New Horror Book “William” by Mason Coile – My Short Review

Reviewed by Amber Khatri – Published on May 5, 2025

This book is a modern-age nightmare that explores the dark side of advanced technology. The smart lifestyle we live can backfire on us if we allow AI to dominate every aspect of our lives. 

William is the name of an AI robot that has a limitless and ever-growing intelligence. Henry is its creator, its inventor, and he has locked his creation in the attic lab. As an agoraphobic with a mental disorder, he spends all day at home in an old Victorian house. His wife, Lily, is an engineer and runs a business, and she provides Henry with tools to build a robot. Without Lily, Henry feels lonely and impotent. 

Time finally comes when Henry introduces his project, William, to his wife and her colleagues whom she invited home. William doesn’t have a lower half of the body so it sits on the desk all the time. He has the ability to feel, smell, taste, and talk. On the first meeting with William, Lily asks the robot what it is and what it can do. William responds by attacking her, almost killing her. Henry begins to see the robot as a threat, because it doesn’t behave the way he created him. He believes a negative energy has taken up its body, like a demon or a ghost possession. When the smart system malfunctions, Henry thinks that William is behind it. Lily and his colleagues don’t realize what danger they are in until strange things start happening around the house. There is something more malicious at play that makes the house haunted. 

Having read many horror stories, this book was unique

The combination of cyber-fiction and supernatural horror was dark and lethal. Henry’s personality filled me with curiosity because he is a robotic engineer and an agoraphobe. He is relentlessly plagued with the concern of lacking intimacy with his wife who is pregnant. Henry knows Lily is having an affair with her colleague, Davis. When Davis comes over to their place, Henry observes the way Davis looks out for Lily after William attacks him. Henry wants to share his feelings for Lily to her and make things right between them. But the more he tries to get closer the further she goes away from him. At some point, the calm behavior of Henry is odd because he doesn’t react to Lily having a secret affair. This mysterious aspect of Henry and Lily’s marriage and Lily’s affair adds a layer to the story. 

Furthermore, William is not the only robot in the house. There are also two others: a dog and a magician. The couple live in a high-tech Victorian house with intelligent robots. The story gets creepier when the magician and the dog grow hostile and harm Lily’s colleagues. Imagine living in a house that is controlled with technology and one day that technology doesn’t respond to your commands? That is what happens in this story. The entire plot happens over the span of one day, on Halloween, which sets a horror atmosphere. 

Frightening Story Concept Set in High-Tech Modern World

The story concept feels frighteningly realistic, though the events in the book are wholly fictitious and exaggerated. In the beginning of the book, it reminded me of Child’s Play Chuck, the way the doll kills people. There are intense violent scenes full of gore and blood that may be nauseating for some readers. I was afraid for Lily who was pregnant because Henry was unable to protect her against killer robots. Henry destroys William in a physical sense but its evil energy lurks unseen in the house. It goes after the couple and the two colleagues, Davis and Paige, blocking their every path to escape.  

Overall, this book has short and concise chapters which makes it a fast and thrilling read. It’s precisely under 220 pages and is completely focused on the present moment rather than distracting backstory and extra characters. The ending is mindblowing and totally unexpected. After some point in the story I started losing interest because I had already guessed robots were possessed by demons. But then the plot twist took my breath away.