More Chandler than Dick as it's a noir set in a dystopia. It's intriguing, dark and gripping.
The world building is excellent, there's plenty of twists and the characters are fleshed out.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher for this ARC, all opinions are mine

I don't even know where to start but Titanium Noir is frickin fantastic.

I zipped through the first 50 pages and only stopped because my family demanded to be fed (rude), then finished the rest of the book the same day.

Initially I was a little unsure of Cal - he's kind of an ass - but within a few pages, I'd decided he was a likeable ass. The pacing is quick with that clipped, no-nonsense style expected of detective noir but combined with its own flavour that also pokes some fun at the genre, like when Athena is found in Cal's office sitting at his desk.

For me, though, the best part about this book is that I didn't figure out exactly who the murderer was until Cal did. My list of suspects did narrow (and expand, and shift, and narrow again) as I read, but I wasn't entirely sure until the moment Cal reached that realization.

The one foible I have is the end. It was a foregone conclusion that - as much as Cal did not want to become a Titan and as often as the conflict his relationship with Athena was brought up - that ultimately, he would become exactly that.

The end of it all seemed tied up just a little two neatly - everyone suddenly friends and all issues resolved. I accept that not all things can be perfect, though, and, all things considered, Titanium Noir was a great deal of fun.

Me encanta cuando los autores mezclan géneros y les salen obras redondas, como hace Nick Harkaway con este Titanium Noir, una novela detectivesca noir cuya premisa está inextricablemente unida a la ciencia ficción.


Harkaway utiliza de manera estupenda todos los tropos del género, con un detective amargado por su pasado, una policía corrupta, poderosos magnates que hacen lo que desean desde su posición privilegiada, alguna que otra tunda bien recibida… pero es que además lo mezcla con un elemento de ciencia ficción que le da un nuevo barniz a todo esto. La existencia de los titanes, humanos tratados con una medicina que les permite ser prácticamente inmortales, pero que tiene como efectos secundarios el crecimiento desmesurado de su físico, así como de sus apetitos.

El protagonista de la historia es Cal Sounder, un detective que trabaja para la policía cuando el caso es especialmente sensible por afectar a alguno de estos titanes, una élite muy selecta de millonarios. Su misión en esta novela será investigar la muerte de Roddy Tebbit, un titán muy distinto a los demás.

El tono del libro está muy conseguido, con esa pátina de hastío que impregna casi toda la literatura noir, pero con momentos brillantes provocados por la suma de ese elemento discordante que es el T7, el tratamiento genético que vuelve inmortales a sus usuarios. Seremos testigos de sus efectos casi en primera persona, desde los casos de éxito a los fallos que crean seres grotescos.

Titanium Noir es una novela inteligente y en ocasiones divertida, pero que también lleva asociado un mensaje en contra de las diferencias sociales que promueve el capitalismo extremo.

Llaman especialmente la atención los cuidados diálogos del libro, con los que Cal va intentando obtener la información que necesita para continuar investigando el caso.

Lo que me ha gustado menos del libro es la resolución del misterio, que me parece un poco tramposa pero en general estamos ante una novela estupenda que no deberíais dejar escapar.

For fifteen years, Harkaway has been writing energetic, science fiction-inflected, pitch-perfect riffs on some of the most laddish subgenres and literary modes of the 20th century—the gonzo drug novel in The Gone-Away World, the James Bond spy story in Angelmaker, the tale of post-colonial dissipation in Tigerman. It's a bit surprising that it's taken him this long to get to the noir detective genre, the ultimate in hyper-masculine, hyper-stylized writing. But it's also probably a good thing, because with four previous novels under his belt, Harkaway has honed his craft to a point (and whittled away some of his more annoying literary tics). At a mere 265 pages, Titanium Noir is not only the most svelte of his novels, it's also the slickest and most effectively written, capturing the noir voice perfectly and sliding effortlessly to its destination.

Our gumshoe is Cal Sounder, a consultant who is brought in to advise the police on cases that involve Titans, the ultra-rich who have been granted access to rejuvenating, life-extending treatments. There have been many science fiction novels with a similar premise (most obviously, Richard Morgan's Altered Carbon, which also operates in the noir mode, though perhaps not as energetically as Harkaway). In Titanium Noir, however, Harkaway offers an original twist on it. The treatments not only make people younger, but bigger—after one course, you're about a the size of a professional basketball player; after four, you need reinforced floors, and can cause major organ damage by laughing in people's faces. The treatments also make Titans rapacious and belligerent, eager for sex or a fight, and prone to amnesia about their old lives. All of which feels out of character for the murder victim Cal has just been called in on, a mild-mannered scientist who received a single treatment decades ago for undisclosed services to the ruling Tonfamecasca family, and has spent his extra time investigating a conspiracy that may have got him killed, and which Cal now has to disentangle.

