Gun Machine

This is not Woody Allen's Manhattan.

I read the first half of this in one night, staying up late reading for the first time in a long time. I'm enjoying this one much more than Crooked Little Vein. The strengths of the book include how the history of Manhattan island plays into things (as well as the history of guns) and the dual(-ish) narrator structure, where we get some direct insight into both the cop and the criminal.

The negatives are mostly personal, for me–the protagonist sounds too much, to me, like Warren-Ellis-as-a-cop, running around with his “tablet device, e-reader and portable wifi”, for one thing; also, the supporting characters talk a lot like the supporting characters in, say, Transmet. But these are small, small negatives, as I not only like the way his supporting characters often talk, but also kind of like the idea of Ellis as a cop, running around Manhattan.

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Finished this up in a few days, and it has a very satisfying ending, with some wonderful (if sparse) character development. I'm hoping we get to follow Detective Tallow around again...

I liked it. it got slow once or twice but otherwise moved right along. It definitely felt like it could be a movie.

Great Ellis story telling. The research is all there on the page. There is plenty of his trademark over-the-top description of horrible things. Its introduced cleverly but if you've read Ellis you know its him as soon as you read it.

This is a great read – think of it as the love child of a [a:Michael Connelly 12470 Michael Connelly http://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1202588562p2/12470.jpg] novel and a [a:William Gibson 9226 William Gibson http://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1282769227p2/9226.jpg] novel. If that's the kind of thing that appeals to you, go grab this now. If not, well, you should grab it anyway, just so you can see how wrong you are.I can't think of anything to say about this book without spoiling anything not already on the jacket. Nearly perfect from cover to cover – there was one too-good-to-be-true coincidence that provided the necessary bit of information at just the right time. But that can be forgiven, given the way it worked out.This is my first novel by Ellis, won't be my last.

An unusual, zippy detective story written with a light touch. Ordinarily, it would be enough for me to give it four stars. But this is Warren Ellis we're talking about. I'm not reading it for a “light touch”. I want something with his fingerprints all over it. Good, but not as good as I'd hoped it would be.