts I liked most seems to pay a certain amount of homage to the tradition of strange deaths made popular by the 'Final Destination' trend. One of the characters (I won't say who since that would be a spoiler) goes into the shower as the temperature begins to slowly climb higher and higher thanks to the smart housing that plays a huge part in the artificial intelligence take-over of the novel. This higher climb begins to burn our character alive before she has much time to realise what is going on, but the writer drags it out on purpose. It is a brilliant scene that is even more brilliantly written - it is so clever.

Another part I enjoyed was when Henry does not remember something about an encounter with another character (spoilers left out on purpose) in which there may (or may not) have been some danger involved. William, the artificial intelligence, is beginning to evolve and it is clear he does not have nice intentions so, when other characters do not know what has happened to our character in question, William begins to deceive as him - William begins to imitate as him. This is something we are seeing in our own modern day with people lending their voices and likenesses to artificial intelligence. It is more frightening than ever told like this though.

Now I'm going to discuss the ending of the book without discussing the ending of the book, if I can. The ending of the book is very clever and, if you are really paying attention to what's happening you can kind of see it coming. I admit, I went back and read it a second time in order to pick out the clues and foreshadowing that gives us the key hint as to what the ending is actually going to be. It's one of those ironic endings that feel almost Shakespearean. Yes, restoration has happened - but really, has it happened? Our author leaves us with a key scene that feels like a book's post-credits and it is incredible.

All in all, I am obsessed with this book because by far, this is the best artificial intelligence horror novel. I cannot say that everyone will enjoy it - actually, scratch that - you will enjoy it. It is fantastically clever. And if you think I'm wrong, then read it again.