This is a multi genre sci-fi thriller that is dark, intelligent, atmospheric and decidedly ambiguous. It is guaranteed to absorb and provoke thought. Jeff Noon engages in the heavily detailed world building of a city concealed amongst us by a dome. Half of the city, lit by lamps, exists in endless sunlight, and the other half in Dusk, wherein lies the odd and all the horrors of darkness. The two zones are connected by train. Within this weird world, time is money, a commodity to be traded and where people exist in their own particular timelines making time both an obsession and a critical factor. The troubled PI, John Nyquist, languishes at the bottom of the ladder, when he is hired by the father of 18 year old runaway, Eleanor Bale, to find her. A search that finds him making connections with a dangerous serial killer, Quicksilver, notoriously killing openly, yet to all intents and purposes, an invisible man.

This is a place where illicit drugs mess with time and the crime noir aspects hark back to the classics of the genre where the action takes place in a shadowy world. A tired and sleep deprived Nyquist has to venture into the dark, disturbing, and feared Dusk which will test him to his limits, physically and mentally. He is determined to find the beautiful, complicated and fragile Eleanor, amidst the menace and despair of Dusk, the foreboding presence of Quicksilver, and other ruthless forces. This offbeat novel, is beautifully artistic, raw in its blurred impressionism and surrealism flavoured with rather a strong dash of the fantastical. Noon has written a complex and superbly plotted multilayered novel which goes all out to embrace the strange. It will have you questioning what is real and what is time. A highly imaginative and enthralling read which I highly recommend. Many thanks to Angry Robot for an ARC.

I've never read Jeff Noon before, and I found A Man of Shadows to be a very strange book. To be honest, if I had known beforehand that he was an author of the "new weird" subgenre, I might have never looked at this book, but now that I'm finished, I must say the experience was both interesting and somewhat gratifying.

I won't pretend that I "got" the story. The plot is actually pretty standard, when you peel always all the strangeness and layers. The ideas are pretty incredible though, and while I would normally be frustrated by the feelings of vagueness of uncertainty, with this book I was oddly fine with the nebulous approach. Everything about the setting kept me guessing, trying to envision the world and get a firm grasp of it. I'm not sure I managed even by the end, but by then that becomes beside the point.

All in all, this was a pretty bizarre read, one I would recommend if you enjoy "new weird" or mind-bending sci-fi.

This is fabulous mind-blowing entertainment at the same time effecting .. fathers looking for their daughters not only for love but to sustain their rich businesses or personal powers. Meanwhile there are inexplicable deaths by multiple stabs by an unseen perpetrator their cities. A secret in the past goes back generations and private eye Nyvquist is hired by her' father to find Eleanor . His obsession and care grow for her as he searches, and this takes him into landscapes of shifting times, dayzones and night, and into the most dangerous: dusk where he meets her nemesis, which is almost the end of him! Brilliant and gripping altogether

Possibly more ‘SFF' than truly ‘noir’, for the gritty/detective side was second to the mysterious/dusk/visions side; but I like both genres, so that was fine with me. It took me a while to get into the story, though, and I’m not really sure whether it’s because it didn’t fully grip me, or because I was also busy at the time with other books.

The story follows John Nyquist, jaded detective with quite a few dark shades in his past, after both his parents died; hired to find the runaway daughter of powerful businessman Patrick Bale, he stumbles upon more than what he’s signed for, including the daughter’s true heritage, a drug cartel, and the mysterious killer nicknamed ‘Quicksilver’, who offs their victims in the blink of an eye. As any good noir detective, Nyquist can’t leave enough alone, and feels compelled to help the daughter, who he feels has run away for a reason that’s more than just teenage angst.

The setting is definitely interesting, and would even lend itself to more developments, I’d say, considering the two sides (Nocturna vs. Dayside), the mysterious Dusk in-between, the microcosms in each part (like the bulb monkeys in Dayside, always running from one light bulb to the other in a desperate effort to keep the light going), the time-screwing aspect (how can anyone goo on different timelines that keep changing depending on where they go and what they do?), etc.

