July 2025

CULPABILITY by Bruce Holsinger is a brilliant look at a family that is involved in an accident in their autonomously driven minivan. The collision kills an elderly couple and sends their car down a cliff. It seems that it’s not just the vehicle that behaved badly here, as each person in the family has his or her own reason for feeling guilty about what happened. Charlie was behind the wheel, and his father, Noah, was writing an email beside him. In the back seat were Noah’s wife, Lorelei, who was working on a project, and their two daughters, Alice and Izzy, who were on their phones.

To recover from the accident, both emotionally and physically, the family rents a home for a week on the Chesapeake Bay. It is right across the bay from a compound-size property (with its own heliport) that is owned by tech pioneer Daniel Monet, who is very passionate about AI. Charlie meets Daniel’s daughter, Eurydice, and they go off on adventures on the water, including one that will put them in jeopardy.

Noah narrates the story for us, but there are also transcripts of Alice’s “conversations” and excerpts from Lorelei’s book about the ethics of AI. They lend readers a different perspective on what is happening. There are some fabulous twists towards the end that caught me with an “aha!”

I love the way that Bruce parsed out the details, and fleshed out the characters and the accident’s implications. It was lovely to see that the book is Oprah's Book Club pick for July.

I confess that I have absolutely no interest in being a passenger in an autonomously driven car. I like to drive too much, and my husband will tell you that I am a terrible passenger. But this book brings us so many thoughts about the ramifications of AI, which is racing into our everyday lives. When we started Bookreporter back in 1996, the speed at which people brought themselves to the internet was much slower compared to what we are seeing now with AI. We already are beyond a huge inflection point, and there is a great deal to consider as AI controls so much of our days, often without our knowing it is behind what is happening.

Want to know more? You can watch my interview with Bruce here or listen to the podcast here.