The Automatic Detective is very much "a robot plays the role of a hard boiled detective". It is well done, except that so much time is spent on hitting all the points in the trope while also setting up the crazy city and Mack's personal situation, that very little time is spent on the characters he is supposed to rescue. While Mack seems to care about them more or less, the reader isn't invested at all.

Having read some hard boiled detective novels, I understand that usually the client isn't all that appealing as a person. The motivation is usually that the client has money, and the detective needs the money. Also, there is usually a sexy dame. The problem in this story is that the main character isn't a detective and isn't investigating because he needs the job. He is doing it because he cares about this family, who live next door to him. However, all we know about his relationship with them is that the mother used to tie his bow tie every morning and that the psychic little girl gave him a picture. The mother barely has any speaking lines in the book. The psychic daughter has more, but not so many before the end. Even Mack is barely invested in finding them at points.

A lot more effort goes into developing the sexy lady inventor, who is definitely helpful in terms of the plot. However, I wonder, since this is absolutely set up to be a series, did she have to be developed as a love interest in book one? There is also a sexy but unpleasant robot secretary, who we see only briefly and who is clearly there for the trope and later books, who gets way more development than the kidnapped family.

The setting and the plot, on the other hand, are great. The setting is well-developed and unique, although very comic book. There are even good reasons for the way the setting is, which we discover at the end. The plot is complex, but not overly so, and all the plotlines are tied up cleanly at the end into a nice bow.

The style is goofy and yet violent, like the main character beating information out of people violent. I don't mind some violence, but this seemed unnecessary. The violence reminded me of the Spenser books by Robert B. Parker, which I ultimately stopped reading for exactly that reason. I find it hard to be impressed with a character who uses violence as their go-to solution. Ironically, I think the characters in most of the hard boiled detective novels that I've read have made at least some effort to use their brains before their fists.

I won't be reading any other books by this author. The weak characterization and disappointing violence were a big turn-off.

Should you read it? How much do you like comic book-style plots and characters? If you love them, then this book might be for you. If you are looking for deep, meaningful relationships, look elsewhere.