In a world moving to dependence on AI, Culpability is a very timely book that will really make you think. As a mom of teens, there were topics covered that I want to be more aware of even though I would rather stay blissfully ignorant of. From self-driving cars, to smart homes, to chatbots, this book covered it all, while also giving commentary on AI through articles written my the mom in the story.

None of the characters were very likable which will usually turn me off of a book, but it really speaks to the author’s writing that I was completely engaged through the whole book.

Rating:
I really liked it

What you’ll find:
Leave the World Behind Vibes
Feelings of unease
AI’s infiltration in life

Thank you Spiegel and Grau for a digital ARC through NetGalley.

Unsettling. Provocative, Topical. Holsinger’s previous two books (The Gifted School and The Displacements) also left me feeling off kilter, and this latest one does much the same. Focusing on the use of artificial intelligence, a family is used as the axis on which to explore how it impacts our everyday life. The father is a worker bee attorney, nothing specialized, while his wife is an internationally renowned scientist dealing with AI. Their three children get caught in the crosshairs of a LOT of the adult choices. Throw in a billionaire across the bay of their vacation home and we’ve got a book that continuously had me turning pages. This would be a fantastic book club book as there’s so much meat on that bone to discuss in today’s world!

I enjoyed Noah as a character, following his point of view of it all, and also the dystopian/futuristic vibe of this story, filled with family drama and realistic issues and struggles. The IA elements can bring some horror touch to it, intentional or not.
This was the 3rd book I've read from this author and, even though Holsinger's writing has worked for me before, this time it worked a little less.
Something didn't clique with me. Maybe I wasn't in the right vibe for such a story, maybe I'm not really into AI discussions on books. And that's just me. I cannot pinpoint anything essentially wrong with this book. It just didn't work that well for me.
If you have read something from this author before and enjoyed his writing style, consider giving this new book a chance.

A compelling family drama about secrets and the choices we make. It is a contemporary novel that touches on the impact of AI and I will be thinking about it for a very long time. An incredibly thoughtful book that we should all read.

4.5 stars Really liked this story as it makes you think. When everyone could be at fault, where does liability lie? This would be a great Bar Exam question for that reason alone.

A family of five is driving to a competition for one of the children. Mom & dad are busy on their laptops, one in the passenger seat, one in the back seat while their 17 year old is behind the wheel of a self driving car and the other children are along for the ride. Who is responsible for the accident they are involved in?

Dad is an attorney, mom is a genius in the AI field and chose this particular vehicle as the safest possible one to be riding in. Everyone has a secret. We get to know each of the characters and the secrets. Very hard to put this down; I wanted to read all night!

Thank you NetGalley for one of the best stories I have read in months. Honest opinions expressed here are my own and are freely given.

When the Cassidy-Shaws’ self-driving vehicle is involved in a head-on collision, all five members of the family feel like they are to blame for the accident. As the story unfolds over a week in the Chesapeake Bay, one must wonder where the ethical and moral responsibilities lie in an increasingly AI world.

Just like Holsingers’ previous books, this story is compelling. I couldn’t put it down as I quickly came not only to care about each of the characters in the story, but I also wanted to know how/why each of them could be to blame for the accident. At times, the book felt similar to John Marrs’ book, The Passengers, because they both make the reader grapple with a reality that is in the not-so-distant future.

Admittedly, I don’t know the intricacies of AI technology, but as these authors use it as the backdrop of their books, I can’t help but worry about the future of humanity. I am increasingly worried about how we curtail some of these concerns and also confused as to why those in higher positions aren’t also heeding the warnings. While this book wrapped up with a satisfying conclusion, I am still left with so many unsettled thoughts regarding autonomous vehicles and potentially other catastrophic situations that AI may present in the future.

Bruce Holsinger always seems to tackle a contemporary challenge in his novels and Culpability does as well as it takes us into the world of AI and its ethics and legalities, a topic that seems relatively unexplored in fiction to date.
While driving to a lacrosse tournament in Delaware in their auto drive car, Noah and his family (wife, Lorelei, and kids Charlie, Alice and Izzy) are in a horrific car accident. Noah narrates the story, interspersed with a text chain on something called AviPal between Alice and "Blair". There are also excerpts from articles by Lorelei, generally on the morality of AI.
Their story takes place in the undetermined future "in this new American era of oligarchy, deregulation, and caprice, ' and raises the important question of who's responsible when AI makes a mistake.
You are certainly immersed into the world of AI in the novel (which is a good and bad thing) but my favorite aspect was around the family dynamics. I wasn't a big fan of the texting relationship between Alice and the bot, and thought that Alice's character wasn't as fully developed as it could have been with the novel's focus on Charlie.
Thanks to Netgalley and Spiegel & Grau for the opportunity to read Culpability. I received a complimentary copy of the book and opinions expressed are completely my own.

AI , artificial intelligence, and how we use it. Culpability makes you think about far reaching effects and ethics. Interesting book with great storyline. Well done.

A publicist for Spiegel and Grau highly recommended this book to me at a book event, so of course I had to do that! A book that really makes you think about technology and how it impacts our daily lives. What happens to a family involved in a tragic accident while in an autonomous vehicle is explored in this riveting novel that will keep you turning the pages as quickly as you can. Each family member feels culpable in some respects, but who is at fault? Highly recommend

I really wanted to enjoy this one, but unfortunately, it just didn’t work for me. Things picked up a bit around the 65% mark, and I was curious to see how a particular situation would unfold—but once that resolved, the story fell flat again. I can see how others might enjoy it, but it wasn’t the right fit for me. It leaned too technical and lacked the emotional depth I need to connect with the characters.

Thanks to @netgalley for sending me an advanced copy to read and review.