I felt that there was a lot going on here, especially with part of the plot revolving around characters and events with a foot in all those parts (as in, things like ‘works in Dayside, lives in Nocturna, has ties with Dusk’); but while some of it was shown, I expected more in that regard—and yet, at the same time, there were moments when the world superseded the narrative, making the latter muddled. I’m not sure if the intent was to show Nyquist’s descent into his own time-related problems, or to echo the ‘time drug’ concept, but it made the plot difficult to follow even though it’s not -that- complex.

In the end I couldn’t decide if this was a novel about these different cities or about the characters—I felt that one way or the other, there wasn’t enough to really keep my interest.

I'd say the three words I'd use to describe this novel are confused, complicated and 'meh'.

A Man of Shadows tells the story of a private detective named Nyquist, whose life seems to be slowly falling to pieces. However, he still manages to get hired by a super-rich CEO, who needs to find his daughter, Eleanor. What then ensues is Nyquist running around this fantasy world in an ever-deepening state of obsession and delirium attempting to catch Eleanor and save her for a reason which was not explained to us until the very end. AND to cap it all off, the story takes place in this bizarre fantasy world, where there are two cities--Dayzone, where it is perpetually light, and Nocturna, where it is perpetually dark--separated by Dusk, an area of magical happenings and creepy mist that follows you everywhere and hides all of these magical, creepy beings from you!

I will simply gloss over how the setting and how it exists is not explained at all, and instead focus on time, which is very important to the world that Noon has created, but is not really explained very well. In Dayzone, people are obsessed with switching up their timezones, so that almost each person is running on a different zone. However, it is not explained how this really works, or why it is beneficial (or if it was explained, it was not in a very good way since I remained confused throughout my reading). People are compelled to switch their timezone to match the different zones of whatever area they are in, but why? When do people sleep? When do they eat? I'm confused... and it's overly complicated! There is also some sort of disease when all these timezones becomes to much for one's body to handle, and you go into chronostasis. Nyquist seems to be verging on this condition the entire novel, but somehow remains a semi-functioning human being.

But that doesn't make the story any better. As the novel progresses, Nyquist just gets more and more obsessed with Eleanor's case, and cannot be dissuaded... but why? And he also gets more violent, more confused, more drunk. He is just a blabbering old man running around grabbing and shaking people to try and get answers and just horrifying any passerby. He was not likeable at all, but not in a good way where it makes the book more interesting. Just in a bad way, and I'm not 100% sure how I finished this novel with him leading.

Anyways... now it's done. And I would not recommend this book. I was expecting a fun sci-fi adventure and that is not what I got! Even so, thank you to the publisher and to NetGalley for providing me with a review copy of this book.

Interesting if somewhat hard to wrap your mind around due to all the time changing. My advice is to read until the end. It's worth it. Quite a complicated plot where the main character comes over rather like a time weary Philip Marlow, hardly surprising the amount of traveling between artificial day and night zones and trying to keep to his own sense of time and one foot in reality. All this and trying to solve unexplainable deaths in full view of people. I wouldn't say this was easy book to read but would appeal to sci- Fi fans looking for something a little different.

When Noir Isn't A State of Mind, or a Genre, But An Actual Physical Place

The overarching joke, or frame, here, (which I found exceptionally appealing), is that this is a noir mystery/thriller that plays out in a city that is divided into a half that is always daylight, a half that is always night, and a border that is always dusk. All noir thrillers take place in that space between the light and the dark, but usually that space is metaphorical and is the locus between right and wrong, good and bad, moral and immoral, or noble and craven. This author has made that all explicit and has turned the metaphor into a physical reality, which, of course, just puts an extra spin on the whole deal.

Just considered as a noir thriller this book is fine. Tortured, noble hero. Femme with a dark past, lost present, and dubious future. Crosses and doublecrosses. Greed and mendacity. And a stylishly feverish sense of displacement and despair. Yep, that says noir to me.

But then we add the brilliant world building. It is the compelling, beguiling and repulsive physical analogue of everything we love about noir. Forget the plot entirely, just savor the mood and atmosphere, and you still have a marvelous book. Then add the conceit involving multiple personal time lines. It's almost overkill, but it adds the surreal, ambiguous and vaguely incomprehensible flavor that pushes the whole tale into the weird and hypnotic.

