I have read hardboiled crime novels off and on for most of my life. I think my love for pulp was started with seeing Pulp Fiction in the theater when I was still in high school. It began an obsession with all things pulp. I read the Mammoth Book of Pulp Fiction, and this lead me to so many great authors, particularly Jim Thompson. I loved his stories and I read most of his books in the late 90s (when Vintage Black Lizard released his catalog). Hard Case Crime started publishing new and lost crime novels in 2004, and they had a subscription service, so I had years of getting every one of their crime novels. Pulp fiction, crime novels, noir novels, whatever you want to call them usually center around a clever detective that might have a drinking problem but definitely has problems with the police, even when they are on the squad, have been a part of my life for thirty years. Titanium Noir is a new novel by Nick Harkaway that captures the spirit of the long tradition of the crime novel, with his own twist.

The novel starts with the death of a Roddy Tebbit, a pretty nerdy and neat guy who also happens to be a Titan. Titans are those who have grown big and strong after the use of T7 genetic therapy. T7 and being a Titan equates with the fountain of youth, those who will live for hundreds of years. The side effects are growth, stronger, larger bones, height and strength, and they are hard to murder. It is also known as a therapy for the rich. Tebbit does not present as the type of person who was a candidate for T7 therapy so not only is the investigation about Tebbit’s murder, but it is also about how he was a Titan in the first place.

Cal Sounder is called into this sensitive case. His character is a homage to a long tradition of hard-boiled, quick-witted detectives. Harkaway does a great job with Cal, molding him into the traditional noir detective: a fast thinker, a bit of a smartass, and a lover of women who also gets beaten to a pulp by those people he is trying to track down, usually more than once. Sounder puts his life on the line more than once to solve this case, and like all paperback detectives, the risks and pain pays off.

Titanium Noir is fast paced, action packed, and fun to read. Even with the genetic modifications aspects thrown in, the story really hums along at a pace that makes it easy and satisfying to read. Most of Harkaway’s novels are long and deeply involved, so at 250 pages, Titanium Noir is a nice change of pace, and definitely a novel worthy of being a starting place for anyone interested in Harkaway’s work.

I received this as an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

What happens when a Titan gets murdered? What is a Titan? Part murder mystery, part science fiction send up, mixed with a dose of literary fiction. If you've read Tigerman, you'll get the gist.

Folks, I bamboozled myself. A book sauntered its way into my smoke filled office, almost spilling out of its dress. There was a look in its eyes, one of deep need, tinted with a mysterious vengeance. I poured the book and myself a drink. We both needed one. Theirs was for the hard days of the past. Myself, well, I figured hard days lay ahead, so I might as well get started. And that’s when the book laid it all out for me, the case itself. It was hard to pass up, they dressed it up nicely. A lower page count, a page turning narrative inked in compelling prose… how could I refuse? And that’s when I was finally able to peek at the file, Titanium Noir, by Nick Harkaway.

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.

Before I start diving into the nitty gritty, I want to state that my experience with hard-boiled detective novels is very slim. It’s not a dame I tend to dance with, as its reputation precedes it. I find myself flipping my sign to the closed side any time their shadow darkens my frost tinted glass door. That’s not to say a few convinced me to take on their case with a few sob stories here and there. Everyone familiar with this sorry lot has heard The Maltese Falcon’s story, and I perchance have let a few of the more fantastical cats into my office and poured them a stiff drink. So you see, if you’re looking for a detailed rap sheet on Titanium Noir, hoping I’d give the all clear on its intentions, well, I’m just not that well equipped.

But, I believe that since I did follow through, I should warn you that darkness lay ahead, and its shadow swallows what little light chooses to grace this godforsaken city. Sounder is a straight shooter, except for when he isn’t. The man is a real pain in the ass, the kind that just decides to do his job without really digging too deep. Sure he acts all suspicious, and will even lay out the case to you with skepticism, but it always feels like a cynical ploy. I call that hedging one’s bets, and let me tell you, the house always wins. He skulks around, playing the fence as if he hasn’t already made a choice, his gruffness acts a shield for inquiry. What should be a self deprecating honesty comes off as an excuse. Which would really make him interesting if I truly gave a damn about his plight, which he made damn sure I didn’t.

