The Automatic Detective

"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." Publishers Weekly (Starred Review) (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)

The award-winning author of "Gil's All Fright Diner" returns with this fantastic new novel. Even in Empire city, a town where weird science is the hope of tomorrow, its hard for a robot to make his way--even for a hulking machine designed to bring humankind to its knees.