This series has been on my radar for a couple years now. I'm a big fan of Orbit, and they publish a couple of my favorite authors. I read these three books in the space of a week.
The series follows the career of a Gunner, basically an assassin, by the name of Avery Cates in a dystopian future. The nations of the world have consolidated into a single bureaucracy called the System, dividing the world clearly between the rich and the disenfranchised. Cates scrapes his way through a series of world-shaking capers, fends off nearly unstoppable enemies, and survives. He doesn't win. He survives when others die.
Somers is crafting classic noir. A flawed hero (nearly anti-hero) struggles through a world of moral grayness peopled even more moral grayness. His writing is good, though the second book sags a bit and I sometimes found him a bit repetitious. The world is crafted with a deft hand and doesn't get in the way of the action. I highly recommend them.
This was a fast Saturday read. It's a neo-noir science fiction crime novel. Detective Tom Wilner lives in an America besieged by terrorists, economic failures, and permanent entanglement in foreign conflicts. It's a familiar place taken to a paranoid extreme. I won't spoil the plot with details, but my biggest problem with the book it that the main character is too fantastic. He's so good looking that every woman in the book flirts with him. He was such a good soldier that he was awarded numerous medals. His only 'failing' is that he is willing to break the law to see justice done.
That said, the book was great. The plot carried well, revealing layers of truth and conspiracy, that while not particularly surprising, were still satisfying. I look forward to the next book.
I'm a huge fan of Charlie Huston. He's a great writer that is barely getting the recognition that he deserves. I've had this book lounging on my shelf for a while and I can't believe that it took me so long to get to it. HBO is going to do a series based on it, so I pulled it down and devoured it in a day.
Mystic Arts follows a young man named Web who has been hiding from life, living off his best friend and being an asshole. Circumstances, namely poverty, force Web to take a job as a crime scene cleaner, and quickly he finds himself rubbing elbows with other people with dark pasts in the nasty underbelly of Los Angeles.
Huston writes amazing dialog. His characters are diverse and believable in their absurdity. The tale of crime and murder that follows is perfect in its human flaws and failings. This is a pulpy novel, but one that I'd be glad to put in the hand of any crime fiction fan. Do yourself a favor and pick it up.
That's it for now. More later.