Now Harkaway, that’s Sounder’s biographer mind you, he has a knack for the literary. It adds a bit of a bitter, atmospheric panache to Sounder’s admittedly boring thoughts. It’s not what one might call artful, but it certainly hooked me. Without Harkaway’s colorful rendition of Sounder’s case, the story would be a bit dull. A man amongst the elite is killed, a special investigator is brought in, the case ruffles some feathers and brings to light some old grudges and history amongst the city’s titanic elite. There are dust ups, and they’re all given a flair, but after a while it just starts to wear down on you, or at least it did me. It just leaned a little too casually on the hard stuff for my delicate tastes. The classic down on his luck, fists up against the world, private eye lingo and stream of consciousness just became a chore. Now, any good cop would avoid the paperwork, but Harkaway really added to the case files this time and I don’t get paid overtime. It felt a tad bit stretched, even at its paltry 256 pages.

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.

Now I’ve played coy, but really I did not have a good time with this book, even though I found myself entertained at its clever employment of drudgery. Sure there is some tragedy involved, but there are also just some plain old ugly holdovers from the genre. The sexism isn’t rampant, but pulls the spotlight to itself in weird ways. It seems to try to add a little critique to the genre, while nearly doubling down on some of its misogynistic tendencies. It’s not egregious, but it’s one of those things that once you see it, it’s hard to trick the light into hiding it again. The red herrings are few, and the story tries to keep itself moving by providing weird unrelated action sequences. These sequences serve two main purposes, to build out the world, and to make Sounder look cool, collected and worthy of survival within this hellscape. They aren’t particularly eye opening, and only made me less sympathetic to Sounder’s journey. Ultimately, it just felt like wasted potential from someone who has some pretty good writing chops and strong genre sensibilities. You might find some joy in reading the book as a character piece of the man named Cal Sounder, but even still, you might be able to guess where it’s headed. For me, it’s time to hang my hat and take a much needed vacation, maybe quit the drink for a little while.

Rating: Titanium Noir – 4.0/10
-Alex

An ARC of this book was provided to me by the publisher in exchange for an honest review. The thoughts on this book are my own.

Love the combination of scifi and the grimey noir detective vibe! I love how consistent the narrator was and the events that unfolded were engaging. I would recommend to those who love mystery series but with a little bit of future dystopia element!

This is a really good futuristic special affiliation detective story along the lines of Altered Carbon. Here though, the special drug formula remade people are uber wealthy called then Titans after transformation. These people are literally regenerated into giants due to the process. Cal is our liaison consultant to the police guy, somewhat jaded, on the edge & working with cops on special cases concerning Titans. And with a mouth & personality where many of them would like to smash him in the face, so tones of old school noir everyone loves. I adore the way that the author writes him & a notable woud have to be this line here:" "you can sleep on the couch" like I was expecting top & tail with them. " this is a fast paced enjoyable thriller.

In the nearish future, science has created true giants. Typically financial or political giants can reverse the aging process but a side effect is extreme growth in body mass - not everyone sees this a negative side effect. They are the new untouchables and when a crime is committed involving one of these Titans, Cal Sounder is called in. He is a private detective of sorts who consults often with the local police. A Titan, who doesn't fit the typical Titan profile, Sounder finds himself tumbling down the rabbit hole of secrets that only power can cover up.

Titanium Noir is billed as "a virtuosic mash-up of Philip K. Dick and Raymond Chandler by way of Marvel". While I've not read Raymond Chandler, I agree with the rest of the statement. I also saw influences of Michael Chabon - my post-apocalyptic book club recently read The Yiddish Policeman's Union so that was fresh in my mind.

This wasn't my typical read. I'm also in a mystery book club and we have been trying different subgenres and I was drawn to the Noir in the title. I'm not sure I particularly like the grittiness of the noir genre but I'm sampling different types to see if it grows on me.

Titanium Noir definitely has a dark, seedy quality - made me think of Gotham. But there seemed to be a gleam of metallic underneath.

I liked Cal Sounder. He is the typical noir protagonist - he has his own moral code as he works in the gray areas of society. While he isn't afraid to dabble on the illegal side of things he is overall a good guy - he's just trying to find justice any way he can.

The mystery was okay. I didn't really get invested in the storyline. There seemed to be missed opportunities for building suspense. There are a lot of unknowns and a few twists, but I felt like I was outside the story and I like to be pulled into the story. I think this is what I don't like about noir - there is little emotional connection to the story.

