Titanium Noir (Cal Sounder Series)

Product Information

Son of the late John le Carré, Harkaway comes by his moody thriller credentials honestly. Yet here he echoes not his father so much as the Thomas Pynchon of Inherent Vice. His book stars schmo of a detective Cal Sounder, who’s pulled into a tangled tale of corporate intrigue and ethnic cuisine (“the Goan-Hungarian place is called Bela’s but the chef’s name is Atilla....His wife, Mâri, runs the business and she’s the brains”). The men blunder through, for the most part, while the women do the thinking. One topic at the top of everyone’s list is why a “nerd,” as Sounder describes him, should be lying dead on his apartment floor, his outfit a pastiche of high-flood pants, a clip-on tie, and orthotic shoes that “complete the anti-chic vibe.” Oh, and the dead nerd with the bullet in his brain is 7 feet, 8 inches tall and 91 years old: a superman, in other words, known in Harkaway’s metropolis of the near future as a Titan. And how does one get to be so old and gigantic? Therein lies a tale of genetic manipulation—familiar to fans of movies such as RoboCop and Elysium—the mastermind of which is, naturally, a Very Bad Man—or half-man, half-whatever—named Stefan Tonfamecasca. The mad science required to produce a Titan might be intellectually interesting, but it has produced a few monsters to make Sounder’s life miserable. And, Tonfamecasca being the creator of a new life form, who knows how many to produce before “ruining that post-scarcity thing for the few”? There are the inevitable crooked cops and femmes fatales (some of them quite oversized) along with some fun culinary side notes (“Barbecue...is the only food apart from lobster where a grown man is permitted to wear a bib without criticism”) to pepper Harkaway’s tale. Cal Sounder, a detective known for working on sensitive cases, is called in to investigate a homicide at a local apartment. The victim, a Titan - one of the genetically-altered elites, is over seven feet tall and appeared to be a typical techie at first glance. On closer inspection, he is found to be ninety years old despite looking no older than thirty, clearly a result of the T7 genetic therapy. The victim's murder is not only big news but also an unimaginable crime. Titans are almost exclusively ultrarich or highly influential, their physical stature often merely a reflection of their broader social power. Stefan Tonfamecasca, the creator of T7 and controller of its distribution, is now impossibly huge as a four-dose Titan. Cal is Stefan’s liaison with law enforcement, sparing the police from dealing with the ruling rich of the city while also keeping Titan problems from escalating out of control. But Cal’s latest case is especially challenging: A Titan has, somehow, been murdered.

Titanium Noir by Nick Harkaway - Fantastic Fiction Titanium Noir by Nick Harkaway - Fantastic Fiction

Titanium Noir is an entertaining science-fiction noir thriller, with good pacing and the right amount of twists and turns. Harkaway's elegant and rhythmic writing is impressive. He provides snappy exchanges and lightning-paced dialogue, nuanced characters, and a dark vision of future society. Now, it's not particularly original, if you're versed in the genre and its history. But it spins it here and there, and the mystery remains mysterious and engaging throughout. The ending lands well. Let's just say it's hard-hitting (though not fully unexpected). Cal Sounder is a man with a very specific job. Some might say he’s a cop, others may just refer to him as a detective, but really he’s more a medical private eye. He’s only hired whenever a Titan might be involved in a case. A chemically enhanced elite member of society who has forgotten mortality, and grown to eight feet tall, with the mass to match. Only those worthy of the serum (read: friends with the inventor/rights holder), and physical/mental fortitude to survive the process have access. So it’s definitely not good that one of them has been found dead, and Sounder has to mind his footsteps as he rummages through the evidence, lest he trip under the unimpeded footsteps of the very Titans he’s trying to exonerate.An exemplar of its genre, Titanium Noir twists and turns between excellent fun and deep melancholy.”— The New York Times Book Review I don't read a lot of noir as I'm not interested in dark, gritty, or depressing, and noir can be all three. This review is based on an advance copy provided by the publisher through NetGalley for that purpose. The book will be available on May 16, 2023.