Harkaway's control of the noir voice is exceptional. Cal is hard-bitten, cynical, twisted up by heartbreak—still pining for Athena Tonfamecasca, whose first treatment has placed her, as he believes, permanently out of his reach—and still possessed of that last tiny bit of decency and belief in justice without which no noir detective is complete. The mystery is expertly constructed and paced, doling out revelations in a way that makes sense while still keeping readers on their toes. And there are some thrilling set pieces, chiefly a visit to a Titan nightclub, where Cal is challenged to a cage fight with bigger, stronger opponents that he must win through guile and sheer bloody-mindedness. To that, add the profound strangeness of the Titans, from a crimelord whose failed treatment caused him to grow sideways but not up, to Athena's father, the Tonfamecasca patriarch Stefan, who looms like a mythical monster, effectively a different species from everyone around him, and with a corresponding indifference to the fate, wishes, and lives of those who are literally beneath him.

It's all so impressively pulled off that it takes a while to realize how little Harkaway is actually saying with it. "The rich are literally inhuman" is a solid—if, again, not particularly novel—SFnal premise, but Titanium Noir goes nowhere with it once it has been established. On the contrary, the mystery's conclusion is surprisingly soft on the Titans, eventually revealing that Stefan is actually an OK guy, and wearing away at Cal's ideological objection to their existence. And then, of course, there's the woman issue. In all his novels, Harkaway has clearly been aware that the genres he's working in treat women as prizes, objects, or afterthoughts, but his approach to addressing this issue has mostly been to overcompensate wildly and unconvincingly. Titanium Noir is no exception—its solution involves one woman taking vengeance on a past abuser, and another pulling strings to arrange the world to her liking, but this supposed Girl Power conclusion feels skin deep. The actual women never get to be real characters in the novel, and remain objects—of lust, affection, or obsession—all the way to the last page. The result, like the other Harkaway novels I've read, is a hell of a lot of fun and like nothing that any other writer is producing, but with very little beneath the surface.

Like all the best SF, this works as an interrogation of our present day circumstances. On one hand it’s a Chandlerish tale full of menacing thugs with guns and the hero getting banged on the head and waking up somewhere else, on the other it’s a commentary on the current sociopolitical state of the West, with the Titans standing in for the billionaires who run our world. It’s also pithy on the ongoing consolidation of wealth away from the young towards the older generation:
“As if there can’t be new things because the old ones aren’t going away”

There’s a fair bit to chew on in what’s ostensibly a noir romp, but the joy is that it works on both levels, and you can read however much or little as you like into it and still have fun.

I really like Nick Harkaway as an author. He's fantastic. <i>Angelmaker</i> was great; and this is just as memorable - a really fun, inventive science fiction noir that calls back to the classics, how can you not when a character is named Marlowe? It's really inventive and hardboiled as hardboiled books get, investigating the elite of the elite cases in an old-school <i>Columbo</i> way - only this time, it's Titans; superhumans and the next evolution in humanity.

Harkaway's narration was really good here at capturing the gritty personality of
Cal Sounder and the touch that his ex is a titan as well gives him experience in the case. The world is well realised, believable, and constantly calls back to the classics of today but in a way that doesn't feel like the author's just namedropping his favourite things into a future setting - the references matter. It kind of feels like what would happen if Raymond Chandler was drafted into write a run on <i>Iron Man</i> - the pulp premise is easily adaptable and easily familiar.

The pace helped this one a lot. If it was longer I probably would've lost interest, but Harkaway knows how to keep it short.

The title of this book is particularly apt. The noir is real.

Cal Sounder is a typical outsider detective, a loner - but not exactly though choice - scraping a living on the mean streets. The book features femmes fatales, a powerful company that seems to pretty much own the city, and cops who have negotiable allegiances. There are shady nightclubs, down-at-heel offices and a deep lake apt for hiding bodies.

It also has... giants.

In what I took to be a near-future world - while seamy and hardscrabble, there are mitigations in place against global heating: for example electric vehicles, and the wealthy can afford the filters needed to extract the carbon so they can enjoy a log fire - a wonder drug called Titanium-7 can heal all ills, at the cost (or with the side benefit) of boosting growth and strength. Those who have taken the drug once are stronger and larger, those who have had two or three courses are the Titans, huge, powerful, and longlived. The only problem is, the drug is also titanically expensive, and with its recipients essentially immortal, there are implicatiions to creating too many of them. This moral problem, of an ongoing 'speciation' separating Titans from common humanity, is an ethical dilemma that haunts the story.

