Goodreads helps you keep track of books you want to read.

Start by marking “Gun, With Occasional Music” as Want to Read:

Other editions

Enlarge cover

Rate this book

Clear rating

1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

Open Preview

Gun, With Occasional Music

Jonathan Lethem

3.77 · Rating details · 9,902 ratings · 1,021 reviews

Gumshoe Conrad Metcalf has problems—there's a rabbit in his waiting room and a trigger-happy kangaroo on his tail. Near-future Oakland is a brave new world where evolved animals are members of society, the police monitor citizens by their karma levels, and mind-numbing drugs such as Forgettol and Acceptol are all the rage.
Metcalf has been shadowing Celeste, the wife of an ...more

Get A Copy

Paperback, 271 pages

Published September 1st 2003 by Mariner Books (first published March 1994)

More Details... Edit Details

Friend Reviews

To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up.

Reader Q&A

To ask other readers questions about Gun, With Occasional Music, please sign up.

Be the first to ask a question about Gun, With Occasional Music

Lists with This Book

The Adventures of the Stainless Steel Rat by Harry Harrison

Most Under-rated Science Fiction

1,677 books — 1,787 voters

Best Dystopian and Post-Apocalyptic Fiction

3,506 books — 25,163 voters

More lists with this book...

Community Reviews

Showing 1-30

Average rating 3.77 ·

Rating details

· 9,902 ratings · 1,021 reviews

More filters

Sort order

Start your review of Gun, With Occasional Music

May 26, 2019 Glenn Russell added it

Zooming, fast-paced, hardboiled futuristic thriller with an edge that won’t say quits.

Gun, with Occasional Music - a mix of Raymond Chandler Big Sleep and Philip K. Dick Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, the first novel by Brooklyn born Jonathan Lethem published in 1994 when the author was age thirty. Oh, what some writers would give to have this man’s talent.

The first-person narrator is a private eye by the name of Conrad Metcalf, a tough, handsome chap (what else?) who throw out wisecrack ...more

flag 74 likes · Like · see review

Mar 21, 2011 Dan Schwent rated it really liked it

Shelves: the-survey-monkey-haul, sf, crime-and-mystery, 2011

When down and out private inquisitor Conrad Metcalf's last client turns up dead, Metcalf takes up the case to find out who killed him. Can he find the killer before he runs out of karma and winds up in the deep freeze?

If Raymond Chandler and Philip K. Dick spent an evening together doing hard drugs, this would be the book that would result. Lethem weaves together the sci-fi and noir elements together so tightly that an evolved kangaroo doesn't seem out of place after his first appearance.

The wor ...more

flag 71 likes · Like · see review

Feb 24, 2019 Algernon (Darth Anyan) rated it it was amazing

Shelves: 2019

My name is Conrad Metcalf, and I'm a private inquisitor. You knew that. You read it somewhere and it gave you hope. Let me tell you now that it'll cost you seven hundred dollars a day to keep that hope alive. What you'll get for that money won't be a new best friend. I'm as much of a pain in the ass to the people who pay me as I am to the guys I go up against. Most people walk out of my office knowing things about themselves they didn't want to know – unless they leave after my first little spe ...more

flag 58 likes · Like · see review

Aug 25, 2017 Michael rated it really liked it

The style and voice and plot are pure Raymond Chandler, set in a weird future of talking kangaroos and mind-altering drugs. It's a wild ride that's largely successful, though not as ambitious as other futuristic genre mash-ups (for example, China Mieville's The City and The City), in part because it hews pretty closely to a standard Chandler-esque plot and in part because the futuristic elements aren't quite as developed. Still, there are moments of sheer brilliance here. ...more

flag 56 likes · Like · see review

Sep 01, 2011 Mariel rated it it was ok

Recommends it for: there were only a few flipper babies!

