by Bryan Thomas Schmidt
Detective John Simon and his android partner Lucas George are back. Something is causing androids to cause property damage, and worse. What was the cause? Simon and his partner are assigned to the first case and follow it, on the logic that it takes an android to understand another android gone amuck. As instances of aberrant android behavior multiply and worsen they follow the clues, with the help of Lucas’ maker, Dr. Livia Connolly. Then Dr. Connolly disappears and I was disappointed, at first, that the clues led so obviously to the guy who abducted her and was causing the androids to go nuts.
But this was not a whodunit. This was a “how catch ‘em.” The mystery, and the dance between this villain, the cops, the press, and the entire android community was a thrill-a-minute adventure. And it gets complicated when John Simon gets interested in an attractive woman for the first time in a long while. (His android partner tries to help Simon with a litany of pick-up lines from movies he has helpfully watched, and it’s hilarious.)
Plus the villain is possibly the nastiest misogynist I’ve had the misfortune to meet in literature, written with the author’s clear understanding of what drives some of these creeps, and it’s wonderful when the bad guy gets his comeuppance. I won’t give away the ending for worlds.
And a fourth John Simon book is coming out this October! Huzzah!