Overall, it was well-written and enjoyable. If you are a fan of noir then you will love this novel. It did set up things for a continued series, but easily this could be a stand-alone novel.

My review is published at Girl Who Reads - https://www.girl-who-reads.com/2023/05/titanium-noir-by-nick-harkaway-review.html

A Titan has been murdered, and that almost never happens. Titans are genetically enhanced humans who extend their lives with successive enhancements, becoming larger each time. (It’s a little disappointing that they don’t seem to become smarter, more creative or more useful human beings, but that would be a different book.) Cal Sounder has been called to assist the police investigation. His role is complicated by the fact that his ex-girlfriend is a Titan and her father is a big deal in Titan world. The book is fast paced and there is a really trippy twist to the plot.

I enjoy the combination of science fiction with noir, but this book was less noir than I was expecting (and when you compare a book to Philip K Dick, you need to get more weird). My opinion was probably influenced by the fact that I listened to the audiobook and the narrator didn’t have the combination of ennui and grit usually found in the genre. To be fair, the character of Sounder was also pretty lackluster as written. However, there is room at the end of the book for a sequel and it’s possible that he could become more interesting.

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

When a university professor who had received life extending treatments that have side effects making the recipient bigger and stronger Cal Sounder is called in to help the police. Navigating his way through a seamy underworld of crime and corruption as well as through the high society of people wealthy enough to become giants living long beyond the human life span Cal uses his street smarts and acute reasoning skills to discover who was involved and why. I would definitely recommend it to readers of Drunk on All Your Strange New Words by Eddie Robson and The Spare Man by Mary Robinette Kowal who like mystery mixed with science fiction involving intelligent, astute sleuths.

It is a great combination of good old fashioned noir and bio science fiction.

Titanium Noir was the first novel I'd read by Nick Harkaway, and I'll definitely be reading more. It's perfection. A noir mystery in a dystopian future, it follows investigator Cal as he looks into the death of a Titan--the nickname given to the fabulously wealthy and nearly immortal. It reminded me in all the good ways of Altered Carbon, but it's fresh and original and beautiful. I can't recommend it enough.

Many thanks to NetGalley, Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage, and Anchor for providing me with an eARC of Titanium Noir in exchange for my honest review!

I was quite intrigued by the premise's blending of sci-fi and noir fiction, but this turned out to be the kind of book that I'm feeling very tepid towards. It's too bad, because the worldbuilding that this creates around the Titans and the gritty atmosphere it sets up do engage me. But I just couldn't get all that invested in the story and the characters. It didn't help that the complicated plotting made it somewhat difficult for me to keep track of what's happening (if you were to ask me to describe the plot beats, I wouldn't be able to tell you half of them). That being said, I was interested enough by the potential here that I'd be up for checking out more of Nick Harkaway's work.

Overall, I'm officially rating Titanium Noir 2.5 out of 5 stars, with 2 stars being the rounded-down score.

This intriguing, highly original, grabbing sci-fi murder mystery plunges you into a future Earth where a pharma company has come up with the ultimate fountain-of-youth genetic therapy shot, which naturally only can be afforded by billionaires or close relatives of the CEO founder. These souped-up, bulked-up, towering humans can live for centuries, and even longer with additional shots. They’re keeping the number of so-called Titans low, to ensure maximum power, maximum wealth accumulation, and elitism, and have come to look at the rest of humanity as mere mortals of little worth or consequence.

Bridging the world of the uber-Titans and the rest of humanity comes Cal Sounder, a private investigator working with the police on criminal incidents that involve Titans. Cal has managed to work in both worlds due to his long-standing girlfriend Athena, a daughter of the Tonfamecasca family who founded the T7 therapy and who got turned into a Titan herself to keep her from dying.

The novel opens with a dead Titan lying in his apartment in a pool of blood, and Cal assigned to figure out just what the heck could possibly have happened that resulted in a Titan murder. Cal has to summon up all his connections across the city along with all his wits to start making connections. He also unexpectently finds himself in mortal danger due to his investigation. With humor, amazing characterizations, and unexpected plot twists, this book is fantastic.

So hoping that Harkaway comes up with new challenges for Cal to tackle in future sequences!