Sounder's speciality is, in many respects, managing this issue. He earns his living keeping Titans in line, mediating between them and between them and humanity, preventing things getting too heated too quickly. Neither a cop nor a traditional PI, he's called in when a scientist is murdered, a scientist who just happens to be a Titan...

The story that then develops is a delightful mosaic of the hard-boiled and the fantastical. Cal's backstory, which is gradually revealed, shows him to have feet in both the human and titan camps, with consequent vulnerabilities - and secrets. The price of digging into the case may be to touch some delicate toes, not least those of Stefan Tonfamecasca, the billionaire owner of T7. But it may also lead back to Cal's own scruffy front door, and his relationship with a member of the Tonfamecasca clan.

Titanium Noir was for me a delight to read, whether I was enjoying Cal's hard-boiled affect, seeing him get way WAY in deeper then he realises, or enjoying him hustle his way out of danger in the underside of the city. In the course of all this Harkaway takes us to some truly memorable scenes, whether a club where anything goes, a revolutionary commune or the (underground?) lair of a monstrous crime boss. There's a lot of riffing off the classics with talk of being sent to the bottom of the lake wearing concrete overshoes, wisecracking goons, and Sounder seen by both cops and villains as an irritating but necessary part of the furniture. That gives him a narrow and tortuous safety zone if he wants to reach the end of the book, and also a narrow line which he manages to (mostly) walk between hope and despair, corruption and martyrdom. Because somebody has to, right?

HIGHLY recommended, and great fun.

Not for me I'm afraid. I just didn't really feel very connected to the characters and it was a bit of a slog to get through. The concept is interesting and the world building is good but I just didn't find the characters engaging enough

There are not many Titans - but one of them has just been murdered and so Cal Sounder needs to investigate and that will lead him into murky territory. Raymond Chandler meets Sci-Fi in this entertaining read from Nick Harkaway

“That’s the trouble with this city. It’s hard to know what’s real.”

In Nick Harkaway’s new novel we meet Cal Sounder, a police detective who specialises in strange cases. At first it seems like a nerd in his 30s has been murdered in his home but at second glance Cal realises he is over seven feet tall and almost ninety years old. In a near dystopian city where ‘Titans” exist, they are almost god like to be however when one is discovered murdered it is way more dangerous than one can imagine. Cal’s investigation leads him to Stefan the creator of the T7 therapy that alters humans into Titans. He has to figure out who can be behind this murder and how it connects to on of the most powerful men in the city.

This novel has been described as a mashup of Marvel and Philip K Dick. This had me intrigued and so I couldn’t wait to get stuck into this book.

It kicks off with a murder that needs to be solved and like a true detective story the reader is taken through the case thorough the eyes of Cal. There are several twists as expected and some moments of high drama.

Although this is quite a dark story its emphasis is on revenge and vengeance. The characters are easy to follow, the clues lead you to some interesting conclusions and what I enjoyed the most from it was the sarcasm and humour in the best and most inappropriate moments.

Overall I enjoyed reading this book. It kept me guessing and wanting more.

This was a DNF for me at 20% mark. I simply couldn’t get into the story. Noir here seemed to mean keeping the reader in the dark. We learn absolutely nothing about the main character, and definitely nothing that would compel the reader to follow him. The world was obscure and opaque. Nothing was described properly, and we don’t even know where or when it takes place.

What little we learn wasn’t in any way interesting. Nothing about the titans made them worth learning more—selfish rich people aren’t captivating—and there was nothing intriguing about the murder or the victim; I didn’t even skip to the end to learn who did it. The investigation was an obstacle course for the reader. The first-person narrator didn’t bother to share his thoughts at all, which made it seem like he was conducting his investigation at random.

The dialogue was just talking heads with no indicators as to who was talking—I often had to re-read them so that they would make sense—and what kind of people they were, so the ‘snappy’ banter felt meaningless, random and mean. The narrative was disjointed with breaks at odd intervals.

All the five-star reviews seem to indicate there’s a pay-off for the reader who perseveres. Unfortunately, I’m not one of them.

An absolutely vintage Raymond Chandler style detective story with added engineered ‘Titans’ of the super rich.

A book I flew though on the wonderful writing - but also stopped just to reread and appreciate it.

As with anything that Nick Harkaway has ever written, it’s hugely imaginative, immersive, and wonderful.

Good book, it is unique, and quite different, and I liked that. Plenty going on, and well worth a read. I recommend it.

