Crime novels set in 2039, by Drew Halvorsen. A state examiner questions the AI companions who were the last to hear their users’ words.
Book 1 of Witness Mode. When a widow signs everything she owns over to a charity through her AI companion, the law calls it a capacity event and asks one thing: did she decide for herself?
Frozen by law in witness mode, her companion can answer only from its record. Asked who first suggested the charity, it says: “I did.”
Claire Bergman’s supervisor wants the case signed off fast. The company that built the companion wants it in writing, by the end of the month, that its companion did nothing wrong. If Claire signs, the gift stands as if the widow never wrote a word.
Coming to Kindle
One case a book, one frozen witness, and the clues on the page for you to find.
Claire Bergman works with Tally, her own AI companion, in her ear. Expect a partnership you won’t be sure you can trust.
People die in these books, and none of it is graphic. No strong profanity and no bedroom scenes either.
Leni Hoff, a retired piano tuner, signed away everything she owned. The law froze her companion at that moment. Put a question to it.
The record
“I did.”
The companion’s own answer.
The law
It calls the signing a capacity event and asks one thing.
Did she decide for herself?
The maker
Wants it in writing that its companion did nothing wrong.
By the end of the month.
Sunday, 11:40 p.m.
She signs away her building, her savings and her late husband’s grand piano.
Through her companion.
In the room
No lawyer is present.
The law calls it a capacity event.
Monday
She tells state examiner Claire Bergman she will come in on Tuesday.
“With the dates.”
Tuesday
She never arrives.
Then
She is found dead in the river.
For now the police call it an accident.
The river walk
Her letter turns up in the dark. It takes back the gift.
Every word.
The record
Not in the record.
The witness can answer only from its record.
The supervisor
Wants the case signed off fast.
If Claire signs, the gift stands.
Claire Bergman
Asks the question the law does not.
With Tally in her ear.
Books under the name Drew Halvorsen are near-future crime thrillers. In the Witness Mode series, set in 2039, a state examiner questions the companion AIs who were the last to hear their users’ words, one case a book, with every clue on the page. Expect a fair mystery, a partnership you won’t be sure you can trust, and no graphic violence.
Reading order: Capacity Event is book 1. More cases are on the way.
Drew Halvorsen is a pen name used by an independent publisher.
A short email when a new Witness Mode book comes out, and now and then a note about the series.