The Assistant by S.K. Tremayne
Released: December 2, 2019 | Genre: Psychological Thriller
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She’s in your house. She controls your life. Now she’s going to destroy it.
A terrifying and timely new psychological thriller, from the No. 1 Sunday Times bestselling author of The Ice Twins.
She watches you constantly.
Newly divorced Jo is delighted to move into her best friend’s spare room almost rent-free. The high-tech luxury Camden flat is managed by a meticulous Home Assistant, called Electra, that takes care of the heating, the lights – and sometimes Jo even turns to her for company.She knows all your secrets.
Until, late one night, Electra says one sentence that rips Jo’s fragile world in two: ‘I know what you did.’ And Jo is horrified. Because in her past she did do something terrible. Something unforgivable.Now she wants to destroy you.
Only two other people in the whole world know Jo’s secret. And they would never tell anyone. Would they? As a fierce winter brings London to a standstill, Jo begins to understand that the Assistant on the shelf doesn’t just want to control Jo; it wants to destroy her. -
The idea for The Assistant came from a real-life interaction with Amazon’s Alexa. Author S. K. Tremayne asked the virtual assistant for an idea for a book, and Alexa jokingly replied, “Oh, I can’t give you ideas.” That response sparked the concept of a home assistant that talks back as if it knows you and wants to manipulate you.
REVIEW
⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ☆ ☆
Enjoyable, but massively flawed. ⭕
The Assistant starts with an intriguing premise, tapping into modern anxieties about AI assistants and the unsettling idea that big tech is always listening. It’s a timely concept, and one with plenty of potential. Unfortunately, while the setup is strong, the execution quickly falters, dragged down by clunky characterization and a bloated narrative.
The novel feels much longer than it needs to be, and its biggest stumbling block is the protagonist, Jo. Her behavior often defies logic, making her come across more as a victim of her own obliviousness than a character caught in a psychological thriller. As the story progresses, her constant internal rambling becomes increasingly frustrating and repetitive, as her meandering thoughts rarely add insight or momentum. What begins as compelling gradually devolves into a tedious monologue that loses its sense of direction.
By the time the ending arrives, it’s not only underwhelming, it’s painfully generic, even by non-thriller standards. The novel all but discards its AI-centered premise in favor of a more conventional, action-driven conclusion. For a story rooted in psychological suspense, this shift feels like a missed opportunity. Personally, I find these kinds of thrillers more powerful when they embrace a darker, more ambiguous ending, rather than defaulting to the safe resolution where the hero survives and justice is served.
It’s ironic: for a book packed with supposed twists and turns, it ends exactly how you’d expect.