Recommended to Mariel by: I don't acceptol this book please give me some forgettol

Book, with constant boredom. Answers, with no questions. Questions, with no answers on the tips of tongues or inside cheeks (maybe ass cheeks). Music, with no tone. Gun, with no bullets. Who signed off on the license? Déjà vu that reminds of nothing. Is that the appeal of genres to remind of nothing and feel the welcoming coma with dreams that someone else plants there and you wake up before you can see anyone's faces? The eye from that book, the nose from this... "Make me look beautiful!" "But ...more

flag 46 likes · Like · see review

Jan 18, 2020 Forrest rated it really liked it

For the truly sick individuals that pay attention to my meanderings on Goodreads, you'll note that I frequently take notes as I'm reading. Except when I don't. And I didn't, much, while reading this. Why? Because 1) I was too engrossed in the story, 2) things happened so fast that I didn't have time to process them, and 3) I have no good way of actually conveying what I thought as I read.

So, "why", you ask "are you even writing this review, Forrest?" - because: Duty. You see, back in 2017, I vo For the truly sick individuals that pay attention to my meanderings on Goodreads, you'll note that I frequently take notes as I'm reading. Except when I don't. And I didn't, much, while reading this. Why? Because 1) I was too engrossed in the story, 2) things happened so fast that I didn't have time to process them, and 3) I have no good way of actually conveying what I thought as I read.

So, "why", you ask "are you even writing this review, Forrest?" - because: Duty. You see, back in 2017, I vowed to become more intentional in my reading, to really only list on my "to-be-read" list books that I intended to buy and actually read. Because I am a slow reader, that meant cutting that list dramatically, which I have done. But part of being intentional in reading, for me, is reviewing each book, as difficult as it might be, and as craptacular as the review might be. And so, here we are.

I have to thank two of my favorite Goodreaders, Glenn Russell and Dan Schwent, for pointing me towards this genre-blurring novel. I am a big fan of genre-blurring, and I love it when it's done right, and really, really hate it when it's not. Here, Lethem has a winner. When I first read the blurb on the book "Marries Chandler's style and Philip K. Dick's vision," I was intrigued, but wary. I've heard that kind of praise before, and . . .

In this case, the claim is accurate. Take one part Dashiell Hammett, one part Raymond Chandler, one part Philip K. Dick (minus the mysticism), play some Big Bad Voodoo Daddy in the background, do a line of coke, and you are in the zone. The characters are fantastic, especially the narrator, who is as snarky as they get. The setting is caught somewhere between the 1940s and the "future" - honestly, I had something between the movie version of "The Big Sleep" and "Blade Runner" in my head, though the futuristic accouterments were not nearly as pervasive as in Ridley Scott's film. The thing that sets gun, with occasional music apart (besides it's intriguing title, which, you will note, is uncapitalized, at least on the cover) is the way that it interweaves seemingly disparate elements in such a way that they feel perfectly natural. An "uplifted" (not Lethem's term -I'm stealing it from the scifi hive mind) kangaroo as thug, babies who have been genetically accelerated into adulthood (except their heads, hence the term "Babyheads"), and the titular gun, with occasional music, all seem to be of a piece (okay, pun intended - i couldn't help myself, so shoot me). Nothing seems shoehorned in, which is often a shortcoming in such genre-blurring novels. No, this book is as smooth as butter. ...more

flag 27 likes · Like · see review

Apr 17, 2020 Jamie rated it really liked it

A first rate hard boiled detective story that throws in some intriguing elements of speculative fiction to create something special.

Starting out, it could just be another hard boiled detective story about a down and out PI on a murder case involving some sketchy characters and a crime syndicate. Yet, Lethem slowly peels back the layers on a world that grows ever more bizarre. Some of this could be considered window dressing - genetically "evolved" sentient animals and "babyheads"; inanimate obje ...more

flag 21 likes · Like · see review

Feb 23, 2018 Mattia Ravasi rated it it was amazing

Video review

Manages to offer some of the most unforgettable world-building I've ever read without pausing the action for more than a few words at a time. Offers an absurd dystopian future that's just absurd enough to be convincing. Fuses hardboiled with scifi as seamlessly as to be unfair. Rocks. ...more

flag 17 likes · Like · see review

Sep 25, 2007 Rob rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Recommends it for: curious what Neal Stephenson sounds like covering Raymond Chandler?