This is a one of a kind sort of book, and for me it felt like it would be one of those few books that make an impression that will linger. What a great find.

(Please note that I received a free advance ecopy of this book without a review requirement, or any influence regarding review content should I choose to post a review. Apart from that I have no connection at all to either the author or the publisher of this book.)

A Man of Shadows by Jeff Noon

Within the world lies a very strange city indeed, concealed by a dome. Almost half of it is called Dayzone, where endless bright lamps reproduce hot sunlight for every hour of the day. Connected to it by train is its opposite – the endless night of Nocturna. But, to travel between the two, the train must pass through an area of fog and permanent gloom called Dusk and therein lives the unexplained and the terrifying. As if all of this weren’t strange enough, the whole city has turned its back on the linear time of the outside world. Hundreds, if not thousands, of timelines co-exist, many available to be bought, and they mean that the inhabitants of Dayzone and Nocturna move from timeline to timeline, often obsessed with their watches and clocks. Never has the question ‘what’s the time?’ seemed so vital and yet also such a waste of time.

Moving between the timelines is a feared killer called Quicksilver, managing to commit murder in broad faked daylight, sometimes in front of an unsuspecting audience. Private detective John Nyquist has taken on the case of a runaway wealthy young woman Eleanor but he’s soon sure that there are links with Quicksilver. His pursuit of Eleanor takes him not only across Dayzone and Nocturna but also into the place he dreads the most, Dusk, and even to the very edges of his sanity. And all the time, all of the times, he has that feeling that he’s being watched and judged.

A Man of Shadows is a quite extraordinary novel. Its world building is absolutely fantastic – intricate, complex, moody and disturbingly real. The movement between timelines means that John Nyquist rarely sleeps and you can strongly sense his extreme fatigue as the hours pass. People who become too time-obsessed almost literally lose their minds and you know that Nyquist is well on the way to this state. It gives his task an extra urgency and desperation.

Dayzone and Nocturna are brilliantly visualised and would have been sufficiently impressive on their own but the skill of Jeff Noon astounds even further with his treatment of time. I found myself wondering why anybody would chose to live such an existence, what its appeal might be. Many of the inhabitants of this city have almost a euphoria about them as they defy the restrictions of a conventional life but others are clearly damaged by it. This is a book that makes you think as you read it. It is extremely clever.

We never see the world beyond the city, although occasionally characters are nostalgic for a sight of the real sun or the real stars. The city itself has a 1950s’ feel to it, just as the mystery element of the novel is detective noir. Now and again we’re given extracts from guidebooks which tell us a little of the background to Dayzone, Nocturna and Dusk, but generally we experience it all through the increasingly fraught mind of John Nyquist. This can be claustrophobic at times and there is also chaos and confusion. It is certainly atmospheric.

In the final third of the novel, the mystery inevitably takes us into Dusk, and what a frightening place this is. I must admit that I did become a little lost during this section as it becomes increasingly surreal and fantastical. Throw in some mind bending drugs and you get an idea of the state of Nyquist’s mind during this phase of his hunt. It’s hugely disturbing. Personally, and this is probably because I’m more of a science fiction reader than a fantasy reader, I enjoyed more the majority of the novel which portrays so brilliantly life in a world of endless day or endless night, in which time is a force to be controlled, manipulated and even sold. And all the time, outside the city lies the ‘real’ world, out of reach in so many ways to a man such as John Nyquist.

I was completely absorbed by A Man of Shadows and deeply impressed by the skill and imagination of this author. This is the first novel I’ve read by Jeff Noon and I’m not sure why that is – there are such big ideas here that provide an unusual and quirky perspective on our own lives. I love a book that makes me think while also entertaining me and A Man of Shadows does just that.

I love the cover – it really contributes to the mood of 1940s’ and 1950s’ detective noir in an extraordinary environment.

When I read Jeff Noon's Vurt a couple decades ago, I discovered a storytelling voice that I loved. There's just something about the way the author writes that I really enjoy. I haven't read all of his books, but the few I have read I have really gotten into. A Man of Shadows is another one that fits the mold.

