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    Titanium Noir: A novel
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    Titanium Noir: A novel
    Unavailable
    Titanium Noir: A novel
    Audiobook8 hours

    Titanium Noir: A novel

    Written by Nick Harkaway

    Narrated by Davis Brooks

    4/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this audiobook

    A virtuosic mashup of Philip K. Dick and Raymond Chandler by way of Marvel—the story of a detective investigating the murder of a Titan, one of society’s most powerful, medically-enhanced elites. • “Cross-genre brilliance from the superbly talented Nick Harkaway.” —William Gibson, New York Times best-selling author of Agency

    "An exemplar of its genre, Titanium Noir twists and turns between excellent fun and deep melancholy." —The New York Times Book Review


    Cal Sounder is a detective working for the police on certain very sensitive cases. So when he’s called in to investigate a homicide at a local apartment, he’s surprised by the routineness of it all. But when he arrives on scene, Cal soon learns that the victim—Roddy Tebbit, an otherwise milquetoast techie—is well over seven feet tall. And although he doesn’t look a day over thirty, he is ninety-one years old. Tebbit is a Titan—one of this dystopian, near-future society’s genetically altered elites. And this case is definitely Cal’s thing.

    There are only a few thousand Titans worldwide, thanks to Stefan Tonfamecasca’s discovery of the controversial T7 genetic therapy, which elevated his family to godlike status. T7 turns average humans into near-immortal distortions of themselves—with immense physical proportions to match their ostentatious, unreachable lifestyles. A dead Titan is big news . . . a murdered Titan is unimaginable. But these modified magnates are Cal’s specialty. In fact, his own ex-girlfriend, Athena, is a Titan. And not just any—she is Stefan’s daughter, heir to the massive Tonfamecasca empire.  

    As the murder investigation intensifies, Cal begins to unravel the complicated threads of what should have been a straightforward case, and it becomes clear he’s on the trail of a crime whose roots run deep into the dark heart of the world.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherPenguin Random House Audio Publishing Group
    Release dateMay 16, 2023
    ISBN9780593740477
    Unavailable
    Titanium Noir: A novel

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    Reviews for Titanium Noir

    4/5

    99 ratings13 reviews

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    • 5/5
      What style! An archetype of noir fiction. A cynical smart-ass P.I., a woman (a couple of them, actually), the seamy underbelly of the city, the rich, powerful, and untouchable—this novel has them all, in a science fictional setting. OK, the P.I.’s heart of gold maybe gleams in the light a little more than it would in a perfect noir, but that’s OK by me. It’s a satisfying mystery that depends on the SFnal plot device, so it’s neither gratuitously SFnal nor gratuitously noir. I loved the writing: “There’s something in my throat. Figure it must be rage.

      “Maurice looks back at me through narrow eyes. He’s full of the same thing, viscous and violent. There’s a lot of fight hormones in this room. A lot of inhalable bad decisions.”

    • 5/5
      Interesting setting for a noir-style crime novel. It doesn't quite capture the Chandler vibe, the hero is slightly too nice, but it's decent attempt and a fun read. Somewhere in the future, medical tech has progressed and a wonder drug been invented. T7, it completely resets the body, rebuilding it from the initial genetic code back up to fully grown again, whilst retaining all (nearly) mental capacity. This has several benefits it completely heals any damage, and clears any disease. It also grants another lifetime's worth of living before damage starts to accumulate again, and the dose can be repeated. But as with any panacea it comes with some side-effects. Trivially it's very painful for several months as it isn't fast. It's very expensive and access to it is heavily controlled by the family who invented it. More importantly it also doubles the body's normal growth, so people who have taken it even once are larger, stronger heavier - Titans.

      Cal Sounder is not a Titan. He's a consultant for the police in an unspecified city region. He does have several connections to the Family though, and his precise consultancy is tidying up any crimes that may touch Titan interests - given their power and influence they aren't going to be convicted of anything, but justice must still be seen to be done. Cal ensures that all the forms can be honestly completed. He has contacts everywhere (this does give the noir vibe) and so knows all the details. He is therefore somewhat surprised when he's called out to what seems to be a normal suicide/murder. On close inspection though the youthful looking professor is actually somewhat tall, and according to his ID, 91 years old. An incognito Titan. While they're not totally immune to everything, this is very surprising.

