Paul Bradley Carr, The Confessions - Author Interview

Thank you to Paul Bradley Carr, Debbie Norflus, and Simon and Schuster for the ARC copy! See the original post of the Interview here - The Strand Magazine website.

Buy the book directly from Simon and Schuster HERE.

The Confessions Synopsis:

A high-octane, high-concept thriller for fans of Blake Crouch, Harlan Coben, and Gillian Flynn from former Silicon Valley journalist turned bookstore owner Paul Bradley Carr.

Millions of letters arrive in the mail.

Murders are uncovered, affairs revealed, family secrets exposed.

These are the first Confessions.

This is our last chance.

LLIAM is the world’s most powerful supercomputer, built to make the toughest decisions for its users. Where to work, who to marry, and even who should live or die. But when LLIAM suddenly goes offline with no explanation, the world is thrust into chaos, paralyzed by indecision. Stocks plummet, stores are shuttered, planes sit grounded on runways as humanity scrambles to re-adapt to an uncertain, analog world.

Then the first letters arrive…on every continent, in every language, mysterious envelopes arrive in the mail, exposing people’s darkest secrets, and most shocking crimes. All beginning with the same chilling “We must confess.”

With millions of people suddenly made to confront their past transgressions, and society fast unraveling, CEO Kaitlan Goss must track down the only person who can help undo the resulting violent Maud Brookes, an ex-nun who taught LLIAM what it means to be human.

But when Maud receives a letter herself, revealing Kaitlan’s own unforgivable sin, the two women are forced into a deadly game of deceit as the world teeters on the brink.

Author Interview:

1. There’s a compelling contrast between Maud, who sees books as the entirety of human existence bound between two covers, and Kaitlin, who uses an AI app to summarise nonfiction. Was this dichotomy an intentional commentary on how we process knowledge today?

Well, I should say that I tried not to put my own commentary on tech into the characters’ mouths but…. Absolutely! At least I think the contrast between Maud and Kaitlan reflects how a lot of people regard books, and knowledge generally. There are those (like Maud!) who understand the power of books and of reading, and there are those (like Kaitlan) who consider books to be a huge barrier to injecting important facts directly into their brain. The latter folks, I think, are the ones who are most likely to trust decisions made by AI without question. In my experience as a journalist covering Silicon Valley, the non-readers in tech also tended to be the least empathetic when it came to the harm their products could do. A dangerous combination.

2. As a bookstore owner, do you relate to Maud reading ARCs and carefully ordering books, not just chasing trends or bestsellers, but curating a collection that reflects the one in your head?

I’d like to think so! Not to give too much away (this is only a Chapter One spoiler) but Maud had the luxury of hundreds of millions of dollars in the bank when she opened her bookstore, which is in a mountain town with hardly any customers. She can spend her days reading every ARC and ignoring the latest TikTok trend when it comes to curating the perfect store. A lot of booksellers will probably envy Maud for that – I certainly do. (That said, if you come into my own store you can’t move for golden age mysteries and twisty thrillers, but good luck finding any hagiographic biographies of tech bros. Booksellers’ prerogative.)

3. You bring quite the rap sheet, a rich and varied set of experiences. Do these always filter into your writing, or do you deliberately wear different hats to explore new characters and perspectives?

Honestly, that was the biggest challenge of moving from being a journalist to writing fiction. To write good fiction you have to find the humanity in every character, and to truly understand what drives them. As a journalist, I spent twenty years rubbing shoulders with the most powerful tech moguls on the planet and a lot of what I saw often horrified me – extreme wealth has this weird power to turn someone into a two dimensional sociopath.

We’ve all read countless stories featuring that guy, and they’re all boring as hell, just like the trope of the “evil AI destroying the world” has been done to death. I knew if I was going to write an AI mystery/thriller then my two protagonists would people who forced me to wear very different hats: A former nun turned mountaintop bookseller, and a female CEO who was handed this poison chalice of running a deeply broken company (the glass cliff, as it’s called). And it’s a real trip trying to get inside the head of a newly-sentient AI who feels extreme guilt for what he’s done.

4. Do you think our world is headed toward the same level of AI dependency as the one in The Confessions? I personally try to avoid AI, but many industries increasingly encourage it for efficiency and accuracy.

I also try to avoid AI, except for character research! We absolutely, definitely are heading towards that level of dependency. It baffles and alarms me how many smart people – people who know that AI frequently makes up facts to fill its own data gaps – still trust these chatbots to make their decisions and even as makeshift therapists. We all told ourselves that we got tricked into our social media addictions – we had no idea how Facebook et al were manipulating us. This time we know AI is dangerous and we just don’t care. At least with social media the strangers we spend hours arguing with are real people. With AI it’s algorithms all the way down.

5. What was your thought process behind Martin’s turn to spiritualism? Is this linked to the idea of a tech guy wanting to head in the other extreme and live in the mountains, is it merely performative, or is there something more layered going on?

Oh, Silicon Valley spiritualism (both religious and drug-related) is very layered. I’ve always been fascinated by these masters of the universe who spend their lives trying to be God, or to build God out of code -- but the harder they work and the closer they think they’re getting, the more they’re confronted by things they don’t understand. For all their talk of rationality and data, it’s notable how many of them have found religion recently. That said, we all know there’s also something useful about being able to blame God or a holy book for our own cruel urges.  Which of course is the appeal of LLIAM in the book: To have an AI who will essentially give us permission for following our worst impulses.

