Made to Kill

A Novel

By: Adam Christopher

Narrated by: Dan Bittner

Length: 6 hrs and 34 mins

Publisher's Summary

It was just another Tuesday morning when she walked into the office - young, as I suspected they all might be, another dark brunette with some assistance and enough eye black to match up to Cleopatra. And who am I? I'm Ray, the world's last robot, famed and feared in equal measure, which suits me just fine - after all, the last place you'd expect to find Hollywood's best hit man is in the plain light of day.

Raymond Electromatic is good at his job, as good as he ever was at being a true private investigator, the lone employee of the Electromatic Detective Agency - except for Ada, office gal and supercomputer, the constant voice in Ray's inner ear. Ray might have taken up a new line of work, but money is money, after all, and he was programmed to make a profit. Besides, with his 24-hour memory-tape limits, he sure can keep a secret.

When a familiar-looking woman arrives at the agency wanting to hire Ray to find a missing movie star, he's inclined to tell her to take a hike. But she has the cold hard cash, a demand for total anonymity, and a tendency to vanish on her own. Plunged into a glittering world of fame, fortune, and secrecy, Ray uncovers a sinister plot that goes much deeper than the silver screen - and this robot is at the wrong place at the wrong time.

©2015 Seven Wonders Limited (P)2015 Macmillan Audio

retro strange. made to be pulp scifi.

This might be a good read for a YA audience. its a straight forward "who dun it" private dick noir. no ugly stuff.
A nostalgic look back at the way scifi used to sound in the 50's 60's.
I think its like Corn Flakes. Recently manufactured but tastes the same as 50 years ago.

Great ideas squandered

Would you try another book from Adam Christopher and/or Dan Bittner?

Bittner yes. He's a good reader. The occasional weird pronunciation, but strong characterization.

What was most disappointing about Adam Christopher’s story?

Lots of great ideas that never really matter to the story. A character who has his memory reset every 24 hours, and yet this is barely an issue and not really a plot point. It's like if Memento only bothered with the memory issue sporadically. The detective thing is a bit lost as the hero just waits for people to tell him everything. The time period is rarely used as a setting,

What does Dan Bittner bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

I'm not sure I would have liked the main character without the performance.

Could you see Made to Kill being made into a movie or a TV series? Who should the stars be?

Please no. There are so many more properties that deserve being made into tv shows.

Any additional comments?

I love noir, I love retro science fiction. Nothing gelled here.

Fun plot but frustratingly incompetent protagonist

Our "hero" is a robot who uses his robot skills for almost nothing, figures a bunch of stuff out for no purpose and averts nothing, and walks inexorably throughout the whole book into trap he has to be rescued from. Oh yes and for a reputed killer robot, fails to disarm the opposition despite numerous opportunities to do so. the plot is a mildly entertaining 1950s sci-fi pastiche but not sure that wins the day.

Great Concept but story can’t quite live up to it.

The ideas in this story are great. Most stories have 1, maybe 2. This one is buried in them. Unfortunately, the actual adventure and plot can’t quite do justice to that many great ideas. And there are enough that they start to interfere with each other after a while, ending up less than the sum of its parts.

Overall, a fun read, but I would not have finished it if it wasn’t an audiobook, it just lost my interest too often. It just sets the bar too high for itself.