Shelves: own, science-fiction, 2012, 2008, recommended

In Gun, With Occasional Music, Jonathan Lethem gives us science fiction's worthy successor to Raymond Chandler. Though this is the easy take-home message from nearly every quoted newspaper columnist, book jacket blurb, and miscellaneous reviewer -- they also all happen to be right. Even a cursory familiarity with Chandler's pulp noir will ring through with startling clarity to readers of this novel. The cadence of the narrative, the hard-boiled dialogue, the archetypal characters... Lethem's Con ...more

flag 15 likes · Like · see review

Feb 01, 2021 Ethan rated it liked it

3.5 stars
Review, with occasional words, to come.

flag 14 likes · Like · see review

Oct 07, 2007 Andrew rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Excellent. His style is as cold as Hammett's, and the moral core as strong as Chandler's. And any book that says both "In Los Angeles it's illegal to know what you do for a living" and "Tell him next time he wants to talk to me, don't send a marsupial" should be in everyone's library.

This character develops, is one thing somewhat new: he loses his early self-consciousness about his metaphors, and eventually solidifies enough to end a chapter with the brilliant line: "It was time to stop fucking ...more

flag 14 likes · Like · see review

Feb 17, 2013 Still rated it it was amazing

Recommends it for: readers who enjoy Thomas Pynchon, Raymond Chandler, Norbert Davis, Jack O'Connell, Philip K. Dick

The quotation from Newsweek's review of this novel that appears on the front cover is quite accurate: "Marries Chandler's style and Philip K. Dick's vision".

I was also reminded at times of Jack O' Connell's "Quinsigamond" series of futuristic crime thrillers: Word Made Flesh, Box Nine, Wireless (Quinsigamond #2), and The Skin Palace.

This novel is set in near-future Oakland.
The police investigators are known as "Inquisitors" and if you cross them, you'll have your karma card punched. Your ka ...more

flag 13 likes · Like · see review

Jun 21, 2011 Darwin8u rated it really liked it

Shelves: crime-noir, fiction, 2011, scifi, american

“Sometimes it’s better not to think in questions, but I can’t seem to get out of the habit.”
― Jonathan Lethem, Gun, With Occasional Music

description

Science fiction slams into a hard-boiled, noir pulp (imagine 'Who Framed Roger Rabbit' written by Chandler and directed by David Lynch'). Fun, quick and in parts even close to brilliant. Lethem is one of those writers I'd stamp with "Most Likely To Disappoint Me". He has a ton of potential, but far too often I see that potential sizzle away. Most of that ener ...more

flag 13 likes · Like · see review

Sep 01, 2007 Punk rated it really liked it

Shelves: science-fiction

Sci-fi noir detective story. It's Blade Runner meets Who Framed Roger Rabbit? and exactly as goofy and dark as that sounds.

Conrad Metcalf is our narrator, a Private Inquisitor in a world where direct questions are considered rude and question marks are flashy punctuation. The story's filled with products of evolution therapy: talking kittens and mobster kangaroos, plus the mysterious babyheads -- toddlers with advanced intelligence that hang out in babyhead bars and babble their babyhead talk. I ...more

flag 12 likes · Like · see review

Oct 31, 2020 YouKneeK rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: standalone, science-fiction

The characters in this story mix their own special blends of drugs to give them just what they need to get through life. This book is its own special blend of sub-genres – mostly detective noir with a heavy dash of cyberpunk and a sprinkling of dystopia. I think it was missing some addictol though, because I never had trouble putting it down. I liked it more toward the beginning, but it started getting tedious around the middle. Toward the end things picked back up, but there were things that an The characters in this story mix their own special blends of drugs to give them just what they need to get through life. This book is its own special blend of sub-genres – mostly detective noir with a heavy dash of cyberpunk and a sprinkling of dystopia. I think it was missing some addictol though, because I never had trouble putting it down. I liked it more toward the beginning, but it started getting tedious around the middle. Toward the end things picked back up, but there were things that annoyed me.

I haven’t read tons of them, but I’m not usually a big fan of detective noir. This one has a lot of the inevitable tropes. Some of them were slightly different from the norm, but it felt like the usual anyway. The main character, Metcalf, is a down and out male detective. He has an addiction to drugs. Usually I expect an addiction to alcohol and/or tobacco, but drugs are the thing in this book and they’re available for free because they help keep society under control. Metcalf had the inevitable problematic history with a woman, although in this case that problem was a bit different and moderately amusing. And of course Metcalf was trying to solve a case that nobody wanted him to work on. Very familiar stuff, although the setting itself was a bit outside the norm and I kind of liked the answer to the original murder mystery.

