Title: Killing Is My Business
(Ray Electromatic Mysteries: Book 2)
Author: Adam Christopher
Genre: Sci-fi/Noir Mashup
Pages: 284
Rating: 3.5 of 5

Like the first book in the series (review here), this tale of a robot hit man in alternate 1960’s Los Angeles was a lot of fun. When it comes to escapist reading, I love both sci-fi and vintage noir, and this an entertaining fusion of the two. I still don’t quite buy that Ray can be the last/only functioning robot in the world and still remain inconspicuous while doing PI/hit man type work. However, it doesn’t pay to think too hard about plot details in Raymond Chandler-esque stories, so I’m willing to mostly ignore it (and a couple other “not quite sure that makes sense” moments).

There seems to be a glaring continuity problem in regard to Ray’s memory from the end of the first book to this one, but as the book goes along there are hints that this is intentional and part of an over-arching story that will be resolved in the next book (at least I really hope that’s what’s going on).  The main case is resolved by the end of the book, but we are left with a lot of questions regarding Ray’s relationship with Ada, his computer counterpart/boss. Personally, I like noir/detective stories to have a little tighter wrap-up rather than using unresolved plot points to string me along to the protagonist’s next story, but it was still a good read.