Standard Hollywood Depravity: A Ray Electromatic Mystery (Ray Electromatic Mysteries Book 3)

Last year, I picked up Adam Christopher’s Made to Kill on a whim, and was delighted I’d done so; marrying the hard-boiled PI stories of Raymond Chandler with science-fiction trappings, Made to Kill was a treat, telling an old-fashioned story in a wholly unique and interesting way. Its protagonist, Ray Electromatic, was the last robot left working after a brief boom in the industry, and now, he was left investigating cases – oh, and murdering for hire, too. It was a great hook for a pulpy tale, and if Made to Kill never really moved beyond its pulpy roots, that’s fine; it was enough fun that it more than justified its existence and then some.Now comes Standard Hollywood Depravity, a follow-up novella to Made to Kill that finds Ray being brought in for the killing of a young go-go dancer, only to find the club full of very dangerous made men – a situation that makes his life far more complicated, and the job far more complicated. And making things worse is the way that Ray is no longer content to just follow orders and his programming; no, Ray is getting curious about things, and questioning the situations he finds himself in, and feeling a little more reluctant about killing without reason.In pretty much every way, Standard Hollywood Depravity is an improvement on Made to Kill; the story is more complex and interesting, Ray more complicated as a hero, the writing sharper. But best of all, Christopher seems to have eased into his world more comfortably, digging around in the weird world that he’s been shaping. What’s it like to be a huge robot and not have people surprised to see you? What happens when you’re becoming aware, as a programmed creation, that your coding might be antithetical to your rapidly growing consciousness? Depravity deals with all of this and more, and does so in a tighter narrative – all the more impressive.There are still a few issues, mind you; it feels like Christopher elides out a pretty significant scene towards the end of the book, but not in a way that would lead to interesting ambiguity; it just feels incomplete and off-balance in a way, and makes it feel like the book gets rushed right at the very end. And that’s a bit of a disappointment, considering how good the rest of it is. But in pretty much every other way, this one is a knockout, and has me even more excited to check out the next entry in the series.(Side note: Standard Hollywood Depravity also features a short story entitled “Brisk Money,” which serves as a bit of a prequel to the series. “Brisk Money” is a great story; that being said, the story relies so much on Ray not having information about his life that we already have that it doesn’t always entirely work, especially since the story never really makes it clear when it takes place. In other words, it took me most of the story to realize that this was a prequel that takes place before Made to Kill, and sets up the series to come. There’s still a pretty fascinating detail included here, and it’s a good story; it just feels like it would work better if it was clearer when in the series it took place.)

This story comes after the prequel short story:  Brisk Money  and after the first novel in the trilogy:  Made to Kill , and it follows the pattern of the former: a much darker story that isn’t absolutely necessary to those just interested in reading the trilogy, which continues with  Killing Is My Business  and  I Only Killed Him Once .This is the story of a girl called Honey that the last robot detective ever, who has been reprogrammed into being the last robot assassin ever, Ray Electromatic, was hired to kill, a girl it turns out was sent to kill and steal. Now, you don’t absolutely need to read this in order to understand the trilogy, but it does provide an important note, arguably the most somber in the entire series. The ending is a bit vaguer than it needed to be IMHO, but you can figure it out, if not from just from rereading the 14th chapter, then from reading the next two books in the trilogy.Note: There is an important distinction between the  Paperback  and  Kindle  versions of this book: only the Kindle edition contains the prequel short story: Brisk Money; the Paperback does not.Note: If you like the premise of noirish robot detectives, I can also recommend A. Lee Martinez’s  The Automatic Detective .

I still have to get used to paying for digital 'books'. Every time I click on 'Buy', an old man within me screams. He doesn't approve of anything not etched into a tree carcass. Bourgeois Pig is another character hidden beneath my skin. He adores shopping, especially when desired object is on sale. Desirability is optional. Being on sale is usually more than enough. Instantaneous delivery helps as well. Mr. Pig has recently gained much more say in how things develop and that's basically how I met your mother...I mean, how I acquired this book. It was featured on Tor newsletter, it was on sale, Wi-Fi was on, and one thing led to another. It would've helped if I knew anything beforehand but damned thing hooked me with promises of noir and robots. Things like that usually do the trick. Anyway. This edition features two stories. A short story one (0.5 in the series, according to the Goodreads) and a novella (1.5 in the series). Though being a part of the Ray Electromatic Mysteries both are standalone stories and you don't need any beforehand knowledge to enjoy them. Former sentence is, just like that darned cat, both true and false. It has to do with what these things are about. Bear with me just a bit more. “Brisk money” (short story one, closing story in this edition) is a nice little piece of noir fiction. Splashed with just the right amount of 'meta' to keep things interesting. There's a nod to Raymond Chandler, there's a running meta-gag with more uses than one (not remembering things and finding them out is a staple of noir), there's a nice twist in the end (somewhat foreshadowed considering his being second story you read) which opens up a world of possibilities, cliff hangs you and prompts you to go on etc. Even if you don't catch on to all the references, it's still a fun read, pretty straightforward, compact and packing just enough punch to work as a standalone. You can see a fledgling world in the seeds sown throughout the story, and it looks like an interesting world, brimming with possibilities. Will Raymondo succumb to Ada? Will he ever manage to overcome his shortcomings? How will the entire free will vs. programming continue to play out and so on. Then comes the second part (never you mind that here it comes first) in which you see that none of the promises are fulfilled. Sure, Christopher continues throwing references around, continues playing with known elements but he never makes a step forward into any, not to say right, direction. “Standard Hollywood Depravity” reads as nothing more than a convoluted version of “Brisk Money”, unnecessarily drawn out and without any character (or plot element) worth mentioning. As a standalone novella it's fairly boring. As a part of the series it's nothing more than a tiny add-on to a world hinted in the “Brisk Money”. In gaming terms, it's fairly underwhelming DLC. These stories might have some more meat to them if viewed from the perspective of an entire series. If that is the case, and I wouldn't know, then they might just be alive. Stumbling upon them randomly, like I did, makes them quite dead. Dead might not be the right term, though (except to complete earlier analogy to Schrödinger's cat). Something akin to lifeless might be more proper. In any case, noir or no, robots or no, “Standard Hollywood Depravity” was too standard to spark any more interest. On to some other series I go.

This story about the last robot on Earth living in a noir style Los Angeles is fun. This story is short but you enjoy the journey that the robot takes.

Really enjoyed this next book in the Ray Electromatic series. Ray is becoming more human, or at least more haunted by not being a human. This is a nice set up for more books to come. Where does Ada go next? Who will Ray encounter?

In the name of Black Mask! Finally I'm through with Raymond Electromagnetic!Believe me, the corny dialogues, and overexerted set-up had started getting on my nerves. So much so, that the mildly interesting mystery also appeared hackneyed.Anybody! Please give me Hammett, Chandler, Macdonald, even Parker anytime, anywhere, over this.

Retro robot noir? Yup. Fun characters and inventive world building are Adam Christopher's m.o. Not as deep as some of his other series, but just as fun. Sometimes the femme fatale is just a voice in a robot detective's head.