Despite the tropes, I enjoyed it more often than not. Metcalf has a dry sense of humor that appealed to me and provoked a few chuckles, although he was also crude at times. The cyberpunkish dystopian world had a lot of familiar aspects to it also, but it was reasonably interesting and not so overdone as to get on my nerves. (Cyberpunk is another subgenre I don’t usually do well with.) Metcalf’s questioning of various people and the types of things that happened grew repetitive, so that was one issue. If I’m going to read a mystery, I also prefer to see things done more logically and methodically. This was one of those stories where the main character repeatedly goes into things unprepared and figures things out more through dumb luck and intuition than by finding and assembling tangible clues.

Also just a note that my Kindle edition had several OCR errors, mostly in the form of missing or stray punctuation, with just a couple words that appeared to be misprinted because they looked similar to the intended word. It wasn’t the worst I’d ever seen, but a little distracting at times. I bought it on sale from Amazon U.S. in late 2019. ...more

flag 11 likes · Like · see review

Dec 27, 2008 Maureen rated it liked it

Recommends it for: people who like Raymond Chandler

Shelves: novels

somebody lent me this book because they know i love my noir, and the book pays off in that regard but the notion that this is science fiction or a successor to pkd is confusing to me -- the world lethem introduces us to has drugs coming out the wazoo, and there are evolved animals yes, but really? that all seems window dressing, a spin on what is primarily a detective story. lots of what i would consider the speculative elements don't actually seem to go anywhere -- why is text outlawed? what's ...more

flag 10 likes · Like · see review

Jan 11, 2019 Lauren Stoolfire rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Raymond Chandler meets Philip K. Dick? I didn't expect to like this odd near future neo-noir quite so much. If you like Blade Runner, The Big Sleep, and Who Framed Roger Rabbit you'll have to give this trippy novel a try. I'm going to have to read more sci-fi noir and Jonathan Lethem in the future.

...more

flag 10 likes · Like · see review

Apr 21, 2011 Lea rated it it was amazing

Shelves: read-2011, favorites, reviews, acquired-2011, love-the-cover

Sci fi, maybe? Definitely noir. This is one of the most unusual and interesting books I've read . . . maybe ever. The only thing that comes close are the bizarro titles I've read this year, but this has the extra bonus of being three times the length of most of those books.

Conrad Metcalf, PI (Private Inquisitor), lives in a world where conversation is frowned upon, and asking questions is permitted only by professional Inquisitors. Everyone functions by using drugs (Forgettol, Acceptol, etc), an ...more

flag 8 likes · Like · see review

Aug 14, 2015 Eric rated it liked it

Recommends it for: Fans of sci-fi noir

Shelves: audiobooks, science-fiction, detective-mystery, dystopian, book-club

In the same way non-inquisitors are not supposed to ask questions in this novel's setting, readers shouldn't ask too many questions, lest the thin facade Lethem built crash down and reveal his underdeveloped world building. Questions such as how society came to a point with such controlled media, freely available addictive drugs, evolved animals and "babyheads," and yet so few other technological advancements. Altered Carbon takes a similarly noir approach to science fiction, but Richard K. Morg ...more

flag 7 likes · Like · see review

Oct 27, 2008 Mandapants rated it really liked it

"Gun, with Occasional Music" is the best kind of science fiction- you barely know it's science fiction at all. Every aspect of the world Lethem has created is in service of the plot, even the bits that seem overly goofy or derivative at first, not the other way around.

The story is a slab of thick noir starring the every-P.I. Metcaff. Letham casts the heavy as an evolved kangaroo, and his world also features 3-foot tall evolved babies. While this could come off as "Disney Does Noir", there's ver ...more

flag 7 likes · Like · see review

Jun 27, 2015 Paul rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: dystopia-sci-fi-cyberpunk

