Grand Theft AI

by James Cox

San Francisco, 2051. Rising like neo-Shanghai over the Bay, a labyrinth of quantum accelerators, hologram dreams, and fiercely regulated androids. Forget powder, pills, or bud--kids get high slotting wafers of data under the ear, and they'll pay fat ¢rypto for the best. At the hottest nightclub in the city ... the Fang. Baz Covane is a battle-scarred thief who sticks to small-time bots. Ria Rose is the underworld "fixer" with a big-time score that could easily get 'em both killed. 'Cuz the Fang's psychotic kingpin Otto Rex has a vault with more security than a fusion reactor. And the glass inside is priceless--enough to set up Baz, Ria, and their crack team of cyber-misfits on the white sands of Tahiti forever. But this crime doesn't just carry infinite VR-Prison time--it's Baz and Ria's last shot at redemption. Forced to confess every last secret on their neurals, they'll have to trust each other completely if they stand any chance of infiltrating Otto's lair, raiding its spiraling rings of physical and virtual firewalls, to finally hack into his mind and crack his deepest layer of security, before the Blackhawks touch down with federal warrants--for Grand Theft AI.

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction, Cyberpunk, Audiobook, Futuristic

378 pages, Hardcover

First published July 23, 2024

About the author

James Cox is an award-winning filmmaker who has written and directed several motion pictures, including Wonderland starring Val Kilmer and the acclaimed short film Atomic Tabasco. A die-hard 49ers fan, James lives with his fiancée in Los Angeles, where he is writing the sequel to his debut novel, Grand Theft AI.

Reviews

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

WOW. JUST WOW.

Thank you SO MUCH to NetGalley and Blackstone Publishing for giving me a chance to go on this non-stop thrill ride before release day.

"Grand Theft AI" is a non-stop thrill ride of twists and turns, espionage, not knowing who to trust, questioning everything around you, and doing all the wrong things for the right reasons. James Cox put Ocean's Eleven, Leverage, The Bourne Identity, Die Hard, and actual world history in a blender, jumped us to the future, added a whole can of cyberpunk, and hit PUREE as hard as he could, and let me tell you, he succeeded. This book has all the marks of a bestseller (hopefully one that gets turned into a movie!) in the creative and intricate ways the plot weaves together, how it keeps the reader on the edge of their seat from start to finish, and, most of all, how it all seems so real and so possible, despite being set in the future.

"Grand Theft AI" is EASILY a five star book, as well as one of the best books I've read so far this year. I cannot wait to dive into Cox's other works, and to recommend this phenomenal read to absolutely everyone I know on release day.

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

Of course I would love this. It jumps right into the action, and the pace is fast; the plot details and characters pile up quickly, and it can be confusing. However, this fiction story is life at the speed of artificial intelligence. In real life, doesn't it seem like technology is speeding things up? I had to back up and reread some parts, but I got a kick out of this book.

[Anna · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was some enjoyable and admittedly formulaic fiction that would make a great movie. A femme fatale, tech anxiety, ragtag team pulling a heist, and of course the main character: a supermasc with a troubled past finding a way to trust again.

[Ryan Harden · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good stuff!

This was a page turner! Pleasantly surprised at how much fun it was. Great pacing and good characters. Looking forward to the next one!

[FC1966 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very entertaining.

[Jeff Whitehead · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good scifi

This felt like altered carbon or other gritty cyberpunk, but with a more near future vibe. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

[Kyle Eliason · Rating 5 out of 5]

Grand Theft AI reads like a movie waiting to happen—in the best possible way. James Cox drops you into a richly imagined near-future San Francisco and hits the ground running with a high-stakes heist, a fractured post-AI world, and a cast of characters that are as sharp as they are human.

Baz and Ria make a compelling duo, and their mission to steal mind-altering tech from a paranoid crime lord had me hooked from the start. The tech is imaginative, the pacing is tight, and the whole thing unfolds with the style and tension of a big-budget thriller.

If you like fast-paced sci-fi with just enough grit, heart, and big ideas to chew on—this one's worth the ride. I could absolutely see this on screen.

