The Automatic Detective

Starred Review. Martinez (In the Company of Ogres) tickles the funny bone in this delightful, fast-paced mishmash of SF and hard-boiled detective story. Mack Megaton drives a cab in the mutant-infested technotopia of Empire City. It's a step down for a massive killing machine created for world domination, but kindhearted Megaton has bucked his programming, and when his secretive neighbors, the Bleakers, go missing, he begins a search. Young Holt Bleaker has something in his mutant blood that makes him valuable to aliens poised to invade Empire City, and only a giant robot—a robot like Mack Megaton—can break him out of the fortress where he's held prisoner. Soon plans go awry when sinister psychic Grey subverts Megaton's programming, but he finds an unlikely ally in Lucia Napier, an outrageously beautiful and talented media star and roboticist. Eccentric characters, all of whom are clever twists on stereotypes, populate a smart, rocket-fast read with a clever, twisty plot that comes to a satisfying conclusion. (Feb.)
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“Martinez tickles the funny bone in this delightful, fast-paced mishmash of SF and hard-boiled detective story. . . . A smart, rocket-fast read with a clever, twisty plot that comes to a satisfying conclusion.”---Publishers Weekly (starred review) on *The Automatic Detective

“Martinez crafts a private eye in the best tradition of hard-boiled futuristic detection, with plenty of beautiful babes and evil geniuses, and written in classic wise-cracking first-person narrative.”---Booklist on The Automatic Detective

"Reformed warrior robot Mack Megaton searches for a missing family---and a moral purpose---in a city of exotic mutants. . . . Mack's smash-and-grab mission acquires some satisfying philosophical heft."---Entertainment Weekly on The Automatic Detective

“A terrific debut. The fast-paced plot is full of memorable incidents and wonderful observations.”---Publishers Weekly (starred review) on Gil’s All Fright Diner*