What seems to be the beginning of a series, this novel is a detective story about a missing girl who lead character John Nyquist is hired to find. But if you've read anything else by Noon, you know things are never that straightforward. The setting for the novel is a world full of time, where people live on their own time, switching to someone else's as necessary. (It's not really time zones, nor is it a multiple time lines sort of thing... it's difficult to explain.) There are also cities that are always daylight or always night, with a mysterious and dangerous region of dusk in between.

Nyquist searches for (and finds and loses, etc.) the girl who may be a key to time, getting more involved in finding out about her life. In the midst of this there's a serial killer at large who no one is able to catch in the act, even though the murders happen in crowded public places. At times, pieces of the plot are difficult to follow, but things do, for the most part, tie together in the end.

It's a good book if you like a side of sci-fi with your mystery. Expect to be confused, but also satisfied by the end result.

This book was really hard for me to settle into. The first hundred pages were really difficult for me to get through but once I started to understand the characters, setting, and pace it grew on me. Dayzone and Nocturna really piqued my interest and I love the way Nyquist describes all of this. It really makes you question everything from all points of view and it leaves you wanting more.

I read once that taking away watches and clocks from people and not allowing them to know the time will slowly drive them mad. After reading this book I can believe it.

It starts out as a hard-boiled detective story set in a world that feels like a futuristic version of the 1950’s. The city is split into three different zones, Nocturna that is eternal night, Dusk, a place of fog and monsters where it is always twilight and no-one dare go, and Dayzone, a world of bright neon lights where it never goes dark and the citizens are constantly switching between the hundreds of different timelines.

John Nyquist is hired to find the teenage daughter of one of the richest men in the city. But like any good detective story, nothing is what it seems.

I loved the first half, the atmosphere created and the characters and the sense of place are almost perfectly done. Towards the middle it starts to feel surreal, it’s like a bad dream where Nyquist is losing his sense of time and reality. I struggled with reading this, I’ve never enjoyed dream sequences and this was more confusing than most. It messed with my mind, and it made me feel a bit ill reading it!

It settles down towards the end though and it got a bit easier on my brain.

The writing is brilliant, and it’s full of plot twists that I didn’t predict. The atmosphere and the world building is just right, I could see Dayzone in my mind, and I loved the contrast between the frantic pace of life there and the calm and quiet in Nocturna.

I do struggle sometimes with books that leave you to decide what’s real and what’s not, but if you don’t mind that then I highly recommend this book as it’s very well done, with an interesting story, good characters, and original ideas.

A MAN OF SHADOWS by Jeff Noon is an alternate world story about John Nyquist, an alcoholic private eye, who is struggling through life when a missing persons case falls in his lap that the deeper Nyquist investigates, the more the truth reveals itself.
A fascinating world of two lands, a permanent daytime, called Dayzone, (created by more light bulbs that can be counted) and a permanent nighttime, called Nocturna, (completely with artificially created constellations) and the world in between, the dangerous Dusk space. Time is also fabricated, with people living within different times each day, as if time is a commodity, not just a reality. Nyquist floats through everyone else's time and pays for it by constantly forcing his way through his own confusion and dodging insanity. Mind-bending by nature, A MAN OF SHADOWS is told through Nyquist's eyes, so the reader's grasp of this world is like how one interprets an expressionist or even an abstract painting; our perception fills in the blanks of information that don't exist in the painting to inform us of our understanding. A MAN OF SHADOWS takes Nyquist's thoughts and perceptions to introduce the unique world of the book, but the reader must complete their understanding on their own. Noon's ability to create a scene's mood and emotion is a delight to read, all the while making Nyquist and all of his alcohol induced haziness a likable hero that the reader roots for.
Unlike anything I've read before, A MAN OF SHADOWS is a thought provoking tale layered with some wonderful and mysterious scifi imagery that really comes to power, perception, and family and what's most important.

A sci-fi thriller of sorts. Interesting if slightly confusing ideas and ultimately too much of a narrative on the world created rather than on telling the story left me cold.

