TITANUM NOIR - Nick Harkaway

If you enjoy a blend of mystery and scifi, don't bother reading any reviews - just go out and buy this book right now.

Cal Sounder is a detective who works with the police on special projects - generally those that need a little more discretion. When he's called in to a homicide scene at a local apartment, he's not quite sure why he's been called ... until he sees the victim, a giant of a man, over seven feet tall, who looks to be about 30 years old, though he's actually over 90. The victim, Roddy Tebbit, is a Titan.

Titans are relatively uncommon. T7 - a gene therapy treatment - was discovered by Stefan Tonfamecasca and has made the Tonfamescasca family nearly untouchable royalty. T7 not only prolongs the takers' life, but distorts their proportions and increases their mass and strength in kind. A dead Titan is supremely rare. A murdered Titan is unthinkable.

It makes sense then to Cal that he's been called. He's considered the Titan expert among the police because his ex-girlfriend, Athena, is a Titan ... the daughter of Stefan Tonfamecasca and her to the family fortune.

But understanding Titans won't help him as he digs deep into a dark underworld where cops on the take and Titans both want him out of the way.

 I had not heard of or read Nick Harkaway prior to this, but this was some of the most spectacular crime/noir writing that I have ever read. I've become an immediate Harkaway fan (and have since read up on him a little and see that he comes from a strong writing pedigree).

The story, the mystery, is strong. I had some minor issue with the fact that the mystery established early in the book is resolved and the denouement goes on for as long as it does, but this is relatively minor in the grand scheme of the book for this reader.

The language is delicious. We get wrapped up in the brilliant flow of the writing - young and would-be authors should read this to learn how to "show-don't-tell." And Cal Sounder is a perfect futuristic version of Sam Spade or Philip Marlowe - tough in all the right ways, clever but unassuming, and doggedly determined no matter what threats he faces.  He's on the edge of death more than once here which might seem a bit melodramatic in the hands of a less skilled writer but it absolutely works here. 

Without giving too much away, I'll say that it was refreshing to read a mystery that is unlikely (but not impossible) to be a series.  How often do we find stand-alone detective stories?

I was more excited about reading this book than I have been in a very long time. Goodreads describes this as "a virtuosic mashup of Philip K. Dick and Raymond Chandler by way of Marvel" which is pretty on-target.

Looking for a good book? If you haven't already run out to buy Titanium Noir by Nick Harkaway you need to correct that right now.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

5 stars

* * * * * *

Titanium Noir

author: Nick Harkaway

publisher: Knopf

ISBN: 9780593535363

hardcover, 236 pages