Culpability

A Novel

By: Bruce Holsinger

Narrated by: Stacy Carolan, January LaVoy

Oprah’s Book Club Pick * New Yorker Best Books of 2025 * 2026 Aspen Words Literary Prize Longlist * Kirkus Best Books of 2025 * Real Simple Best Books of 2025 * Washington Post Noteable Fiction 2025 * NPR's 2025 "Books We Love" * Minnesota Star Tribune 20 Best of 2025 *

“I was riveted until the very last shocking sentence!”—Oprah Winfrey

Set at a summer rental on the Chesapeake Bay, a riveting family drama about moral responsibility in the age of artificial intelligence.

When the Cassidy-Shaws’ autonomous minivan collides with an oncoming car, 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 that implicates them in the 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.

©2025 Bruce Holsinger (P)2025 Spiegel & Grau by Spotify Audiobooks

Excellent novel ☆☆☆☆☆

Wow! I read hundreds of novels a year. This is one of the best! It's thought provoking, well paced. The characters are very well developed, the plot has some twists I surely did not see coming. And the ending was a bit jarring, thoughtful and informative. I could not put this one down.

Eye opening

The story gave us a real look into AI and workings behind the advancement of technology. Who is making them behave?

Compelling

I didn’t want to put it down. I had to see how the story unfolded. Great storytelling.

The twists and turns of family life.

The readers were especially good. Getting end of the personalities and voices of each character. Love the interaction of the family together and separately. It was a very good read.

Philosophy Professor teaches Ethics

A powerful story with many twists and turns. The reality of the moral ethics of artificial intelligence.