The story takes place in a city made up of three distinct parts - Dayzone, which is permanently bright thanks to the billions of neon lights covering the area, Nocturna, which is permanently dark and Dusk, which seperetaes the two areas, a type of no mans land which is avoided at all costs, neither light nor dark and covered in fog.
The city has numerous time zones. Companies work to their own time zones. More and more time zones are becoming available and being sold by private corporations.

Our main protagonist is a Private Detective called John Nyquist, a washed up heavy drinking man, confused and weary from the numerous time zones and their constant changing as he moves across the city. He is hired by the head of the biggest corporation that develope and sell these different time zones, to try and find his runaway daughter.
That's the basic premise of the story and as it developes we are introduced to a serial killer that can kill in broad daylight without anyone seeing him, street drugs that can alter time and let you see into the future and some ghostly elements thrown in for good measure.

So, I didn't really enjoy this book. The story felt like it took an age to tell. The descriptive narrative of the city continuously interrupted the flow of the story progressing. Yes it's a sci-fi novel with a surreal city but, just as the story is moving along we get pages of descriptive prose of the surroundings etc. It just left me cold. The characters were just smothered by this and as a result played second fiddle and were extremely two dimensional. Nyquist, our main character is literally nondescript and therefore held little or no interest.
The second half of the book is certainly better than the first. The story did move along and there chapters of real interest and page turning elements as you were finally sucked into the story. But that didn't last ultimately as the descriptive prose took over again and all momentum of the story was lost. The ironic thing is, with so much time spent by the author describing the world and its workings, so much wasn't really explained and many elements just vaguely gone through, not really making sense to the reader.

There are some really interesting ideas here but the vagueness with which they are executed left me cold on the whole world the book inhabits. The story seemed to play second fiddle to the surroundings. In the end it was a bit of a chore to finish this one. Not one for me I'm afraid.


Thanks to NetGalley for an ARC.

In Dayzone, the lights are always on and there is no night. In Nocturna there is no day. Then there is Dusk, a place which John Nyquist, looking for a teenage runaway, must go if he is to find clues as to her whereabouts. Meanwhile a serial killer known only as Quicksilver is creating terror amongst a population unable to protect themselves from this seemingly invisible threat.
A Man of Shadows is essentially a murder mystery in which private eye, Nyquist, undertakes an assignment to find a missing heiress, while a rather unpleasant and untraceable serial killer stalks the streets. It is definitely more than a nod to noir, given the settings of cities in perpetual day and night and what these do to the mind-set of Nyquist, taking the genre to a whole new level. If you think about the world we live in and the extent to which our lives are now ruled by appointments and time management, A Man of Shadows brings an interesting perspective to the activity of clock watching. In this world time is different from one area of a city to another and even within buildings, requiring you to keep adjusting your watch. Think jet lag within only a few paces rather than after a transatlantic flight. Think of the physical and mental illness this induces because of the need to constantly adapt to whatever time zone you unwittingly find yourself in when you go out of one place into another. Think of how this can be exploited by those seeking to make money out of it. Then think about how difficult it is to solve a crime and keep your sanity when the past is always coming back to haunt you.
Do not expect the style of writing found in his earlier work, but in A Man of Shadows Jeff Noon crafts an equally bizarre world to his previous novels set in an alternative Manchester. You are not air dropped into this new world of Dayzone, Noctural and the in between Dusk, and expected to get on with it. Instead it is largely explained through the eyes of Nyquist as he passes by. You do need this because you’ll spend a while getting your head around the complexity of how Noon takes the concept of time and plays with it from every possible angle.
What emerges from the story is an intricate murder mystery set within a complex world of ruthless commerce driven by and perpetuating the notion of time, which has insinuated itself into the very minds and soul of the population governed by it.