      Fairly fast paced, the motivations of long-lived characters are somewhat obstruse, but it all makes sense in the end. I'm not convinced by some of the violence, but the setting is fun.
    • 3/5
      Titans are a group (mostly family) of post-humans who have had their lives extended (some voluntarily, some involuntarily) by a procedure that rejuvenates their bodies by causing them to re-grow. So they become physically bigger and stronger, but also suffer partial memory loss. Titans can live effectively forever by repeating the process. The more times the procedure, the more the effects accumulate. They have become a separate incredibly wealthy elite, mostly untouchable by human rules and morality, physically untouchable, ethically and mentally distant.

      A titan is murdered (unheard of!) and so enter Cal Saunders, a private eye specializing in cleaning up messes involving titans. He has to pick his way through the internal politics and machinations of the titans w/o getting himself killed. And, true to the noir genre dealing with an ex who is now a titan.

      It is a pretty straight-forward power-family internal politics murder mystery given an SF flavor by throwing in the T7 process that creates titans from humans.
    • 4/5
      I’ll confess that I listened to the audiobook as much as read this one, since the non-dialogue conversational writing of noir fiction bugs my brain. Presented orally, I can appreciate it more, and I didn’t have time to read the book out loud to myself.

      I enjoyed the mystery, with all the little threads coming together gradually. I do wish we’d gotten to see some Mini resolution, but nearly every other “i” was dotted and “t” crossed.

      The ending, though, didn’t sit well with me, as I do think Cal would have shown somewhat more conflicted emotions about the T7 treatment. A believable conclusion, but I could have wished for just a bit more examination of how he processed things on the mental side.
    • 4/5
      What a ride it's been! Reading Nick Harkaway's latest has cemented his status as a firm favorite, even if I disliked his previous The Gone Away World because it was simply too out there.

      In this one, Harkaway reins it in. Oh, this story is out there all right, but in a measured and intentional way. Our hero, one Cal Sounder, acts as a consultant to the police in a made-up city that is perhaps a fascimile of New York City, I may be wrong. He's also a specialist in a class of citizens known as Titans, so called because they're people dosed with a high-octane drug called Titanium 7 which grants them eternal youth and many physical advantages. There's the small matter of them growing to giant size as well, but that is acceptable to these super-rich folks who are besotted by immortality.

      Thus, when a Titan turns up dead, Cal is on the case. But there are unusual things about this dead Titan, mainly that he hasn't been acting like a typical Titan. Naturally, Cal must sniff deeper. He must liase with the smart-alec police force, the redoubtable forensic pathologist Musgrave, his own boss, the cranky Giles Gratton, and several others. It is here that the writing really shone: Harkaway pulls off the noir detective patter so very well! Pitch perfect throughout and with seamless pacing, he leads us through suitable amounts of deceit, intrigue, danger, and heartbreak.

      Cal's own source of heartbreak is the daughter of the Titan uber-boss; Cal and Athena used to be married, and there's a big story there. Cal's professional position and his own pride prevent him from getting with Athena again, and this was all satisfying. Then the humor! The gangster Doublewide and his aide Mr. Zoegar I found hilarious. There wasn't much of a femme fatale in the story, although I suppose that Mini character will suffice.

