A nice spin on the “creepy doll” coming to life story, except here we have a robot and a seemingly possessed one at that. It’s a book about AI and it features heavily in the story.

The problem I had with the book was the overall premise of the story is both the best and worst thing about it. The final third is fantastic, it had my jaw dropping. The first two thirds were, in hindsight necessary to set up the finale but, weren’t very engaging at all with fairly aloof characters, especially our main protagonist.

You are plonked straight into the middle of a story without much explanation or back story. It was hard to really care about any of the (minimal) characters so by the time you got to the meat on the bone(and it was a piece of prime rib tbf) you just don’t care enough.

The final scenes are fantastic and in a way justify the the aloofness and sometime strangeness of the first two thirds of the book but, at that stage the damage had already been done to this reader.

It’s a short read at just over 200 pages and it reads even quicker than that so you should fly through it. If you find yourself getting a bit bored or uninterested, stick with it for the ending.

The book was a bit of a paradox(is that the right word?) to me. The greatness of the book is the final chapters, the reveal, but to get to that point the first two thirds were necessary and made the book so much less enjoyable overall.


I may be only giving it 3 stars but it’s good to read something original and surprising and I would recommend reading it if you can.

Thanks to the publisher for the ARC through Netgalley.

This book had a strange start but I soon became hooked. It's a good, easy to read horror with an ending I didn't see coming.

William was amazing!!! It was atmospheric and creepy and I did not see the twist coming, it completely blindsided me!
Everyone should read this book!

Loved every single horrific minute of this book and could not put it down. Reminiscent of Stephen King at his very best. This is a real locked house mystery with the occupants of the house being subjected to the peculiarities of AU gone rogue. Scared the heck out of me. If it had been a film, I'd have been watching it from behind a cushion! Excellent read.

Loved this 'locked in' horror with an AI twist. Reminiscent of Ray Bradbury's classic The Veldt, but updated to a house oozing with modern tech that's available right now and you might well have in your home. Henry has upgraded his home to include voice activated doors, curtains and appliances, anything that can be automated has been, except for one door… Henry is agoraphobic and the relationship with his pregnant wife is already strained. Things go horribly wrong when she invites colleagues to dinner, and when I say wrong I mean flesh melting, mayhem and murder…
Uninstall all those 'helpful' household apps right now.

This is truly creepy. Mason Coile has done a fantastic job in giving William, an AI creation, personality. One which is threatening and ever present. I was swept along with this story of man and monster which is well balanced in terms of plausibility and tension. I have a strong sense that the threat of AI to humans is ever growing and that made this tale even more unsettling. The technical detail is very ‘now’ and the action all takes place in a day which makes this quite intense and claustrophobic. Coile’s writing isn’t, in my view, as good as King, but I’ve romped through this short tale in almost a single sitting, with a couple of pulse raising moments. It’s an interesting exploration about relationships and technology and a rather unsettling warning. Definitely hope for more like this.

I absolutely devoured this. The concept was something new for me, as I'm new to this genre. I loved the blurb and the build up. However after completing the book, I really found myself wanting more. It's relatively short, coming in at under 250 pages, which I found quite unusual for a book like this. As a result, it felt like the world building really took up the majority of this book with the ending being very abrupt and thrown at you. I'd have loved it to be a good 100 pages more and really in depth to have the ending be as wonderful as it should have been. I enjoyed it, but not as much as I could have

'William' by Mason Coile is about a couple (Henry & Lily) and their strained relationship. Henry is some sort of robotics savant and is creating his own robot with AI in his attic, and things soon go awry.

An enjoyable horror that taps into the zeitgeist of AI fear. It was an easy read, with some very convincing moments that genuinely made me feel uncomfortable, especially in the initial chapters and the description of William. It fell into more familiar horror tropes as the novel went on, but if you like horror novels, that's fine. A little frustration with some of the decisions the characters make.

I like what it had to say about the emptiness of the people creating AI and how it's reflected in it. That taps into my concern about the sort of people currently leading on AI right now (tech bros who pursue profit above all else).

Well this was bizarre. Yes I didn't actually find it horrifying. Just a little strange.

Character wise I thought they were a bit odd, like I really don't think there was enough backstory on Henry's and Lily's relationship. It almost felt like I'd maybe started reading the book half way through.

However there was a major twist at the end which admittedly left me gobsmacked and I guess that maybe this is the reason the characters initially felt a little under developed.

This book has potential to be amazing I just don't think it's been executed all that well. If the book had another 100 pages with some more detail instead of it feeling quite choppy then I would have enjoyed it so much more.