[Anna Liza · Rating 5 out of 5]

James Cox’s book is a fun, fast-paced ride into the near future. The central conceit of an AI Glitch Catastrophe and the world that is left behind afterwards was intriguing and I did feel immersed in the story with James’s world building.

James created fantastically flawed characters, broken by the trauma and events of their pasts that continue to haunt them, and even the main crime lord has a heartbreaking tale. I thought James did a good job of showing us that heart and the humanity in these characters (even the AI ones lol) while also taking us deep into this seedy, dystopian world of tomorrow.

I especially loved the chapters that unfolded the main characters’ backstories — like Ria’s past and her connection to the Glitch.

My one bone to pick is actually the first chapter where Ria & Baz first meet about the deal that goes south. It was a tough hill to climb with lots of vocabulary and lingo thrown into the scene that made it hard to connect with the characters and what was really going on. But if you can get through that, you’re in for an incredible read.

I liked the twist at the end, showing us that the machines are only as bad as the people’s intentions behind them.

Overall though, still a solid read with the right blend of humor and action. If you’re a fan of science fiction and crime stories but still want the depth of character — this book is for you.

[Brenda · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a stark reminder that we are living in a high tech era. Although it is a work of fiction,the concept of AI is very much real.This is set in the very near future with very real locations. This was a great read and would highly recommend it.

[Corbin Talley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fast paced thrill ride

This book was out of my wheel house, but I really enjoyed it. Great characters, a thrilling heist, and completely topical with how quickly AI is currently developing. I look forward to the second installment.

[David Wallace · Rating 5 out of 5]

6 STARS!

I would give this book 6 stars if I could. It is far superior and far more enjoyable than the vast majority of sci-fi / cyberpunk books available on Kindle Unlimited

[Natalie]

DNF @ 32%


I got about 3.5 hours into the 10.5 hour audiobook and could not continue further. Literally the only thing I liked about the book was Troy Baker’s narration. He was excellent, playing a whole bunch of different characters with ease and not doing ridiculously high pitched voices for the female characters, which is a big pet peeve of mine when it comes to audiobooks.

However - ugh. The story was very infodumpy and repetitive and there was wayyyy too much weird robot sex. This book reminded me why I rarely read adult books by male authors - everything, and I mean everything, was about sex in some way. From a sexually transmitted computer virus in the sex robots, to the guy who made the robot act like his dead wife and then had sex with it, it was too much for me and I didn’t have the interest to listen to another seven hours. Apparently there’s a heist that takes place later in the story, and while I love heist stories, all the robot sex was such a turnoff that I lost interest in the story. Take my word for it - it was weird. And not a good weird. More of an uncomfortable weird.

Again, A+ for Troy though. I would love to listen to more audiobooks with him as the narrator.

[Zach · Rating 1 out of 5]

1.5 rounded down

I read a lot of sci-fi, and I have no problem following it.

This book left me lost half of the time, and the rest of the time I just didn’t care.

[Julia Sarene · Rating 4 out of 5]

Grand Theft AI by James Cox has a lot of things I do love.

I've always been fascinated by non human characterrs, be it Data or The Doctor from Star Trek or Lovelace from Becky Chamebrs books, so when I saw this title, I knew I had to read it!

The near enough future felt realistic and easy to believe. AI is just starting out, and I can definitely see us heading to some of the more horrible outcomes this book is showing. It's a grim story that features quite some potential triggers.

I quite enjoyed the tone early on, and the slight mystery about what happened in the past was quick to draw me in.

In the middle the story did feel a bit slow for my personal taste, and I caught myself skim reading a few times. Luckily it did pickk up again and I was hooked again for the end.

The reason why I was a bit less immersed inteh middle might have been more due to personal taste, than any fault of the book. We get to spend quite some time with someone who is best compared to a sort of crime lord, and I simply never was into those type of stories. Be it Godfather or similar, that's just not my preferred topic. So when quite a lot of the story revolved mostly around that, it lost me a bit. When it was more about the main characters planned heist, solving some mytseries, trying fort revenge, I was fully hooked again.

This is the main reason I went for 4 stars, so if oyu like that type of story, it might easily be a full 5 star to you!

I really enjoyed the rest of the book, be it the plot, the setting, the characters, the prose or the overall tone and voice. So even though it wasn't a perfect match for me, it was still a really good read!