Titanium Noir by Nick Harkaway review: A visionary piece of

Harkaway’s depiction of the world is visceral and believable, the inequalities of today’s society extrapolated brilliantly to include a separate race of apparently superior humans. And his plotting is impeccable too. The reader is constantly one step behind Sounder, who is, in turn, one step behind the bad guys. It’s a morally grey world where no one really comes out smelling of roses, but Sounder’s moral compass just about leads him in the right direction by the end. En este contexto una historia de detective (no del todo) privado y un crimen que resolver bordeando ambos lados de la linea que separa los humanos vulgares de los titanes. A fusion of scifi-fantasy and crime noir. Detective Cal Sounder works with the police as a special investigator and is called to the scene of a 'socio-medical crime,' the murder of a Titan named Roddy Tebbit. Titans are regular humans who have received at least one infusion of Titanium 7, which is a treatment that stimulates rejuvenation of the body. Only the rich can afford it and it's sort of the fountain of youth people have been searching for for millennia. In the process of this rejuvenation, Titans also grow much taller and stronger, hence the name they've been given, like they are some kind of gods. The victim, Roddy, is at least 7 foot tall.As a mystery, 'Titanium Noir' can hold its head high. The plot is layered and intricate and the disclosure is perfectly paced to keep Cal Sounder and the reader off-balance. I loved that, at the end of the story, everything made sense but left me shaking my head at how naive my understanding of what was going on had been for most of the story. I had a lot of fun with this book. I highly recommend it to mystery fans, Noir fans, Speculative Fiction fans and anyone who is looking for a well-told tale that entertains you while making you think about how the world works.

Titanium Noir by Nick Harkaway: 9780593535363

The saving grace could have been some of more interesting nooks and crannies hidden among the play of shadows. The danger of ossified power structures, controlled by larger than life players who are as close to immortal as one could get. The Titans’ vulnerability hiding within the intimate relations amongst the very people playing at Gods. Sounder could have mapped out the contours of the world, like an ant finding a picnic and making its getaway to bring on the might of the colony. But instead, the man just stayed in his lane and added a few details to the world. But again, he was quite guarded as if the Titans themselves could read his own thoughts. Sure he made some pretty strategic moves that helped solve the case, but the case never truly revealed anything. Power will do what it can to remain in power, and we must recognize that, maybe even respect it. Bingo. Didn’t need an overloaded case to make that claim. Detective Cal Sounder is an expert in socio-medical criminal investigations who takes on the case. He has connections with Stefan Tonfamecasca, the powerful billionaire who discovered the Titan technology and T7 genetic therapy, through his ex-girlfriend Athena, who turned into a Titan after a tragic accident.Titans are medically-enhanced elites, made via an injection of Titanium-7, done only for a select group, and it produces young, strong and proportionately large humans, from ageing, possibly frail or ill candidates, but it does have adverse effects, including fragmentary amnesia. In Tebbit’s case, it was given as part of his contract. Our hero, Cal Sounder is a hard-boiled Gumshoe who uses the same kind of similes to describe the world that Philip Marlowe might have done if he'd been investigating a murder in a world where the truly wealthy had access to a drug that could extend their lives indefinitely and make them physically larger each time that they took it.

Titanium Noir, by Nick Harkaway, reviewed Among the giants: Titanium Noir, by Nick Harkaway, reviewed

There are two strands to this story. The first is the murder of a Titan living the most unTitan-like life ever, living in a small apartment and working at the university instead of the glitz, glamour, and elitism that comes from being able to afford to be a Titan. It reads like a detective noir, as you would expect from the title. There are many rich, memorable characters, from the hard-as-nails female nightclub owner to the battered damsel-in-distress, the club singer with a heart of gold and the privelieged college boy struggling with his family’s expectations. It is all so familiar, and the added sci-fi element of the Titans and updated technology brings a freshness, so none of the characters is a cliche. Titanium Noir is a perfect blend of sci-fi and detective noir genres.titanium noir” has a fantastic description and premise. people are turning into titans with a t7 serum that allows them to become bigger, faster, and stronger. when a titan is found murdered, it’s cal’s job (though he’s not a cop) to solve the murder.