THE ALGORITHM WILL SEE YOU NOW

In Lycette’s speculative novel set in the year 2035, medical diagnoses are made not by medical professionals but by an artificial-intelligence algorithm—and one doctor has serious questions about it.

Dr. Hope Kestrel is the “High Resident” at the Seattle-based hospital Prognostic Intelligent Medical Algorithms and the front-runner for a post-residency position. PRIMA is on the verge of a merger with Seattle Healthcare Associates, and its diagnostic technology is seemingly without error. But when a patient (called a Patron under the new system) is erroneously admitted onto her service, Hope begins an investigation that leads her and her new intern, Jacie Stone, into a web of lies and corporate greed. It appears that PRIMA only admits Patrons that they’re certain will survive, while others are sent to a hospice-style facility. As Hope begins to question the algorithm, she’s penalized in the resident-ranking system and soon placed on leave. With Jacie’s help, they access the internal data to discover a dark secret in the algorithm creation. Over the course of this brisk novel, Lycette creates a very near future that readers will find to be fleshed out and tangible in its portrait of a near-future American health care system. The medical side of the story feels authentic throughout. However, there are times when the novel veers into too many topical issues, none of which are ever fully resolved. There are understandable mentions of the Covid-19 pandemic (called the “catalyst which led to the end of the previous broken system—health insurance tied to employment”), medical racial bias, sexism, and reproductive freedom, but these aspects don’t further the main story in significant ways and sometimes even distract from it. The overall emotional framework of the novel, in which Hope and Jacie are driven by their families’ experiences with cancer, may feel familiar, but it does make the main players more relatable.

A futuristic medical thriller with keen medical details and fast pacing.