The story takes place thousands of years in the future. But I'd swear I was reading a novelized episode of The Andy Griffith Show. Elijah Baily talks and acts just like Barney Fife. He's prone to wild emotional outbursts and totally irrational accusations. The robot, Daneel Olivaw responds to Baily exactly the way Sheriff Andy Taylor responded to Deputy Fife, with calm rational arguments that do nothing to persuade the irrational detective. The dialog between Baily and his wife was unbelievably ridiculous.
And we were more than 100 pages into the novel before they even started investigating the crime. 200 pages in, and I still haven't seen any empirical evidence pointing to the murderer.
If you're interested in the history of science fiction, you might
find this novel interesting. But if you're looking for an entertaining
story skip it.
