Horror Book Review: William by Mason Coile

 

Mason Coile’s William is this week’s Horror Book Pick. The book published in September 2024, and is on the bestsellers list of Ghost Thrillers and Technothrillers.

The novel has received several positive reviews from critics who describe the book as dark yet clever, and the kind of book you would find hard to put down.

Readers mirrored the same sentiment. They found the book to be intriguing and addictive. Some readers found the concept to be terrifying and did not see the ending coming.

However, many readers pointed out that the characters were flat and that there were missed opportunities to make the AI robots even more terrifying.

Quick Book Review of WILLIAM based on the sample

We meet Henry who has just woken up from a nightmare. Beside him is his wife Lily who encourages him to talk about his dreams. Henry then muses about his relationship with his wife. Lily is pregnant and distant. He has agoraphobia and isn’t particularly pleased that his wife’s colleagues are coming over for brunch.

Henry is into engineering and Lily is into computers. That is how they met, at work and what drew them together. But ever since then, their work has taken priority over their relationship.

Henry spends most of his time in the attic, building things. He shows Lily one of the robots he has been building. It is a magician on a bicycle. For some reason, it doesn’t respond to Henry the way it should but since it is small, he is able to pick it up and turn it off before it goes around the whole house knocking things over and scaring Lily.

What Henry hasn’t told Lily yet is the robot he is working on. He has even given the robot clothes and calls him William. The house is fully AI empowered, something the author is keen to emphasize on in his story. Clearly, this feature is going to play an important part in giving the story a much needed twist.

William is able to have a conversation with Henry and compares the house to a cell.

Clearly, the robot is sentient enough to want to escape his little prison.

The setup is great and with the advancement of AI it is interesting to read the drawbacks of this technology. Everything that is made to provide us with convenience may not necessarily be safe for us.

The story starts off with Henry’s description of his nightmare of finding a door that has chains and padlocks all over it. He can hear a voice giving him a grim statement. Despite the chains and padlocks, whoever is on the other side of the door, is strong enough to break through the door.

The very first chapter brings us straight into this terrifying world that belongs to Henry and his fears, and his creations. The story is remarkably told and flows ably from one chapter to another, keeping a steady momentum while also engaging your imagination.

You know what to expect from the synopsis. Things are about to get chaotic as soon as William makes an appearance, but the exciting part is the journey towards the inevitable.

William is an engaging sci-fi thriller that will stir up fear in you. Sci-fi horror is on the trend nowadays and WILLIAM is an excellent addition to this genre.

To Read or Not to Read

The sample was enough to pique my interest. Henry could be anyone of us, trying hard to make relationships work but also desperately making use of his skills to create something amazing.

The characters were likable so far and I cannot wait to see how they fare when the plot takes a delightfully creepy turn.

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