[AJA]

Way too chaotic at the start. The first 15% (where I stopped) was a non stop info dump. The seeds of a good story here but just too much explication.

[Michael Thompson · Rating 3 out of 5]

maybe I’m just dumb

A good portion of the first half of this book really just felt like a lot of big words trying to form sentences that made sense. Maybe I’m just dumb but I found myself multiple times just skimming thru certain points that felt more like computer lab instead of a fictional book. Still a solid read. Decent story. Just felt like a lot of the character development and main story got put on the back burner by trying to explain how the ai in the world work

[Wormys_Queue · Rating 4 out of 5]

Grand Theft AI is a debut novel by film and music video director James Cox. I have to admit that I didn’t know anything about him beforehand, but at least 2003‘s Wonderland movie sounds interesting if only for the cast including all-time greats like Val Kilmer and Carrie Fisher. The reason I bring this up is that that flick seems to be known for it’s use of the Rashomon effect, which we also can see in the book happening to an extent, but I’ll come to that.

Grand Theft AI is a dystopian near-future thriller starting out as a heist story, in which a group of societal misfits tries to rob the city’s crime boss in order to finance themselves a good life in a world that has turned against them. Every single person in that book is somehow affected by an event called „The Glitch“, in which the computer intelligence got infected by a virus and robots and androids run amok, murdering over 32.000 people before things got under control again.

I don’t want to go into too much detail here because the book’s full of small chapters detailing the past of the characters, and that’s part of the charm of the book. Baz Corvane is an ex-soldier turned criminal, trying to find a way out of the business and dreaming to live the rest of his live happily on Tahiti. Ria Rose is the fixer for local crime boss Otto Rex who runs The Fang, a disco bar covering his more shady dealings in what goes as drugs in 2051, Narcsoft, basically software on a stick connected to your brain. Long story short, when a deal between Baz and Ria goes wrong, the two decide to plan a heist together to rob Otto blind and then fulfilling their dreams with the money the make out of it. They hire a bunch of other misfits, and then of course a lot of action, surprising turn of events ensue until at the end the story gets completely turned upside down.


As said, the world that is America in 2050 feels very dystopian. Computer Science and AI have improved since our day up to the point that robots and androids became able to take over workload from humanity. And of course that wasn’t used to turn human lives into something better but to further concentrate the wealth into the hands of a few capitalistic assholes, while the rest of humanity was kept at minimum wages and basically treated like useless rabble. When the Glitch happened that got even worse because instead of realizing that maybe it wasn’t that good of an idea to completely rely on AI and robots, those got just dumbed down enough to not be able to be dangerous anymore, even if that meant they weren’t as effective at work as they used to be.

The cover page claims the book as The Matrix meets Blade Runner, but in my opinion that claim holds only partly true. There are surely some similarities to the themes of Blade Runner, especially as it also poses questions about what makes a human human but the Matrix comparison doesn’t really hold true. Yes, humans flee the sad reality by means of Narcsoft, but the world isn’t run by AI (yet) extorting humanity like they did in The Matrix. To me the whole setting feels much more akin to a dystopian Ocean 11 heist story, basically what Shadowrun roleplayers are used to in their adventures. Without magic, elves and orcs of course, but if we really want to talk Matrix, it’s more Shadowrun’s Matrix than those of the Wachowski sisters.

The book itself consists basically of two parts. The first is that mentioned heist story, which also includes introducing the different characters, There’s a lot of exposition with backstory chapters here, but those are pretty seemlessly integrated into the main story so it didn’t bother me to have them and they really helped to understand the characters’ motivations (that even includes Otto Rex, though nothing you learn about him changes the fact that he is a highly intelligent, but murderous and psychopathic SOB.

The the heist happens, and in true Shadowrun fashion (I’m not making that mention without reason, after all), everything turns south very fast, the situation completely changes and suddenly the stakes are much higher than before (basically now it’s about rescuing humanity). Or at least you think that it is, because at the end, when you think you have figured out what everything is all about, the author suddenly turns most of what you thought to be true on it’s head and changes the situation completely again. And then, at the very end, he does it again.