      Very nice, Nick! With a smashing, smart little offering like this one that ends as it does, I almost think you're slyly planning a -dare I say it- sequel? That would be quite welcome, methinks. Good outrageous fiction that goes under the genre of sci fi is pretty darn scarce in these parts and readers like moi who like our SF in small doses would be very appreciative indeed.
    • 4/5
      Judging by the quote at the beginning, Harkaway is going for a Damon Runyon-esque style and he certainly achieves it – sometimes arch humour, slangy chat, louche characters - though he does drop in a bit of Sidney Greenstreet from the film version of Maltese Falcon for one of his larger-than-life characters. A highly entertaining read.
    • 5/5
      Cal is a noir detective specializing in Titan problems. Titans are rich people who’ve gotten access to an expensive life-enhancing treatment that rolls back age but also makes people grow bigger—seven, eight, nine feet. They get stronger and harder to hurt, too, but somehow their hearts don’t give out—look, it’s a metaphor about wealth, ok? Anyway once you handwave the Titans, this is sf noir without much internet; after the beginning murder of a Titan, Cal pounds the street and looks at hard copy records, with the occasional file encoded into a [spoiler]. I liked it.
    • 4/5
      The "noir" part of Titanium Noir is here for you in spades—a quintessential hard-boiled private investigator thriller, with organized crime, loads of violence, and plenty of dames who are bad news. The mystery wasn't that interesting but obviously it also wasn't as integral as all the fist fights and corrupt cops and clandestine meetings available in the solving. The "sci-fi" aspect of the story—secrets of immortality unlocked for select few, very wealthy or connected people can become younger but for *science reasons* this makes them physically larger and denser—mostly had me chuckling throughout. Would make at LEAST as good a movie as that one where everyone stayed young but had a watch that killed them when they ran out of money, and I bet you could get plenty of equally terrible puns out of the whole situation to boot.
    • 5/5
      Would I read another book by this author?
      Most definitely yes!

      Would I recommend this book to anyone?
      Yes.

      To whom would I recommend it?
      Anyone who likes an intriguing, funny and noir detective story, and anyone who wants to enjoy a good read.

      Did this book inspire me to do anything?
      Yes. I started looking up detail on some of my favourite private detective noir movies which I now want to watch again.

      Nick Harkaway has captured the essence of the noir detective story and has cast it in a near-future socio-economic world in which the ultra-rich have access to advanced medical procedures that are life extending and almost death-defying.

      Harkaway’s treatment of this tale of murder and corruption brings to life characters who would feature perfectly in a Humphrey Bogart movie. I will not give away the detail, but fans of black and white noir movies are in for a treat.

      The book does have a serious side as it can be interpreted as a commentary on the present day privilege of the ultra-rich and their wildly self-indulgent extravagant spending on super-yachts and private trips to space while appearing to not care about the masses experiencing poverty and hunger in a world of escalating costs.

      My advice to you is to get this book and enjoy it.
    • 4/5
      I am usually firmly ensconced in the Fantasy portion of SFF, but have been trying to dabble a little more in the SciFi portion. I'm also trying to broaden my bookish horizons by reading other genres that I have typically passed over, so when I heard about Nick Harkaway's Titanium Noir, I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to get a fusion of scifi and crime-noir thriller, and it is what I imagine the perfect combination of those genres being.

      Not being that familiar with the noir crime thriller, I did go into this with a particular idea of what that looks like: the brooding private investigator who has just as much experience with the police as he does the local criminal underbelly; the unexplained crime scene that the PI has particular experience in dealing with; the femme fatale; the local mob and associated families; the PI's love interest; and Harkaway hit all of these notes perfectly for me.

      Cal Sounder, who the police reluctantly call on to deal with crimes involving Titans (members of the incredibly wealthy who can afford to buy their version of immortality via a super-drug called T7), is brought in to investigate the murder of a previously unknown Titan. Sounder has unique insight into the elite lifestyle of the Titan's as he once dated one of the members of the main Titan family; as such, he walks a fine line between keeping the Titan's out of the limelight when necessary, and keeping the police happy that they have someone on the "inside".

      The mystery is a well-crafted and perfectly paced thrill ride, and the characters are all superbly developed and the world building is spot on. I had a clear idea in my head of what the city looked like, from the grittiest of dive bars to the most opulent of Titan dwellings.

      A fast, entertaining book, Titanium Noir will keep readers engaged with its intriguing, futuristic yet fully believable world and its unique characters. This book will especially appeal to both readers of scifi and noir thrillers, but I think anyone will find this an enjoyable read.