Gum-shoe Conrad Metcalf is a Private Inquisitor, once an Inquisitor (Police with wide ranging & draconian powers), who consolidate their power to completely control the populace at large. Their powers are such that media is rigidly controlled to the extent that newspapers carry photos only (no text) & even the photos promote the successes of the Inquisitors in keeping order, the cases real & imagined. The populace are further controlled by drugs, free of charge. Although there are variations on Gum-shoe Conrad Metcalf is a Private Inquisitor, once an Inquisitor (Police with wide ranging & draconian powers), who consolidate their power to completely control the populace at large. Their powers are such that media is rigidly controlled to the extent that newspapers carry photos only (no text) & even the photos promote the successes of the Inquisitors in keeping order, the cases real & imagined. The populace are further controlled by drugs, free of charge. Although there are variations on the effects of these drugs, they all have “addictol” as their base, with variations such as “forgetol”, “regretol”, “acceptol” & others to further control & render those addicted malleable & oblivious to the Inquisitors machinations. The same boffins who produce these mind controlling drugs, have made children obsolete & kids are now force grown to adulthood & commonly referred to as “baby-heads”. In addition, the same technology has produced “evolved animals”, able to walk upright & talk. These evolved animals are used as servants & lackeys. Citizens carry a Karma card, with points deducted at the whim of the Inquisitors, for infractions or purely to intimidate. Having a zero rating can get one put on ice, to be defrosted at some indeterminate time in the future. Or not. Some 'inmates' are thawed out & secretly used as mindless slaves, to serve as miners & prostitutes.

***

“I often try to guess a person's karmic level before they even begin talking & I was quickly working up a pretty low estimate for this guy…
He couldn't have been more than twenty-five, but he'd taken a long fall a short time ago. Pieces of the man he'd been were jumbled up with the new guy, the lost soul. My guess was he'd been that better man as recently as a couple of weeks ago.”

***

Metcalf is hired to follow Celeste, the wife of a prominent & influential doctor. When the doctor himself turns up dead, Metcalf finds himself at loggerheads with the law & criminal elements alike.

***

“I wanted to hit her as much as I wanted to fuck her & she probably wanted to be hit as much as she wanted anything.
So I hit her.”

Crikey!

***
This book is my second by Jonathan Lethem. In this books description, it's likened in style to Philip K. Dick meets Raymond Chandler. Dick's vision, Chandler's wit & I would add Dashiell Hammett's hard-boiled aesthetic, with a touch of Orwell's 1984/Animal Farm. It's a witty, satirical blending of Noir, Hard-boiled mystery & Sci-Fi & one of the most innovative & original books it's been my pleasure to read this year, in this genera or any other.

An easy & ecstatic 5 stars from this reader. Highly recommended.

...more

flag 6 likes · Like · see review

Sep 29, 2016 Leo Walsh rated it liked it

I've never read Jonathan Lethem. He gets great accolades, and has a new book out. So while waiting for my library to buy his new book, I pulled "Guns With Occasional Music" down from the shelf. It read like a Sam Spade, so I decided to check it out. I'm glad I did. The story was a good, hard-boiled detective tale.

My problem with the book were varied. The big one was some silly science fiction concepts that, to me, made no sense. For instance, there are scientifically altered "evolved" kangaroos, I've never read Jonathan Lethem. He gets great accolades, and has a new book out. So while waiting for my library to buy his new book, I pulled "Guns With Occasional Music" down from the shelf. It read like a Sam Spade, so I decided to check it out. I'm glad I did. The story was a good, hard-boiled detective tale.

My problem with the book were varied. The big one was some silly science fiction concepts that, to me, made no sense. For instance, there are scientifically altered "evolved" kangaroos, apes and cats. And instead of having normal children, people have "baby heads." I was like. "Why in the heck would anyone devote their lives to making an "evolved" sheep? Makes no sense. Another science fiction thing that makes no sense is their using cryogenic freezing to "punish" criminals. Instead of going to jail, you'd be frozen-off for a few years and then thawed and released after your sentence had been served. Which does not seem to be a deterrent to crime.

On the upside, the main character, Conrad Metcalf, a Private "Inquisitor," is a man of firm moral convictions that is hell-bent on finding the truth. Even when he runs up against a conspiracy among the higher-ups of the real police -- AKA Inquisitors -- he charges on, knowing full well that his course was dangerous.

Sure Metcalf has flaws. He's a drug addict. And he's too much a lone wolf to be a family man. And, true to detective noir form, he ends up slapping the femme fatale -- no matter how I cut it, a physically stronger man abusing women doesn't sit will with me. Even in fiction. But unlike the other Inquisitors in the story, at least Metcalf hunts for the truth until the bitter end.