I have been a fan of Jeff Noon ever since his debut novel, VURT, from 1993. Noon's latest novel is a noir detective thriller, set in a city divided into two zones, Dayzone, where it is always bright daylight. and Nocturna, where it is always nighttime. In both cases we have artificial day and night: Dayzone is lit with so much artificial light, bulbs and neon lights and whatever, that you cannot see the sky at all -- it is huamn-made illumination however high up you go. Nocturna also seems to be domed away from the sky; bulbs high up are like stars, making for artificial constellations. Between these two main regions is the ambiguous realm of Dusk, an area of ambiguity, of mist and shadows and diffuse artificial moonlight, where it is dangerous to go. People who enter Dusk are most often never seen again. Trains traverse the Dusk as they shuttle people between Dayzone and Nocturna, but the trains never stop in Dusk itself.

A Man of Shadows is about day and night, or light and darkness; but it is also about time. There are multiple time streams in Dayzone and in Nocturna -- every activity and every place seems to have a different time. People are always manically switching the time on their watches and clocks, in order to keep up with whatever region they are in, or whatever activity they are following. In Dayzone, the incessant light supposedly boosts industrial productivity; everyone is always busy and nobody gets enough sleep -- nobody even knows when it is time to sleep. Rest and sleep are possible in Nocturna, but there are also plenty of nighttime activities -- bars and clubs and the like -- as well as mysterious zones where it is always midnight, so time barely seems to pass at all.

The novel's protagonist, John Nyquist, is a down and out detective drawn straight from the realms of film noir. He is hired by the richest man in Dayzone to find his missing daughter, and from there he is drawn into ever-deeper regions of mystery and ambiguity. I won't go into the plot in detail, but suffice it to say that Nyquist discovers the seamy underside both of Dayzone's frantic capitalist activity, and of Nocturna's hidden underworld. There are mysterious illicit drugs that alter your sense of time, murders by an invisible killer that turns out to involve time theft, and art works that expand or contract light and shadow, time and stasis. Nyquist struggles to figure out what is going on, and to rescue the young woman Eleanor who seems to be in danger from her involvement in all these activities, at the same time that he struggles through his own neurotic difficulties. The threat of a "time crash" -- sort of like the financial crisis of 2008, but involving everyone's existential sense of duration (since after all, time is money) hangs over everything.

What really makes the book, though, is its surreal, poetic evocations of the three realms of daylight, nighttime, and dusk. The novel's emotional center lies in these descriptions: the exultation and madness of the day, the alluring mystery and menacing coolness of the night, the physical heaviness of the mist of dusk.

Jeff Noon's latest work is a masterpiece. It'll have you thinking about time in ways you never thought of while you're caught in the neurotic, time-obsessed cities of his creation. The world-building is splendid, along with the skillful writing that shows years of experience. I love when genres cross over, and "Man of Shadows" is a perfect crossover between a thriller and a science fiction novel. Really great work; am so glad I got a copy to read.

My only critique is that this book got a lot better at the end. Until that point, something about it just wasn't ... solid enough? The world took too long to feel fleshed out. And even then, "A Man of Shadows" was just missing something crucial that other great fantasy books have. A more likable protagonist, maybe, or better worldbuilding?

Either way, it was very enjoyable. Thank you for the opportunity!

A Man of Shadows is a surreal detective book which blends popular elements of the fantastical and private-eye genres to form a uniquely stylized story about a missing woman and the contrasting cityscapes of Dayzone and Nocturna of which she ventures. There's a lot of imagination infused in the dime-store detective facade that brings complexities conceived through clever concepts and well thought-out plot devices which make A Man of Shadows a joy to read.

Rather than go into full 'review mode' I thought I'd highlight the pros and cons of this book. This is something I'll likely do with other surreal detective books, given I love the genre and generally dig the added fantastically elements.

Pros:
- Nocturna and Dayzone are atmospheric cityscapes which add another dimension to the story.
- The characters are well defined and, as a commonly used term on my blog 'read real'
- Nyquist is an interesting protagonist who conforms to all the lone wolf stereotypes commonly associated with a private detective.

Cons:
- The story got a little weird and off track in the 'dusk' (the mysterious landscape between Nocturna and Dayzone). While I like the unconventional P.I book, the family drama aspect detracted from Nyquist and changed the feel of the book. It became more about the missing woman and her family woes as apposed to a P.I book.

My rating: 3.5 / 5, could've nearly been a 4 and might end up that way as time passes. This is a book full of interesting concepts that will resonate with the reader long after the last page is turned.

