I’ve come to the conclusion that Sci-Fi really means “any other genre but it just happens to be set in a different reality”. Robots of Dawn is a great detective story that just happens to be set in another world. The politics and technology are all relevant to our problem – a murder – that our Earthman detective has to solve on this distant world. Despite all the clues throughout the book I had no idea who the “murderer” of the machine was until it was revealed at the end. Well written and great reading just like all the other work of his that I have read.

I have no opinion on the author as a person (I never followed the politics) but I’m certain he writes great stories. This book reminded me of reading his work when I was growing up. You think you know what’s going to happen but somehow there’s a twist at every stage. Personally I thought this book took a bold starting point, it starts with the destruction of the World Trade Centre within which several key characters were working. My first thought was this was going to be there purely to grab the headlines when the book was launched and it would have no real bearing or impact on the story. The event actually fitted very well within the story line.