So I'm divided on the book. Its a great postmodern homage to hard-boiled noir. But a lot of the science fiction goofiness made me feel I was in a Stephen Wright monologue where he apres Chandler. Which works for Wright, who wants some yucks. But it wears thin over a 270 page story. Especially in the context of an extended, well-thought-out, often realistic and gritty murder mystery

Three stars. But since it turns out that this is Lethem's debut novel, does hint at his successful career. Because the guy's got chops. ...more

flag 6 likes · Like · see review

Jul 06, 2014 Penny rated it really liked it

Shelves: science-fiction, scifi-fantasy-club-2014challenge, bookclub, scifi-and-fantasy-club-bookshelf, award-winner, locus-award, dystopia, noir

I see now what all the fuss is about. This is a fantastic book. The writing style blew me away. I really enjoyed it and found the humour particularly brilliant. The dystopian world Jonathan Lethem builds is presented so casually and is actually one of the most terrifying I've ever read of. Sure, many aspects of this world have been in other books, but not quite like this. And there's just something about how this is written that makes you laugh while a chill runs down your spine. It's really rat ...more

flag 6 likes · Like · see review

Aug 15, 2011 Craig rated it it was ok

I wanted to like this book, I really did. A nice little mixture of the standard down-on-his-luck detective story and the dystopian science fiction future setting, with some humor mixed in - what's not to like, right? Sadly, it turns out there isn't much I can say for it. Lethem gives us this cobbled-together society with evolved animals, "evolved" babies, this wonderful mixture of government-issue chemicals that pretty much everyone imbibes with regularity, and a karma-tracking system - but why? ...more

flag 5 likes · Like · see review

May 20, 2012 sologdin rated it it was ok

Shelves: burns-like-cold-iron, nerd-boiled, loves-big-brother

Like Morgan's Takeshi Kovacs, this is detective story set in scifi setting with some dystopian flavor (all descendent of Asimov's Baley-Olivaw)--that makes it part of the nerd-boiled sub-genre.

I suppose nerd-boiled fiction isn't really for me. It's got some cool ideas (articulate animals & infants, lotsa creative narcotics, Hindu ideas for law enforcement), but generally it appears that it solves dystopian fiction's universal problem of slick setting/stupid story by superimposing the standard de ...more

flag 5 likes · Like · see review

May 14, 2010 Kirsten rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: my-kindle, bc-weird-fiction

I read this as part of my challenge to Read Around the World as documented in my blog: http://highlanddrive.blogspot.com/

This time I went to Oakland, California (where I was born!)

This, I think, is not the Oakland of my birth. It's an Oakland where you need a license to ask other people questions. It's an Oakland where drugs are not only legal, but de rigeur. It's an Oakland were "evolution therapy" has made not only intelligent animals, but also intelligent toddlers, or "babyheads". (Very cree ...more

flag 5 likes · Like · see review

Apr 09, 2010 Amanda rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

HOLY WOW! what a great book! Maybe not 5 stars but most definitely a solid 4 and a half. Don't have the time to expand on that right now but if you like weird, original noir like nothing else you've ever read, then pick this one up! So happy i already have another of his books, Amnesia Moon, which i'll be enjoying very soon! ...more

flag 5 likes · Like · see review

Jul 28, 2017 seb smith rated it it was ok

Shelves: sci-fi

I can tell when an author doesn't care about sci-fi but uses it as a setting for some edgy reason. I can also tell when an author doesn't care about women. Both are true for this book. ...more

flag 5 likes · Like · see review

Aug 03, 2009 Richard rated it liked it

Recommended to Richard by: Borderlands-Books.com

Shelves: scifi-fantasy, bookclub, california, bizarre, san-francisco

This is a fun and quick read. But in the days after I finished it, I found that my impression took a bit of a dip as I pondered it, and it lost its four-star rating in the process.

But first, a curiosity: this is the second off-beat mystery novel set in Oakland that I've read recently. The other one, Swing: A Mystery by Rupert Holmes, isn't SciFi at all, but also involves a musical theme which is even more central to the plot.