      Thank you to Knopf & NetGalley for a free eARC in exchange for an honest review.

      #NetGalley #TitaniumNoir
    • 5/5
      Future times!

      Hard nosed detective Cal Sounder investigates the murder of a Titan, a genetically modified elite.
      Set in a dystopian futuristic world there’s more here than meets the eye, as Cal finds out.
      Cal is a Titan specialist, a consultant to the police in these types of cases.
      T7 injections turn ordinary humans into super beings. It’s incredibly expensive, highly desirable. It can save one from all sorts of physical challenges but your intellect doesn’t improve. Maybe that’s offset by living a few hundred years. Maybe?!
      Learning to live with a body that’s been extended is no joke. Some (not many) have had several T shots over time—a long time.
      The tone is set in the first few opening lines, in the sparse, take no prisoners, non conversation between Cal and the Captain as they head towards the crime scene.
      A crime that will lead Cal back through the victim’s history as it intersects with others, and ultimately his own. There’s some delightful lines in the way of detective Sam Spade (Humphrey Bogart) of the Maltese Falcon fame.
      “ Murder rooms are like train stations at midnight, not much left to do before the last departure.”
      I must say I enjoyed every moment of Titanium Noir—it’s very noir, hard edged, smart and at times tragic.

      A Knopf ARC via NetGalley.
      Many thanks to the author and publisher.
      Please note: Quotes taken from an advanced reading copy maybe subject to change
    • 5/5
      Cal Sounder is a private detective in a futuristic world where the rich and powerful Titans are pretty much untouchable, but Cal works with the police to investigate crimes involving them anyway. The Titans are "created" when a serum called T7 is invented that has healing properties and promises to give them long lives, but more often than not, this comes with some significant physical changes, worse the more doses you get. Your bones become more dense and you grow taller and wider, but there are often psychological changes as well.

      Cal is investigating the death of a Titan, which becomes a very, very involved investigation, leading Cal down trails that lead to increasing danger to him when he is forced to confront some of the most powerful Titans around. Oh, and his ex is one of them.

      I loved this book because Cal made me think of the old gumshoe detectives, with Humphrey Bogart in The Maltese Falcon my favorite character. Cal had the same doggedness and inability to quit investigating until he solved the mystery, regardless of the toll it took on him personally .

      As for the world building, it was phenomenal! It set the mood perfectly. There were also plenty of well developed secondary characters, some of whom were very colorful and interesting, as well.

      All in all, I enjoyed this detective story very much and highly recommend it.

      5/5 stars.

      *** I would like to thank NetGalley, Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage, and Anchor Publishers, and Nick Harkaway for the opportunity to read and review this book.
    • 4/5
      Review of Uncorrected Proof

      In Chersenesos, private detective Cal Sounder is consulting with the police; thus, he finds himself investigating the murder of ninety-one-year-old Titan Roddy Tebbit. And the Titans, humans turned into long-living giants thanks to the controversial drug Titanium 7, are Cal’s specialty.

      The murder of a Titan is almost unimaginable. Humans modified using the T7 genetic therapy discovered [and controlled] by Stefan Tonfamecasca, experience immense growth. But there are only a few thousand of these almost-immortal beings; the cost of the T7 therapy is prohibitive. And the Titans, along with their wealth, are society’s powerful elite.

      So who killed Roddy? And, perhaps more importantly, why?

      =========

      The world-building in this near-future dystopian tale is commendable; readers are sure to find the inventive plot quite intriguing. In true classic noir fashion, the mystery surrounding the murder of Roddy Tebbit exposes secrets, offers readers unexpected twists, and keeps them guessing with well-placed red herring.

      The characters are spot-on for the tale; the hero is both resourceful and clever. The pace is quick, the unfolding tale compelling. The book is recommended; however, readers should be aware that it suffers from extensive overuse of a particularly offensive expletive; this lowers the rating for the book.

      I received a free copy of this eBook from Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage, and Anchor, Knopf and NetGalley
      #TitaniumNoir #NetGalley