This is the third book I have read by the author, I very much enjoyed Tigerman and Angelmaker and obviously was looking forward to this one.
This is a blend of sci-fi and a Philip Marlow style PI murder mystery. In the near future a drug T7 has been invented that gives almost endless life to the very rich, but at the cost of turning them into semi giants (Titans).
When investigator Cal Sounder finds a murdered Titan he is flung into that space between normal people and the enhanced elite and almost nobody seems to be on his side as a dark secret may be lurking just out of his reach.
It’s obvious that the author is having fun with this one and there are lots of interesting ideas bouncing about. In the other books I have mentioned, he blends compelling stories with characters of such depth they will stay with you for a very long time. Here, less so. Probably the easiest read of his books and quite linier as a detective story that takes you to a specific conclusion. Some nice ideas and characters in this but perhaps lacking in the depth we have become accustomed to.

Cal Sounder is occasionally hired by the police as a specialist detective when certain sensitive cases need a special touch. Thanks to a controversial new gene therapy drug, T7, there are a few thousand elite Titans. Taller, stronger and bigger in every way, Titans are men and women rich enough to buy themselves out of death. So when one does turn up dead, Cal has the right insider knowledge and connections to investigate it without becoming public knowledge, especially because his ex-girlfriend, Athena, is not only a Titan herself but also the daughter of the man who invested T7, Stefan Tonfamecasca. But when a Titan turns up murdered, then even Cal must think differently to find a killer before they strike again.
Titanium Noir is one of those books that comes out of nowhere and smacks you across the mouth. Written in the first person, Cal’s is the only voice, and it is so distinctive and unforgettable the book is impossible to put down. By the end of the first scene, I was already rooting for Cal with his down-to-earth, sarcastic, trash-talking approach to life. He riles the police up because he can, but never so far that things really get out of hand. He is tough when necessary, gentle at other times, insightful, jaded and vulnerable. I was utterly drawn in by him and swept along in his journey.
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.
The story’s second strand is Cal’s relationship with the Titans, especially Athena and her father, Tomas. Obviously, everything is connected; this is a story about a dead Titan, so it makes sense the man who invented T7 appears in it is right, but it also provides us with a deeper look at Cal and why he dislikes the Titans so much. Both storylines combine beautifully, giving us a cleverly crafted story from every angle. Every tale gets in the case takes us closer and closer to the truth without giving away who killed the Titan until right at the very end. As someone who loves crime stories, I was satisfied in all aspects. I can see it as the start of a series, and I would be an immediate devotee, but I would also appreciate it if it remains as a stand-alone; the ending is that good.
Titanium Noir is a really special book full of twists and turns and unforgettable characters. It is well-paced and full of amusing quips or heartbreaking revelations, and it was impossible to put down. Highly recommended.

Nick Harkaway is an ambitious and surprising author and it's always intriguing to see what he's come up with for a new novel. 'Titanium Noir' is a futuristic noir mystery with a hard-bitten sleuth investigating the murder of a superhuman. In Harkaway's near future (probably not more than 2100, although not specifically stated), a treatment has been invented that resets the body clock to puberty, also healing all ailments and injuries. It also makes the person taller and heavier, so the tiny number of super-rich who can afford to undergo it are called 'Titans'.

The hero, Cal Sounder, is a private detective who assists the police with cases involving this lucky minority. He's a likeable protagonist, despite being tough and gritty, and there's plenty of smart mouthed dialogue between him and the various murky characters he operates amongst that is amusing. It's a very readable book, and the length is much less off-putting than that of some of Harkaway's others.

The plot is perhaps less twisting and intricate than in some crime novels, but it did keep me guessing. I wasn't completely satisfied with the resolution but we do at least find out 'whodunnit'. I felt some of the backstory could have done with being fleshed out more, although that would have led to a longer page length when I've already noted relative brevity is one of the book's strengths.

Ultimately this is a really enjoyable read and I'd highly recommend to crime fans who want something a bit different, and likewise science fiction fans looking for the same.

The characters are just so well written and realistic, the tension is built so effectively and you really do have no idea where the storyline is going or what the outcome is going to be! It has the twist, turns and surprises that you'd expect and the plot is constantly moving forward which I loved!

This is an entertaining and enjoyable mash up of science fiction and noir mystery. In a near future society, Cal Sounder is a detective investigating the murder of a genetically enhanced human called a Titan. There are only a few thousand of these Titans worldwide, and Cal has a complicated relationship with the femme fatale daughter of the creator of the genetic program. The violence and darkness of this future world is lightened somewhat by peppy dialogue and dry humor and it works. This is not my normal genre (at least the sci fi part of it), but I found it interesting and could see future books in this series.