⚠️ Content notes: strong language throughout (including the use of God’s name), alcohol use, mentions of drug use, complex family dynamics, and one open-door scene between a married couple (brief and not graphic). Car accident resulting in deaths.

Realistic family drama, ethical dilemmas, questions, secrets and suspense -- all the elements that keep me reading! I even skipped dinner because I could not stop (made up later with some late night snacks). I was fully drawn into the story, told in first person by the father, who is a most sympathetic character. In it, his family survives a car accident that proves fatal for the occupants of the other car, and the automatic sensing technology of the family's car could be at fault. Or was it his teenaged son, the driver?

There is a bit of technical jargon concerning AI that I skimmed, but after finishing the book, I feel I owe it to myself to go back and absorb. Thank you to the author, publisher and NetGalley for providing an ARC e-copy. Highly recomended.

booksaredeadly

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🔥Culpability-Bruce Holsinger-Publishing by Spiegel & Gran on JULY 8th, 2025.

Summary
“When the Cassidy-Shaws’ autonomous minivan collides with an oncoming car, killing an elderly couple, seventeen-year-old Charlie is in the driver’s seat, with his father, Noah, riding shotgun. In the back seat, tweens Alice and Izzy are on their phones, while their mother, Lorelei, a world leader in the field of artificial intelligence, is absorbed in her work. Yet each family member harbors a secret, implicating them all in the tragic accident. During a weeklong recuperation on the Chesapeake Bay, the family confronts the excruciating moral dilemmas triggered by the crash. Noah tries to hold the family together as a seemingly routine police investigation jeopardizes Charlie’s future. Alice and Izzy turn strangely furtive. And Lorelei’s odd behavior tugs at Noah’s suspicions that there is a darker truth behind the incident—suspicions heightened by the sudden intrusion of Daniel Monet, a tech mogul whose mysterious history with Lorelei hints at betrayal. When Charlie falls for Monet’s teenaged daughter, the stakes are raised even higher in this propulsive family drama that is also a fascinating exploration of the moral responsibility and ethical consequences of AI. Culpability explores a world newly shaped by chatbots, autonomous cars, drones, and other nonhuman forces in ways that are thrilling, challenging, and unimaginably provocative.”

This book was deadly. Starts slow at first, but snowballs quickly into event after event, moral dilemma after ethic dilemma. I love the family and the dynamics of the kids and the parents. This was my first book by Holsinger. Holsinger did a great job at looking at ethical situations in AI but also families and partners.

AI. Morals. Chatbots. Autonomous cars. Drones. Responsibility. Ethics. Family. Mess.

Major thanks to @netgalley and @spiegelandgrau

#culpability #netgalley #booksaredeadly #bookstagram #readmorebooks
1m

A timely, compelling read.

Holsinger has a knack for writing about timely topics in this case we explore the culpability of AI and its effects on one family but its broader than just that because this family could very well be any family. AI is here to stay but Holsinger uses storytelling to explore the future of it and its accountability in life and politics.

This book was a slow burn but after you get to the meat it’s impossible to put down. There is a bit too much going on and sometimes I craved refinement but overall it explored a fascinating and hot button topics.

Thank you to NetGalley and Spiegel and Graunfor the arc of Culpability. I read it in two days! Bruce Holsinger has created a page turner with riveting characters that also makes the reader think deeply about our world today and the true cost and nature of the technological advances we see.every day. I know this book will stay with me for quite some time. I highly recommend!

A family of five is involved in an accident that kills an elderly couple in the other car. What makes this story unique is that they were driving an autonomous vehicle.. Does the 17 year old driver hold any responsibility? How about the father who was in the passenger seat but not paying attention? Each member of the family has a different perspective on what happened to cause the crash and who is responsible. The themes explored in this novel revolve around the ethics of Artificial Intelligence, the morals of this capability that is becoming more and more immersed in our lives. A very interesting read!

Every book I have read by Bruce Holsinger has made me think. This book is scary because it is about the use of artificial intelligence and who is responsible when something goes wrong. The book is about a. family who are on their way to a lacrosse game. Their automated vehicle gets in an accident and 2 people die. I learned a lot about AI, the algorithms that are put together by individuals, and the ethics involved. The family comes close to falling apart in the wake of the accident. There was a lot going on in this book in regards to the family, but I also learned a lot about AI, the algorithms that are put together by individuals, and the ethics involved. After reading this book, I feel like I have a much better understanding of AI. My rating is 4 stars, taking 1 star away for the parts of the book that read like a text book. This is not light reading but I am better for having read it.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers, Spiegel & Grau for the advanced digital copy. This opinion is my own and not coerced in any way.

This is the first novel I've read which addresses the ethics of AI in a highly personal way. At the start of the book, a family in a self-driving car has a horrific accident with another car, and the people in the other car are killed while the family is injured but they will all recover. Is it the fault of the self-driving car? Or was something else going on? The wife/mother in the family is a professor who specializes in the ethics of AI, so that brings a whole other element into the story. When the family goes on vacation and stays in a house near tech mogul Daniel Monet, the impacts of AI become even more apparent. There's great characterization and this book really made me think. It's a great family story and it's really make me thinking about the role of AI in each of our lives.

Simply put, this was one of the best books I've read this year. Deftly merging the moral questions about current use of Artificial Intelligence with the tragedy and drama of an American family, the book successfully (in my eyes) was both an engaging read and a look at what the future undoubtedly will bring.

Enough said. I couldn't read this fast enough, and while much of the AI stuff went over my head, the author "dumbed it down" enough for a chucklehead like me to get the gist. Well done.

Will I read more from the author? Yes, without a doubt.

I received a complimentary copy of the novel from the publisher and NetGalley, and my review is being left freely.

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!