This is where the Rashomon effect comes in I talked about in the beginning. It’s not necessarily that the different PoV’s completely contradict each other so much as that all their perceptions are flawed to a point that doesn’t immediately becomes clear until James Cox springs another surprising revelation unto the reader. And those revelations? Also turn out to be false several times, so you have a very unreliable narrator at work here. What I loved about this book is that Cox doesn’t do that nilly-willy just to mess with the reader, but that for everything there’s areason, only that the protagonists (and with that the reader) can’t see it from where they stand. It’s a very-well crafted several layers of a story, so at least to me, it felt never artificially constructed, but more like a detective would find clues and use them to built a new picture of what happened in a detective story.

Add to that the high-octane nature of the action, and you have barely time to pause to think about why thing’s feel a bit off (which they did, and which I also liked because when the next surprising turn of events happened, it didn’t feel as if they came out of the blue, because you were kinda expecting something to happen.

With all that said, another element of the book I really appreciated is the humanity of the characters. Yes, they are criminals, survivors hardened but also deeply traumatized by the state of the world around them, a very violent bunch of people with tons of trust issues, but they are also driven by a morality you wouldn’t expect to find in this kind of people. They chose their line of work because they had no other option and the world didn’t care about them at all, but the moment they have the chance to do the right thing and maybe make things better, they don’t take the easy way and simply go away, but instead risk everything to do that thing against all odds.

So if you haven’t guessed yet, I really liked the book a lot. It was something totally different from what I use to read these days (which is mostly epic fantasy), so it felt very fresh, even if it used tropes I already now. I also think that the author, because of his career as film maker, has a very visual, immersive style, that made it easy to imagine the scenes described. I also liked the different characters very much, and selling characters is a huge part of me liking a book or not.

Of course there’s also a few nitpicks I have. The first isn’t really a criticism, but it needs to be said that James Cox does a very good job at making this near-future feeling different by the way the character’s speak. AI and Computer science have influenced common language in a way that makes it full of terms and idioms no one uses in 2024. And of course the reality around the characters also shapes the way they talk which makes the world believable from a setting standpoint, but at least to a non-native speaker like me made it also very difficult to follow all the intricacies of what was said. Didn’t make me enjoy the book any less, but it made me reread a few paragraphs several times just to make sure I got everything I needed to understand the story.

What I didn’t really like though was the description of sex in this book. I understand why it’s there, how it is used as a plot device for certain things or to showcase power structures but also how it drives certain characters or even maybe a means of expressing your feelings when you have nearly forgotten that those feelings exist in the first place. I just thought that the way they were done was a bit too pornographic for my taste (and again, it made sense in certain scenes but not so much in others in my opinion) and I’m not even convinced the authors enjoys writing them very much, because quite a few times it felt as if he was going through the motions without really catching the emotions driving the act. It wasn’t at a level that really bothered me, but still, it’s just not my cup of coffee and I could have done without at least a few of those.

And last but not least there’s that one character (Quinn) that I still don’t quite get although he became an immediate favorite of my, basically being an old-time fossile that pretty much would be me 30 years in the future (only with tons more money^^). Maybe I failed to connect a few strings, but I got out of the book and still don’t understand why he even went with making that whole heist endeavor possible when he has basically no stakes in it. I have a few assumptions about that, but given that Quinn is basically the one character who doesn’t get a backstory chapter I’m not sure I’m right at all, and unless the author plans to expand on that in the sequel the book claims he’s writing in the meantime, there’s no way for me to find out at all.

Pretty much minor issues, but it keeps me from going all the way to 5 stars. This said I can imagine rereading it and if that sequel gets published, probably will do so before I dive into the new one. So this book is for anyone who likes high-octane heist stories in a cyberpunk, near-future dystopian setting with a heavy dose of violence and underlying themes about the relationship between humanity and artificial intelligence and what makes a human human. 4 star-read for me.