Thanks to Knopf and Netgalley for an advanced reader’s copy of this book.

Titanium Noir reminded me of a legal thriller I enjoyed a few months ago, so I was eager to give this one a read. This follows a specialized detective who only deals with cases involving individuals called Titans, very wealthy people who can afford a certain treatment that will make them bigger, stronger, and live longer. In this one, a Titan has been murdered and it’s Cal’s job to figure out who killed him. This leads him all over the city and straight into a ghost story that may or may not be true, as well as some history of how Titans came to be.

Honestly, I think the idea of this story was more interesting than the actual execution. I liked Cal. He was a fantastic character to follow with a really fun voice. He’s very much a rough and tumble kind of guy, but there was a softer side to him that I liked when it came out. It made him feel a little more human. I also really liked how the Titans were characterized. I still can’t really fathom how big these Titans must have been, but the ones Cal came across were interesting, from the giant of a man who holds all the power to the one who was murdered who had an interesting history. I liked that there were pros and cons to the procedure, and that there’s always a cost. At the beginning of the story, I was really engaged with what was going on and trying to figure out who killed the Titan. I loved the noir feel to it, and I think I would have liked this more if it hadn’t derailed a bit.

At some point in the second half, Cal is told a version of a ghost story. It’s a story of how the Titan gene was discovered. Then he’s told another version. And I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s another one I’m forgetting about. I feel like he went from finding the Titan’s killer to figuring out the truth behind the ghost story. It was disappointing and I found the story dragged from that point on. I was no longer invested in who killed the Titan, which was the primary reason why I wanted to read this, because no one else felt interested until the very end.

Titanium Noir really took the noir-style and held tight to it. I loved the feel of the story, but the story itself felt like it couldn’t compare with the main character. Actually, I felt like the story failed him because Cal could have been incredible in an incredible story. Instead, I felt like he spent part of the story just chasing this ghost story and another part just chasing his tail, because he only felt like he was going in circles that only sometimes changed direction.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a review copy. All opinions expressed are my own.

A murder-mystery that needs to be solved by a gumshoe detective, but in a near-future techno/cyber world? Yes, sign me up! A wonderfully structured plausible society built on the techno have/have nots. Good set up, great characters and a satisfying conclusion.

Thanks to Knopf and NetGalley for an ARC of this title.

Tapping out at ~40% on this one. I read Gnomon when it came out and found it to be right in my wheelhouse in terms of genre/playfulness, but a little frustrating/too clever for its own good. With that in mind, I was interested to read another book by Harkaway that was more concise and focused, but it turns out something about all the noir flavoring here really just isn't my thing. Perhaps it will be yours!

Titanium Noir brings together two of my favorite genres, Mystery and SciFi. In Nick Harkaway's skillful hands, the story of murder and mayhem joined with Science Fiction/futuristic villainy produces a story that pulls the reader along at speed until the satisfying ending.

This book was just a delight to read. Sharp, funny and so snarky. I love noir and this is definitely noir mixed with super heroes. These Titans are definitely more The Boys than Superman and that is perfect too. I'm kind of thinking this is a one-off, which is a shame because I would love to spend more time with these characters. Highly recommend.

If there’s one fusion of genres I’ve come to appreciate a great deal in the last couple of years it’s science fiction and noir. It’s not a new genre, having roots going back 30+ years, but it’s new to me. The first novel I read with this kind of flavor to it was last year’s The Paradox Hotel, which I absolutely couldn’t put down (just like this book), rated five stars (just like this book), and which occupies a well-deserved spot on my crowded bookshelves (which this book does as well, thanks to Knopf and Penguin Random House). There’s something about the cold, implacable march of science with its empirical laws and rules of evidence and the cool, calm facade of a detective who has their own laws and rules of evidence to follow that simply creates a fascinating, mutually beneficial relationship that can result in some of the most fascinating stories about the human condition. Titanium Noir is a story that has a lot of story to tell and most of it isn’t pretty, but all of it is about some kind of love.

No noir novel is complete without a socioeconomic divide (in this case, a river and lake divide one side from the other–the rich and the not-rich). In the world of Titanium Noir, money doesn’t only mean you live in nicer houses and have better healthcare. It also means you might just make enough money to become a Titan. Not a titan of industry, but one of a select number of people who can afford to be injected with a genetic therapy formula called T7, which will rewind and repair all damage time or injury has inflicted on you. A literal bodily reset. The monetary cost is astronomical. Changes to your body? Yeah, there’s some of those too. You won’t ever be the same again and people will never look at you the same way again. You’re a Titan now, and there’s power in merely being you. The power exchange is too great to overcome now.