Thank you to Netgally for the e-book in exchange for my own opinion.

This book had a great plot with intriguing characters. I’ll definitely be looking out for more from this author.

William is an AI enhanced robot that Henry has built in his attic lab. Henry is very protective of William and doesn’t want his pregnant wife Lucy to see him until he is ‘finished’. However, when Lucy’s friends come round for dinner Henry agrees to let them meet William, and that is when things begin to go seriously wrong.
I personally wouldn’t put Mason Coile in the same category as Stephen King but he has written a good story which will keep most readers intrigued and guessing to the end.

The story starts with Henry telling his wife about a dream then we see a scary doll. I didn't really enjoy the omniscient viewpoint as felt at a distance from the character but it may be right for this novel and just my preference. Once I got into the story I didn't notice it so much. It started quite oddly, with no explanations or build up, the first chapter dialogue read likes a movie script.

However the story was riveting, creepy and a little gory. I guessed part of the ending and the horror has stayed with me so I guess it's done it's job. I read it very quickly which is good if you like a short story. For me it seemed to have a very small idea and not much was expanded on. Maybe better as a short story rather than a novel? A good Halloween read for sure.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC to review!

4.5 stars!! Rounded up!


Welp....that was way more creepy than I had anticipated. I loved this. I think, although the story itself isn't very long, some parts felt a little dragged out for mytaste given the anticipation and anxiousness I was feeling. But what a story! I loved this and could really see this become a show or movie. I kind of called out the twist from the get go but nevertheless I enjoyed every minute!

Unsettling and creepy, this book stays with you after you've put it down. AI is such a hot topic at the moment, that the author really feeds into people's fears. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC in return for an honest review of the book.

100% one for Stephen King fans!

Never really read a horror which had an AI twist to it but I pretty much enjoyed this! I’m not one for horror but I thought I’d try something different other than fantasy & I’m glad I did!

I liked how William freaked me out and it was just words on a page, such an eerie atmosphere the ending really shocked me & I liked that it was more relevant to the world we live in today too! I wish the ending was dragged out a little longer but that was the only thing for me!

Definitely recommend this book even if you’re not into Sci-Fi!

The more I read reviews on Goodreads, the more I hate myself for reviewing on here. How many times do I have to read comments like 'I didn't like/connect with any of the characters' and 'it just didn't do it for me'? Don't answer that. In fact, don't read this review. It's five stars, so there's that. I'll write this review to myself, and say that this is a novel in which the writer plays with the reader through some cunning and effective narrative techniques, for instance, the flickering points of view, which, to me, were adeptly done. It's horror, if genre is important, but there are some exquisitely written passages, with some real insight into humanity. Whether I 'like' the characters or not is immaterial, it's whether they work within the story, whether they have a narrative function, and of course they do. And, on reaching the end of this novel, the reason behind the strange viewpoints and odd character behaviour becomes clear. It's necessarily short, this novel, too, and that affects the pace and therefore the atmosphere, the claustrophobia (or agoraphobia) that the story (and the main character) lives in. All that is clever stuff, narratively. It's excellent storytelling. My grateful thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

Took me a few chapters to get into this one but I'm so glad I persevered with it. William is scary as!!! A really clever take on a ghost story that's right up there for today's world.
Brilliant.

3.5 stars
This was topsy turvy from the get go. I enjoyed the unreliable narration on Henry and William’s part, it made the book feel more unhinged. I expected more on the commentary of AI and its impact on this particular book, but it was only really discussed once or twice. The entire plot takes place over a single day, and it moves at an incredibly sharp pace, so I was hooked in that sense. Despite being advertised as a horror, I felt this was more sci-fi and techy, but I still found the premise and ending plot twist very compelling!

Woah, that was super creepy and full of surprises! This book got right into it from the beginning, and I have to say I really enjoyed it. No you’re not going to find any loveable characters or the building of a good backstory here but you might find it hard to sleep, unless you live in a cave with no modern technology then you might feel safe…

I was immediately drawn to this book based on the synopsis as I love a good thriller with a bit of sci-fi thrown in. I’d say it’s on the shorter side of most thrillers but it certainly packs a punch! The author did a great job of creating an eerie atmosphere and with the entire story takes place in one location it made it feel very tense and claustrophobic. William the AI was really well written - he was freaky, creepy and made me feel quite uneasy. The ending was perfect and unexpected!

Thank you to the author, publisher and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for my honest opinion