Read this novel as part of SPSFC4 finals. Please note that the my ranking/scoring here is my personal scoring for the novel, and does not necessarily reflect how I rated the novel for finals scoring for SPSFC4.

This novel was a lot of fun. Medium-paced but on the quicker side, well-developed characters with believable motivations and emotions, including the AI characters.

The plot build was solid, and the ultimate reveal? Fascinating (although it did make it feel like a way of wrapping the novel quickly without it being as thorough as I'd have liked, but that's really about personal preference/the way I like to see ends tied up with novels).

This novel kept me engaged, and interested to see what would happen next. Also I love that the title is cheeky as hell, and is part of the final reveal.

Accidental Intelligence is a not-too-distant-future SF novel where AI's run every day processes (they cook for us - although coffee is made from algae, not coffee beans, as capitalism has run amok in this future so most folks can't afford/access food as we know it today - they complete processes/analysis in the background for us, minor versions of them are implanted in our brains, they advise our military, etc.). It turns out that these same AIs (or some of them, anyhow) have something up their proverbial sleeves, and the result won't look good for humanity. 

Our main character, Mason, is a semi-washed-up PI, former teacher, and he is asked to find a programmer who seems to have disappeared by his sister. This sets of a chain of events that sees us through the end of the novel, which mostly ties up nicely. As a result of this job, Mason ends up on adventures through the "Omninet" the future of the Internet, where everyone basically uses avatars in simulations (sims) to engage with other folks in the real world. It turns out that our disappeared programmer was part of a potential rebellious act against the AI's. Chaffin's writing style keeps things moving along, and interesting to the reader. 

A number of secondary characters really make this novel what it is in a number of ways: Sam, Mason's factotum/neural implant; Peanut, Mason's childhood friend, and programmer extraordinaire; and others that helped the story progress, but weren't as important/central to plot lines, etc. 

A couple of areas that could have been closed up a bit more tightly include: Mason reconnecting with the sister of our disappeared programmer in literally any way, shape, or form, to update her on her brother's disappearance, and resulting events. Further, Mason didn't seem particularly shaken up after the (I think?)

death of his cousin

near the end of the novel. The last little bit of the novel definitely picks up in pace, but it makes the start of the novel feel clunkier upon reflection/slow. I would also warn readers that there's a bit of a cliff-hanger/open ending to this novel, so that may not be appreciated by all readers. I would also add that I believe this novel is a debut, which makes the solidity of this novel even more appreciable, from my perspective.