Platform Decay, by Martha Wells

I read the latest Murderbot book, Platform Decay. As expected, it was delightful.

Murderbot is a Sec Unit, created by corporate overlords to protect property and occasionally people. These security units are robots, but they look like people and do have some organic matter.

They have no choice but to obey the commands they receive, even if those commands are ethically dubious. If the person behind the controls tells the sec unit to kill a room full of people, then that room full of people is going to die.

Early in the series, Murderbot figured out how to free itself of these controls. And for the best reading experience, I recommend reading these in order, starting with All Systems Red. But even if you start here, with the eighth book, you'll get the gist. Murderbot's personality is on full display here: its neuroticism, its clever ways to outwit the bad guys, its overwhelming desire to kick back and watch soap operas.

In Platform Decay, Murderbot is trying to extract his human charges from a safe house when the corporate baddies find the location. Their escape is complicated by the new knowledge that human children in a different location are being held hostage. 

For audiobook enjoyers, Kevin R. Free's narration captures Murderbot's special blend of insecurity and lethality. I strongly recommend listening to these books, if that's your thing.