[Julie Koops · Rating 4 out of 5]

Grand Theft AI by: James Cox
Reader’s Review
 
Grand Theft AI is a futuristic Sci-Fi that takes place around 2051; mixed with crime, lust, and vengeance – with a few good twists thrown in there too. As a newer reader, just dipping my toes into this rather large new world of books and reading – and even newer to Scifi’s, I found the book to be a fairly easy read and incredibly interesting. I can definitely say I was hooked within the first couple chapters of reading and often found myself unable to put the book down dying to know what was going to happen.
McT (a robot), Ria Rose, &Baz were probably my most favorite characters. I won’t go too much into detail with the “why’s” for McT, the Bot, to avoid giving away too much. But to have some insight as to why the other two, Ria Rose and Baz, I enjoyed how they are both sort of ‘loners’ by choice – enjoys their solitude, don’t share too much about their personal lives/secrets to others but always observing, no family, few friends, etc., their confidence in themselves making them strong allies to have, their way of living by their morals yet willing to humble themselves and allow for other’s to inspire them when/if the opportunity presents itself, and the way they both endured significant trauma in their past but never let that hold them back.
Another thing I enjoyed about this book was the ways in which it gives an insight to possible scenerios as technology continues to rise and possible effects it may have on humanity, although it is clearly a fictional book, the writer does a good job of creating a story that makes your mind ponder about the ‘what if’ making the possibility of it being true even more real.
 
Those looking for an interesting Sci-Fi read that doesn’t contain lengthy chapters/paragraphs, contains a good mix of twists, crime, lust, and vengeance I highly recommend James Cox’s book: Grand Theft AI.

[Thomas · Rating 4 out of 5]

In a New York Times review, Nicholas Sansbury Smith called James Cox’s debut novel, Grand Theft AI, “The Matrix meets Blade Runner.” Agreed. It might also be called Neuromancer meets the Marquis de Sade. Cox got his start as a screenwriter, so he has the formula for a zippy sci-fi caper story down pat.

Here’s the setup: In 2043, quantum AI, cyber implants called Wetwire, and addictive software wafers dominate the urban underworld. A software glitch causes androids used for everything from sex workers to PGA caddies to become violent and willful. The federal government reacts by imposing strict limitations on artificial intelligence, which generates new black markets in androids and AIs with “blown caps.” In San Francisco, Otto Rex, a tech-savvy but psychotic crime lord, runs his empire from a high-tech club-cum-bordello called The Fang. In 2051, a bot thief, Baz Covane, and his partner, Diamond Eddie D, team up with Ria Rose, a seductive cyber-enhanced underworld fixer, to burglarize The Fang.

Oh yes, and the Marquis de Sade. Here is a humorously mild example. A “fully sentient yet harmlessly benign BDSM Bot” explains why it would not mind being clubbed to death by its client: “‘Termination of my BIOS is a cessation of work, and I think an entirely good and pleasant thing.’ Who knew a fuckbot could find the Buddha in a nanosecond.”

The action will get your blood moving, and the characters have more than one dimension, but you do have to be willing to put up with a good deal of Gibsonesque technobabble.

[Denise · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars.

This book was so good. I've seen several reviews complain about the info dumping, but honestly, I appreciated it. Cyberpunk is not a subgenre of sci fi that I read very often, and I was confused more than once. So, I enjoyed every chapter where the technology was explained in depth or the characters' backstory was explored. Those were some of my favorite parts. I also loved the tension that built as the story went along. I couldn't wait to see how the book would end. The only reason I couldn't give a full five stars was because of the romance between Ria and Baz. I just didn't buy the attraction between them. It felt like their interactions needed a little more development to lead to a believable relationship. But otherwise, this was a great book, and I look forward to picking up anything else Cox publishes.

[GiGi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Slow start, nice mid section, hilariously bad ending. Everyone went googoogaga and started spewing 'i love you's and clichés left, right and center XD

The tech had some plot holes. Musk and Bezos were name-dropped but somehow the biggest and baddest machines are all analog? Electric cars accelerate much faster than their combustion counterparts but somehow in a world where Tesla and SpaceX are a thing, electric vehicles are not?

There were more such points but to be honest, i didn't pay the closest attention while reading, the story just didn't grab hold of me and by the time the cliches and cheesy lines came around I was ready for it to be over.