Cal Sounder doesn't take any case he gets; he deals with sensitive ones, such as those involving the Titans, members of a near-future society's genetically altered elites. The local homicide squad calls him to investigate the murder of a seemingly average techie. Except, the victim is seven feet tall and despite young looks, is actually ninety years old. Cal takes the case. A dead Titan is big news.

Cal discovers that the murder investigation is more complicated than it appears. It soon becomes obvious that he's pursuing a crime that could unravel the dark mysteries of his society. Murder, betrayal, and revenge await him. Oh, and let's not forget about Stefan Tonfamecasca - the creator of the controversial T7 genetic therapy, which elevated his family to near-godlike status. Cal's love interest and the story's femme fatale, Athena, is Stefan's daughter. Yup. Things get complicated.

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).

While I had a reasonably good time with the story and appreciated both the craft and the imagination on display, I felt somewhat distanced from it. Harkaway's writing becomes quite dense and as impressive as it is, it can detract from the story. Now, I'm sure many readers will appreciate this "literary" layer of the story. For me, it didn't always work.

In all, though, Titanium Noir is an interesting and intelligent noir thriller worth attention and trying.

There's a definite Blade Runner vibe to Titanium Noir, but that's probably only to be expected. It's going to be hard to avoid comparison to a work as influential in the science-fiction world as that when it adopts the style of the noir genre, is futuristic and somewhat nihilistic in outlook. There is still plenty of room for originality here however, particularly for an author like Nick Harkaway, and while there are some obvious and probably unavoidable similarities and correlations with Ridley Scott's influential take on Philip K Dick, Titanium Noir succeeds to some extent in putting its own stamp on the material, or at the very least manages to be a hugely entertaining dark futuristic science-fiction noir thriller.

Cal Sounder is not an official on the police force but a 'specialist' they call upon when it comes to dealing with any crime or incident that involves individuals known as Titans. Much like Rick Deckard when it comes to dealing with escaped off-world replicants. Titans however are actually human, but modified to become, as you might guess, taller than the average person. The reason for that is that, unlike replicants with limited life spans, Titans gain a measure of long life when they are given a dose of Titanium 7, a drug developed by Tonfamescasca (cf. the Tyrell Corporation). The treatment effectively turns the aging clock back, so clients actually start growing again as "new-minted god children", gaining a height sometimes in excess of 7 or 8 feet tall. With additional doses, a Titan can achieve some measure of immortality.

But not invulnerability. Their size and build makes them difficult to harm, but evidently they can be killed or murdered, which is why Cal has been called in to look into the case of Roddy Tebbit, a professor in marine biology, murdered in his apartment. Although he is certainly on the tall side, no-one really suspected that he might be a Titan, as there are not that common. There are only a couple of thousand privileged individuals favoured with this treatment by Tonfamescasca in the whole world. The giveaway here is Roddy's driving licence, found by the police in his apartment where someone has put a .22 derringer against his head, that reveals that he was ninety-one years old.

Although he investigates these are a favour for Stefan Tonfamescasca, Cal has a somewhat conflicted relationship with the owner of the company that produces Titanium 7. On the one hand, he is in love with Athena, the requisite femme fatale who turns up alluringly and mysteriously in his apartment. Cal is in love with but she is a Titan and from the Tonfamescasca family, and as such out of his league, since Cal refuses to take a dose himself. She still exercises a powerful influence on him. Stefan however trusts Cal to keep the record straight with Titan affairs, since the T7 enhancements are expensive and clientele select or pretty much untouchable, which is why the police don't like to get their hands dirty on such cases.

You can run through all the similarities with Blade Runner, like the exotic singer rather than an exotic snake dancer that Cal meets backstage, but like the appearance of a fatman (Doublewide) who plays an ambiguous angle on matters - these conventions are as much typical of the noir genre as they are Blade Runner. What is also part of the package - perhaps the most important aspect certainly as far as the written noir thriller - is the snappy exchanges and witty dialogue, and it's here that Titanium Noir really takes off and shines, and where Nick Harkaway imprints his own character on the genre.

Originality, not so much, but that's to be expected when you are working within the limitations and conventions of the genre. Nonetheless, with Cal's complicated relationship with the police, Athena, Stefan (basically everyone) in addition to the difficulty of wresting information out of reluctant witnesses and dubious characters, there are plenty of opportunities in this particular world of Titans for terse exchanges, mysteries and secrets, frustrations and revelations as Cal tries to find out who killed Roddy Tebbit. And not just who, but why. And, you can be sure that he takes plenty of knocks, bruises and the odd gunshot on the way to a well-managed conclusion in this highly entertaining venture into future noir.