Our protagonist, Cal Sounder, is a private detective on paper. In reality, he walks the thin line between the police and the Titans. He looks into things on the Titan’s side of the fence for the police from time to time and he looks into things on the poorer side of town for the Titans from time to time. This time around, he’s been retained by the police as a consultant on a case a little too hot for them to handle: A Titan has been murdered.

The worldbuilding in this book is simply great. Take the gritty, icy streets of Chicago in winter and marry it to the neon city you’d see in an anime like Ghost in the Shell or Akira, and that’s the feel I got from the book. Crazy nightclubs, dirty dive bars, weird socialist social clubs, fusion restaurants, an elite university, a multinational conglomerate, apartment buildings, and a pig farm. This book visits a great many locales, all different from one another and fascinating in their own way given the landscape.

Cal has that same cool, implacable facade of a practiced detective, but with far more leeway than a badge. His morals are a lot more flexible, too. That’s why he’s good at his job. He’s an enigmatic and charismatic character. He’s far more than he seems and capable of far more than you’d be able to discern, but it’s not until the book puts him into a situation that you get to see that Cal Sounder is a man of quick reflexes, wit, resources, and more. He has the trademark cynicism and wariness that comes from being surrounded by criminals and death as a profession, but he has one bright thing in his life and he keeps going, knowing she’s still around and waiting.

The dialogue in this book is amazing. It’s all over the place in tone, just like human conversation should be, but you can read the shifts in tone as if they were being spoken and not written. It has razor-sharp wit, barbed sarcasm, tired musings over cups of bitter coffee, weary late-night conversations, exasperated arguments in hallways and alleyways, demented and dislocated words and phrases uttered under pain and duress, words softly spoken by soft lamplight in the late hours, and pessimistic rants from exhausted cops expressed at all hours of night and day.

The plot is engrossing from the start, leaving the book an absolute page-turner you can’t put down. It absolutely feels like you can’t stop reading, because you never know when something bonkers, bloody, revelatory, or just plain interesting is going to happen. The book just keeps moving because Cal just keeps on moving. Unless he’s hurt. Then he stops for a minute.

The ending might surprise you. It might not. I loved the ending, even though I guessed who the killer was. Keep in mind that the ending and the killer are two separate things. This is a story about love, after all. It’s just about different kinds of love. The killer and the ending are not about the same kinds of love. No matter what, though, this book is absolutely a killer read.

I was provided a copy of this title by NetGalley and the author. I also received a physical early review copy of this book from Knopf and Penguin Random House as part of their influencer program (thank you). All opinions, thoughts, views, and ideas expressed herein are mine and mine alone. Thank you.

File Under: 5 Star Read/Crime Fiction/Crime Thriller/Dystopian Fiction/Murder Thriller/Mystery/Noir/Science Fiction

This is one of the best genre busting stories I've read in quite awhile. scifi, fantasy, thriller, fiction, whatever you want to call it, it's a great read. Nick Harkaway definitely gives us the noir part, it reads as one of the older detective novels, but with some very modern twists and turns. The development of the Titans is a unique take on the upper class' attitudes with quite a bit of snark thrown in for good measure. The community and supporting characters each add a distinctive "something" to the story, a sure sign of a skillful writer who knows how to get us hooked. His work is definitely different from anyone else. See for yourself.....

Utterly fantastic! Futuristic gumshoe with ultra rich, power hungry giants, a seedy underground, and a tender romantic tangle. It started a little slow for me, but took off with a bang and I couldn't get through it fast enough.

This book was a fantastic mix of sci-fi and mystery. I really enjoyed the world building and the characters were entertaining.

I love that we learn about the world through Cal Sounder's investigation into what happened to Roddy. It was a great way to introduce the world slowly without getting bogged down in details early on. I also appreciated the social commentary on the wealth and class gaps. Cal's sarcasm and banter made the book for me. The ending was a little predictable but there were a lot of enjoyable twists to get there.

I'd definitely recommend this book to sci-fi fans looking for a detective story.