September 2016 - The Automatic Detective

[Melki, Femme fatale]

This month we'll be reading the winner of the Comedy Hour poll - The Automatic Detective.

Two things make this an unusual read for our group - the author is still alive, but the detective in his book is not. In fact, Mack Megaton is a seven-foot-tall, metal "killing machine."

By way of introduction, I'm going to snatch a paragraph from the excellent review by the group's own Algernon - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...


The plot and the dialogue are vintage Raymond Chandler and Dashiell Hammett, transplanted to a futuristic setting of chemical and radioactive waste, mutant humans, miniature gadgets, powerful and mysterious ganglords, cynical policemen and blonde bombshells. For all his artificial intelligence detachment and cold analytical power, Mack has really mastered the staccatto delivery of short sentences and the wisecracks of a classic gumshoe detective, so his soon acquired wardrobe of pinstripe suit, fedora and mackintosh is entirely appropriate. His style of solving problems may have more to do with bulldozing through every obstacle than clever deductions, but it proves nevertheless effective. The metal man even gets a romantic interest in a socialite beauty that hides genius level technological talents and a passion for nuts and bolts. The finale was spectacular in an explosive, over the top way: think Godzilla and Mission Impossible directed by Kevin Smith.

Welcome to September, everybody. Let's be careful out there.

[Algernon, Hard-Boiled]

thanks for the heads-up. I am tempted to re-read this inorder to refresh my memory.

[Tom]

I just picked it up from Audible. Not sure if I can squeeze it in for a couple weeks though.

[Franky]

I'll be in. I ordered my copy and awaiting its arrival.

[Bill]

I am 15% in....love my paperbacks, but thought the nature of the text called for my Kindle. After about 5% in I had
become absolutely hooked!

[Still]

I bought a used copy, ex-library yesterday on eBay. Hope it's in better-than-described condition.

[Melki, Femme fatale]

I started this a few days ago, and am having a little trouble really getting into it. Then again, there are a lot of distractions these days: beautiful weather outdoors, season two of Narcos indoors . . .

[Tom]

I started listening to the audio recording yesterday. I'm not quite sure what I think yet. I assume the narrator is trying to sound like a robot but he seems to be doing it by avoiding much of the inflections that suggest humor. There are some good lines, in it, though.

'The force of the explosion must’ve knocked me through the wall into the next apartment. Odds were good I’d landed on somebody, but I didn’t feel anything squishy under me. I stood.'

[Jim]

Agreed, Tom. Very good lines & humor. I just read that section & loved the line, "The advantage of a complex electronic brain was that I could multitask in my obsessions."

Kind of weird, but the audio book I'm listening to right now is Treasure Island.

[Bill]

Well, nothing like a long weekend with a new book. Just finished up and would basically give the first half of the book 5 out 5 stars and the second half only 2 or 3. Will discuss my thoughts more when folks have finished reading. As for lines:

...maybe the way she chewed her gum like it deserved to suffer....

There was another, but do not want to spoil it. Would like to see a second run with these characters, though.

[Jim]

I thought it was a hoot. Loved it. Gave it 4 stars in my review here:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

A lot of the humor provoked some thought. Loved the point of view & the characters.

[Bill]

Jim wrote: "I thought it was a hoot. Loved it. Gave it 4 stars in my review here:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

A lot of the humor provoked some thought. Loved the point of view & the chara..."

Indeed. It was the relationships that kept me going. Especially Mack's best friend.

[Algernon, Hard-Boiled]

Bill wrote: "Jim wrote: "I thought it was a hoot. Loved it. Gave it 4 stars in my review here:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

A lot of the humor provoked some thought. Loved the point of view..."

"never get between an eight-hundred-pound gorilla and Jane Austen" seems like sound advice

[Bill]

My wife and loved that line as well. Both Austen fans so we had a soft spot for Jung right off the bat.'

[Jim]

It was the underlying humor in every detail that really kept me going. There were a lot of great lines, but things like putting April's drawing on Jung's refrigerator as if there was no other place for a child's art tickled me, too. I think some of that got lost in the last part of the book, unfortunately. I was so hooked & the action was so fierce by that time that it didn't matter too much.

[Melki, Femme fatale]

Bill wrote: "Well, nothing like a long weekend with a new book. Just finished up and would basically give the first half of the book 5 out 5 stars and the second half only 2 or 3. Will discuss my thoughts more ..."

Funny - I had the opposite reaction. The book didn't really come alive for me until the second half. I pegged it as a three-star much of the way through, but the slam-bang ending bumped it up to four. Anyway, this was a nifty read I wouldn't have discovered without this group.

[Tom]

I love it when noir gets philosophical:

“You’re not a biological. You won’t be affected by our plans. Why would you risk your continued functioning? It’s illogical.”
It was a good question, and I had a good logical answer to it. Self-preservation was a basic directive, but there wasn’t a robot functioning that prioritized it at the top of his list. Like biologicals, all robots were seeking a purpose. A bot had to find his own way, and I’d figured out that functioning for function’s sake was pointless. The real question was finding a directive worth getting scrapped for.

[Algernon, Hard-Boiled]

Mack's logical circuits got infected by a virus called 'consicence'. That made him damaged good as far as his military handlers were concerned. I wonder when will today's drones develop a conscience and refuse to drop bombs on non-military targets.

[Paul]

My review here:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

I thought it quite good, though for me, the humor could have been drier, even cynical & more world weary.

[Still]

I'm reading this now.
So far I'm loving it.
All 176 pages I've read.

[Franky]

Just jumped into this book again, had to take a reading hiatus for a week or two, but I'm catching up on all the comments. I agree with the undertones of humor throughout. I really dig the whole noir/crime book meets sci-fi/robot twist. Very creative and imaginative. And I love the exchange between Mack and Lucia Napier the first time they meet, very nice homage to noir there with some subtle jabs at wit thrown in.

Napier's smile widened. "A pleasure to finally meet you, Mack."
"Likewise."
"Are you saying that be polite or do you really mean it."
"I'm just saying it."
She giggled lightly. "Oh, I do love you robots and your ruthless honesty."

Anyhow, almost finished. Digging it so far.

[Franky]

Finally finished about a week ago.

Overall, pretty enjoyable read. Probably my only beef was the last part, where it got a little over the top, but I really like how the author sets up this society with biologicals and robots interacting and mixes in a 7 foot tall robot as a detective...(wait, did I just say that?)

[Jim]

LOL! Yeah, you did you messy biological.
;)

[Still]

Loved that novel, Frank.
Your quote was one of my favorite exchanges.