I just recently learned the term "new weird" fiction, but I think it can be applied to this book. It's sci-fi, horror, urban fantasy and detective noir, so there's a lot going on here. John Henry Nyquist is a private detective looking for the missing 18 year old Eleanor Bale. Robert Mitchum could have played Nyquist in the movie. It turns out that Eleanor is not just a runaway, she plays an important role in the very strange world created by the author.

The action takes place in a city comprised of three parts. Dayzone is always light, lit by millions of light bulbs at all times. Nocturna is always dark and to go between these two parts of the city you must go through Dusk, which is a no man's land that is best avoided. In each of the parts of the city, time is a distinctly relative concept. Time zones are personalized. Nothing about any part of this city makes it an appealing place to live, and one problem I had with the book is that the author never explained why anyone would choose to live there when the rest of the country appeared to be "normal". Another problem I had with the book is that the difficulties faced by Nyquist and Eleanor could have been eliminated by a little truth in the beginning, but then you wouldn't have had a book. The truth begins to be told at about the 80% point. Up until then you get a serial killer, fog men, a drug that distorts time even more than this city does, and a lot of situations that made me wonder whether everyone was just mad and imagining the whole thing. This was a well written and imaginative book and I'd like to read more by this author.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher.

I received an ARC of this from Angry Robots as I was immediately intrigued as soon as I saw the cover of this book and the description sounded fascinating. It says Science Fiction although this could also easily be classed as Urban Fantasy and would definitely appeal to fans of that sub-genre.

The best part of this book is the setting, which is absolutely stunning. The city is split into two sections – Dayzone and Nocturna. In Dayzone, the sky is made up of layers and layers of brightly coloured bulbs so that it is always day, while in Nocturna it’s almost permanently dark and the constellations are made up of the few remaining bulbs high up. To travel between the two halves, you need to take a train that travels via Dusk which is the shadowy region between the two.

Many characters, like Nyquist, have homes in both Dayzone and Nocturna letting them choose when they wish it to be night. Another excellent addition to the world-building is the concept of time. The idea of having permanent day and night is already enough to play with the usual concepts of time, but in this city everybody is also on different timelines and you can choose which ones you want and change as you travel. Nyquist is always fiddling with his wristwatch to update it to the timeline of his current area such as updating the time in the pub so that he’s able to drink.

The plot of the story starts out as your basic missing persons case, but develops into much more than that as Eleanor Bale, the missing woman, turns out to be much more important to the city than first thought. I won’t mention too much of the plot as being a mystery, I wouldn’t want to spoil it. The main character is Nyquist who I really enjoyed reading about, and the rest of the side characters are all fantastic and well-written with interesting backgrounds and motives. Eleanor in particular was really enjoyable to read about and I loved it as we slowly discovered more about her and her background.

I thoroughly enjoyed this novel and would have recommended it just for the amazing world-building alone, however having fantastic characters and an excellent plot means that this is definitely a novel worth reading and I struggled at times to put it down.

Time, time, time/See what's become of me

While reading A Man of Shadows I found myself becoming wary of every timepiece in my house. Why does the microwave clock read 11:45 when the oven clock reads 10:32 and the wall clock reads 2:55?
Which is th correct time? If I call the speaking clock number will anyone answer? Can anyone tell me "at the tone the time will be..." or am I on my own? Who decides what time it is for me?

In short this book has caused me a great deal of anxiety. With a major birthday looming soon I find myself fretting over the passing of time, current time, future time, how many minutes I have left in this lifetime etc. John Nyquist was also running away from time but simultaneously running towards a certain time. Once again Jeff Noon serves up a major mindfuck disguised as a story. Don't get me wrong, this book is fantastic and the story is gripping and well done. Maybe too much so.

Part hardboiled derivative story, part noir, part speculative fiction, part literary acid trip etc.

Even now looking at the window at what appears to be sunlight I wonder if this light is actually sunlight or if bulb monkeys are somewheee high above me replacing bulbs. When dusk comes will it bring along a foggy mist? Is the impending darkness truly nighttime or am I just on an alternative timeline?

At the tone the time will be...