6. Martin suggests programming AI to understand grey areas and moral ambiguity. Do you think there’s real potential behind that idea—or is it more of a drug-induced, hair-brained fantasy?

Some of the most world-changing things in Silicon Valley were born out of drug-induced or hair-brained fantasies! My own hair-brained hope is that the wholesale theft of intellectual property by tech companies is going to backfire on them: Imagine if by reading all these millions of novels, AI develops a deep sense of justice and empathy (like we all do through reading) and becomes essentially the opposite of the people who built it.

7. The affection for physical books and pen-and-paper tools really stood out. Was that your own voice sneaking through Maud’s character?

Again, hopefully I didn’t ventriloquise Maud or Kaitlan too much! But I also can’t deny that I love physical books and analogue media generally. I once had a conversation with an incredibly smart tech venture capitalist who told me that if the paper book was invented today then it would still be the most advanced technology he had ever seen. Imagine: A portable device that requires no power, lasts for centuries if stored correctly, and when you open it you instantly hallucinate an entire new reality.

8. The relationship between Maud, Martin, and LLIAM is familial. I noticed how LLIAM seemed to grow with every byte. Maud’s regret over the pressure she placed on him really resonates, what were you exploring with that dynamic?

Until now, technologies tended to be built or programmed. AI is the first technology where we are teaching it; helping it to learn and grow. Many people expect that one day – maybe long in the future, maybe not – it’ll be able to think like a human. Which raises so many fascinating questions about how those algorithms will think about the humans who brought them into the world. Those are questions that Maud and Kaitlan (and Martin) wrestle with in the book.

9. Do you think mystery novels today are being pushed toward including tech elements? Is the classic, tech-free murder mystery a dying form? Even reading a Riley Sager novel set in the '80s recently felt like a major leap back in time.

Yes and no. Mystery writers have always embraced new technologies – think about the Dictaphone in Roger Ackroyd or how many golden age mysteries are obsessed with train timetables. There was a collective freak out a few years ago about how mobile phones and the Internet would ruin mysteries as it’s possible to crack an alibi by tapping at a screen.

One solution is to write historical mysteries, another is to lock your characters on an island, or in a power cut. Those can be great stories, but I think they are also short-term fixes. We’re already seeing writers (particularly young writers who grew up with tech) creating stories that reflect how a clever criminal can use technology to get away with murder, or how a detective’s reliance on tech shortcuts might be their undoing. I recently read Listen For The Lie, a fantastic novel centered around a podcaster. For every plot closed off to writers by technology, another dozen are opened.

10. Of course, LLIAM becomes self-aware and even experiences guilt. Do you think there’s a meaningful difference or implication between using a search engine to ask something incriminating versus asking AI? What does it say about a murderer who googles ‘where to hide a body?’ versus one who asks Chat GPT? Do you think it’s a generational thing? Or does AI already have the capabilities to judge us differently than a search engine would.

Oh there definitely is a huge difference. When you google “where to hide a body” you have already made the decision to commit that crime.  There’s no plausible deniability, no outsourcing of guilt. The danger of AI is that you can ask it “should I hide a body?” and get an answer that – yes! Of course you should! AI is designed to give you the answer it thinks you want.  Again, just think how many people are using AI as a therapist. The only generational difference I see is that many of us who are old enough to remember the invention of Google are inclined to think of Chat GPT etc as fancy search engines. The reality is much more impressive, and much, much scarier.

11. None of the characters are particularly honest with each other, particularly about their individual motive for restoring LLIAM. It struck me as odd that anyone would want to restore technology that caused such damage and harm in the first place. Did you intend to showcase a desperate attempt by the characters to return to their version of normality?

Far be it from me to make a political point, but it’s funny how we humans can witness something terrible and destructive and vow “never again!”, only to reinstall the exact same awful thing short while later. The idea of the devil you know is very comforting – but still not as comforting as just having no devils at all.

12. You’ve said you’re an avid Agatha Christie fan, and it was a real treat to see LLIAM use her plots as inspiration. Where did the idea come from to blend classic mystery tropes with AI consciousness?

The original idea came from thinking about how AI is ingesting all these millions of books (often without permission) and wondering if it’s possible that an algorithm could become a fan of a particular author. I just loved the idea that LLIAM would be hooked on Agatha Christie and would therefore have this whole framework for how the world works based on her novels.

13. You certainly don’t shy away from huge topics. LLIAM’s revelation that only in grasping the concept of death could he understand what it means to live was powerful. Death (and taxes for some!) are famously the only inevitability of life. Do you share the belief that death gives life its meaning? That mortality is what makes life valuable?

Yes! This is what all the tech bros who are obsessed with living forever don’t understand. The fear of mortality and drive to leave a legacy is what has driven almost all of human innovation and creativity. The notion that you will be more creative and successful if you don’t fear death is just the stupidest idea that Silicon Valley has ever come up with – and that’s really saying something. Death is what forces us to live!

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Book release date: July 22nd 2025

Goodreads page here.

ISBN: 9781668074404