As the blurb and other reviews have remarked, Gun, with Occasional ...more

flag 4 likes · Like · see review

Jul 29, 2011 Jason rated it it was amazing

Shelves: read-2011

5 stars for me

I sat down with my old trustee Sony reader, ready to break dawn with the start of a new book. A new weird detective noir novel, think Dick Tracy set in an alt future. You have guns and bad guys, some music too, but you also have drugs galore and a cast that consists of a talking sheep, a crotchedy old detective ape, some evolved kitties and babies and a strong armed, short tempered kangaroo named Joey Castle. It is a murder mystery that is told in the first person by our protagoni 5 stars for me

I sat down with my old trustee Sony reader, ready to break dawn with the start of a new book. A new weird detective noir novel, think Dick Tracy set in an alt future. You have guns and bad guys, some music too, but you also have drugs galore and a cast that consists of a talking sheep, a crotchedy old detective ape, some evolved kitties and babies and a strong armed, short tempered kangaroo named Joey Castle. It is a murder mystery that is told in the first person by our protagonist Conrad Metcalf.

I queued the music, an old Aphex Twin album to set the mood, piped straight through to my cerebral cortex via my buds. With the snares a blazing I grabbed my newest drug of choice, a new type of a bold and dark K-cup, guaranteed to get your senses tingling.

I had that feeling again, one which has seemed to come on more and more as I tip over the top of the 40 year old hill that is my life. I let myself fall into rhythm with the music. The notes permeate my nerve endings and set them a tingling, and the aroma of my Joe fills my head as the words of this thriller assail my conscience. I lose all sense of time. Wow, I realize what a slave to my eReader I have become while reading wonderful dark noir type thrillers that are mashed up with my love of science fiction and the new weird.

"So I showered and shaved and got my gums bleeding with a toothbrush, then stumbled into the kitchen to cauterize the wounds with some scalding coffee. The mirror was still out, with fat, half-snorted lines of my blend stretching across it like double-jointed white fingers."

"Standing in the doorway was the evolved kangaroo I'd seen in the bar of the Vistamount. He was wearing a canvas jacket with a tight elastic waistband, and his paws were tucked into his pockets."

This detective noir novel that Jonathan Lethem has created is my favorite cup of tea(yes I do drink tea too!). He has spun a gumshoe character in Metcalf that comes across as being smart and in control while at the same time he shows his flaws, to which some might find him to be pathetic and a loser. The side cast is a fun bunch of unusual characters that fit right in with any new weird novel out today.

This book does have a few problems. The pacing is uneven, our hero is too unreliable a narrator to get all the real answers, and the book is simply too short. I really would have liked an additional 100 pages.

If you are a detective noir fan that does not mind a crazy science fiction inspired world, this one is for you. I have finally found a friend for John Finch (from Finch by Jeff Vandermeer) in Conrad Metcalf. I love the genre and I loved this book!!!!!! ...more

flag 4 likes · Like · see review

« previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 … next »

new topic
Discuss This Book

topics	posts	views	last activity
Play Book Tag: Gun with Occasional Music by Jonathan Lethem - 3 stars	1	9	Nov 28, 2018 02:27PM
Pulp Fiction: October 2017 - Gun with Occasional Music	16	31	Oct 25, 2017 03:08AM
Goodreads Librari...: Missing ISBN 13 and binding	2	13	Sep 17, 2015 04:47AM
SciFi and Fantasy...: "Gun, with Occasional Music" - Over and Out spoilers	19	57	Aug 31, 2014 08:06PM
SciFi and Fantasy...: "Gun, with Occasional Music" First Impressions No Spoilers	40	271	Aug 26, 2014 04:12PM

Readers also enjoyed

See similar books…

Genres

Fiction

332 users

Science Fiction

272 users

Mystery

208 users

Mystery > Noir

107 users

Mystery > Crime

81 users

Fantasy

50 users

Science Fiction > Dystopia

41 users

Mystery > Detective

40 users

Speculative Fiction

35 users

Novels

33 users

See top shelves…

About Jonathan Lethem

Jonathan Lethem

2,151 followers

Jonathan Allen Lethem (born February 19, 1964) is an American novelist, essayist and short story writer.

His first novel, Gun, with Occasional Music, a genre work that mixed elements of science fiction and detective fiction, was published in 1994. It was followed by three more science fiction novels. In 1999, Lethem published Motherless Brooklyn, a National Book Critics Circle Award-winning novel t ...more