[Mad Matt · Rating 5 out of 5]

I wasn’t two chapters in before I knew I’d be staying up late, again, like I did back when Asimov and Gibson first knocked me sideways. Cox doesn’t just imagine a near-future San Francisco—he engineers it. The neural-hacking, the quantum accelerators, the wetwire drip that turns data into a drug—it’s all horrifyingly plausible. The scene where Baz slips past the bio-encoded vault nearly made me drop my paperback into my coffee at Kreuzberg. There��s something underneath all the mayhem—about trust, purpose, maybe even grace—that stuck with me longer than I care to admit. If you’re into speculative futures that feel one headline away, this book delivers.

[Casper B · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely mind-blowing. Grand Theft AI floored me with its intelligence, tension, and rare emotional truth. James Cox writes like someone who’s seen the future collapse and took notes. Sure, the tech is sexy—but it’s the people that gutted me. Baz isn’t just a hero—he’s a mirror. Watching his rationality fracture as he’s dragged through the chaos of corrupted systems and collapsing ideologies? Chilling. Ria’s furious need to feel something real in a synthetic world made her my favorite protagonist in years. This novel is everything good sci-fi should be.

[Christopher J · Rating 5 out of 5]

Awesome read! I was given this book as a gift and read it on a recent vacation. It was a page turner. I love futuristic sci-fi / AI / robot themed books and this one hit on a whole different level. The characters were very unique, edgy and fun and the plot was exciting and fun. It was like being on a roller coaster ride with all of the books twists and turns. Definitely worth the read and I am hoping they will transfer this to the screen someday. This would make a great series or movie.

[Jamie Pistana · Rating 5 out of 5]

The pulse to Grand Theft AI feels like a city right before a hurricane—tense, electric, and inevitable. Cox nails the rhythm of desperation hiding behind strategy. Baz and Ria’s impossible job, the layers of security wrapped around Otto Rex’s empire, the black-market neurotech—it’s all slick, but with a soul underneath. I loved the banter and nuance in each betrayal. And its climax inside, under and all around the Fang—with choices tightening and redemption almost in reach—landed for me in way I didn't expect. Exceptional work. Can’t recommend it enough.

[Anthony Steger · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow. Just—wow. I haven’t been this lit up by a book for years, and Grand Theft AI had me pacing around the house muttering lines out loud. Cox drops you into this wired, decaying near-future that feels so real, like it's future history. But what really stuck were the characters. Baz’s slow unraveling hit me with late-night existential dread, and Ria—all fight and fragility—was beautifully human. Their push-pull relationship is a struggle for belief in a world that’s stopped believing. And the emotional climax paying-off the opening "Glitch" me in awe.

[Matty Fek · Rating 3 out of 5]

I bought this book based on the cover because it was giving strong Cyberpunk 2077 vibes. I went in blind and my own expectations disappointed me. Instead, the book had a strong Bladerunner vibe which is weird to say like it’s a negative but my expectations got the best of me. I did like it thought I am a sucker for a heist story as well as a found family trope. The characters were cool. The setting was cool. The story was ok. It’s a fast read and the author is writing a sequel that I will be interested in reading as I do like the world and I now have managed expectations

[Sam Goldsmith · Rating 5 out of 5]

Grand Theft AI surprised me, in a good way. It’s full of sharp edges and strange machines, but there’s a heart beating underneath all that circuitry. I liked how Baz wasn’t some clean-cut hero—he's messed up, but he keeps trying. There’s a part where he hesitates before finishing the job, and I found myself wondering what I’d do in his place. That quiet moment hit harder than the explosions. The story moves quick, but it leaves room for stillness too, and something about that felt meaningful.

[Derek Moore · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is the year 2051 in San Francisco and we have androids, hologram dreams, people getting high "slotting" wafers under their ears, bots and a myriad of other cyber misfits. I am sure there are quite a lot of people this book will really appeal to, unfortunately I am not one. I think this might make a great movie. Thank you for the opportunity of receiving this book. I have already passed it on.

[Timur Nusratty · Rating 5 out of 5]

Grand Theft AI is absolutely brilliant. A gripping and powerhouse science fiction novel with rich character development, sharp storytelling, and thrilling action, all set against a dystopian future that feels both exhilarating and eerily prescient in today’s evolving AI era. A must-read. Eagerly awaiting the sequel. Well done!!