by Jonathan Lethem
What a fantastic book. I really picked it up on little more than the title, and the reputation of Mr. Lethem, although I have not read any of his other titles. A long flight from Philadelphia to San Jose, CA gave me a good chance to dive in and I was disappointed that I had to put it down to get off...
Like Morgan's Takeshi Kovacs, this is detective story set in scifi setting with some dystopian flavor (all descendent of Asimov's Baley-Olivaw)--that makes it part of the nerd-boiled sub-genre.I suppose nerd-boiled fiction isn't really for me. It's got some cool ideas (articulate animals & infants,...
I don't know what to make of this book. A quote on the cover compared it to Philip K. Dick and Raymond Chandler all mashed together, and that is pretty much exactly it. It is a tough guy noir detective story, right down to the inflated metaphor, but it's all done very knowingly. And then there is th...
When down and out private inquisitor Conrad Metcalf's last client turns up dead, Metcalf takes up the case to find out who killed him. Can he find the killer before he runs out of karma and winds up in the deep freeze?If Raymond Chandler and Philip K. Dick spent an evening together doing hard drugs...
Raymond Chandler meets Harlan Ellison. I'm a fan of both, so this was a fun read for me.
In a future Oakland/Bay area Private Inquisitor Conrad Metcalf tries to break open a murder case but The State already has their fall guy in mind. I tried to read this years ago and had no luck but found it a pleasant listen on audio which was read by Nick Sullivan.
Conrad Metcalf is a private dick in a dystopia where asking questions is outlawed by the government. Individual evolution is sped up so infants, called babyheads, rebel like out of control teenagers, smoking, swearing, taking drugs and hanging out in gangs. Animals have been genetically engineered s...
somebody lent me this book because they know i love my noir, and the book pays off in that regard but the notion that this is science fiction or a successor to pkd is confusing to me -- the world lethem introduces us to has drugs coming out the wazoo, and there are evolved animals yes, but really? t...
It has a kangaroo walking into a bar, see? What's not to like? This was Lethem's first novel and it's just as confident and sharp as the rest. A dystopian noir detective novel of the future, Gun, with Occasional Music hits its tone well and sustains it evenly throughout. Some detail (including the o...
I loved this when I read it. Wonder if it holds up?
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