Resumo de Suspicion - Mike McQuay

Introduction
Robot City is the first series approved by the Estate of Isaac Asimov and Isaac Asimov himself to extend the legacy of his Robot series. The first novel in the series is Odyssey by Michael P. Kube Mcdowell. Suspicion is the second novel in the series and I found that it has been wrongly credited here to William Fu. The novel has been authored by Mike McQuay.

The Plot
The story takes on from where Odyssey had left off. So we still have Derec and Katherine stranded on a strange planet seemingly run by all robots, but there does not seem be a single human controlling them. To make matters worse a dead body is found and as robots cannot kill a human the logical suspicion is on the two humans on the planed i.e. Derec and Katherine.

But, despite the sorry plight he is in, Derec finds time to appreciate the work done by the Robots on the planet. The robots are trying to create a perfect world for the humans to inhabitate and all this despite never having interacted with humans ever. So the presence of Derec and Katherine also gives them a chance to try their interaction with humans.

So Derec has now many mysteries to solve. Who murdered the dead man? Why are the robots building this world and who is controlling them? Why and how in the hell did he make it to this planet in the first place?

Check out this intriguing novel for the details.

Critic's Viewpoint
Suspicion is the second novel in the series and takes on from where Kube-Mcdowell left off in Odyssey. The plot has shades of the first two Robot mysteries written by Asimov namely Naked Sun and Caves Of Steel where too he has delved as to whether a robot can commit a murder. This plot seems to be a favorite with all new Asimov-wannabes as we find traces of that even in Roger Macbride Allen's Caliban series.

Mike McQuay has been able to retain the mystery of the novel and develop the story very well. There are some interesting episodes wherein robots are intrigued at certain human behavioural aspects like privacy, lies and exaggeration. The story also moves at a good pace.

The flip side was a rather tame ending wherein the climax seems to be a letdown to a novel shaping up very well. Again the novel does manage to leave certain elements for the next Robot City novel, which incidentally has been written by William Fu.

Another down side for Mike is the fact that this plot has already been explored by Asimov himself and thus comparisons are bound to arise, all Mike falls short of the maestro. But, Asimov has done a favor to him by putting in some nice words about Suspicion in his foreword to the novel.

In my opinion, Suspicion is a major improvement over Odyssey and hence my interest in the series is beginning to increase. From here on the series is taken over by William Fu. Let's hope he does one better on Kube-Mcdowell and Mike McQuay.

Summary
All in all a good sci-fi novel by Mike McQuay. Though the plot is a tried and tested one for the robot series, Mike manages to bring in a few unique points.

I would give this offering from Mike a 4 star rating.

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