In an alternate 1933, a sleuth and his robot partner are caught in the middle of a legal battle that will decide the fate of the world?s machine population.

Carlson does a good job populating his gritty, split-level world with dodgy mobsters, deadly dames, and killer machines. ? Publishers Weekly, for Night Call

Two months after an investigation that nearly put Elias Roche behind bars, the former cop turned mob enforcer has endeavoured to separate himself from his past by going straight. Now working as a private investigator, his attempts to build himself a quiet life have so far been promising. However, while Manhattan?s Lower City is in the midst of a reignited mob war, Elias is faced with finding a man who doesn?t want to be found, absolving a machine of a murder charge, and discovering a network of secrets that keeps the world turning, almost literally.

Reuniting with his old Automatic partner, Allen, and reporter-turned-hitman Simone, Elias must search for the truth amid a web of conspiracy and lies. While failure would result in the eradication of all Automatics in America and cripple the megacorporation that hired him to investigate, success could uncover truths no one is ready to face: truths about the city, Allen?s past, and which side they are all truly fighting for.

• A sci-fi thriller/tech-noir mystery for fans of Jonathan Lethem, Richard Morgan’s Altered Carbon, Philip K. Dick’s The Man in the High Castle and the Blade Runner films, set in an alternate version of 1930s Manhattan
• New York is a double-decker city, where the rich live high above the Lower City on the ground, and semi-autonomous machines, which think and act almost like humans, are considered second-class citizens
• Strong crossover appeal to both science-fiction and mystery readers, exploring tensions that arise when technology surpasses human intelligence and therefore our control
• Author is an exciting, fresh new voice in sci-fi mystery; Globe and Mail‘s Margaret Cannon named him a “writer to watch”