Nocturne For A Dangerous Man

by Marc Matz

Gavilan Robie was a man who lived a very private life--under any of a number of names and faces, many of whom had acquaintances and friends--but only a very few people were acquaintances of Gavilan Robie. Robie was a hunter, once a member of the clandestine Action Rescue Commitee, now freelance. And when he's hired by a powerful multi-national corporation to find an employee kidnapped by terrorists, he finds himself in over his head. He will need every trick he's picked up during years of covert ops just to survive.

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction, Thriller

480 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published July 1, 1999

Reviews

[Peter Tillman · Rating 4 out of 5]

While Nocturne is unquestionably SF, Matz's "dangerous man" reminds me more of classic noir detectives like Ross Macdonald's Lew Archer & John D. MacDonald's Travis McGee. Stir in a dollop of Wire Paladin and you have Gavilan Robie: a near-future P.I., now a specialist in the recovery of stolen art, but a man with a darker history of dangerous 'recoveries'. Between cases, or when tension mounts, he relaxes by playing his Guarneri cello, a gift from a grateful client after a particularly hairy rescue.

Robie is asked to 'recover' Siv Matthiessin,who's been kidnapped by an eco-terrorist group that is demanding an enormous ransom and an end to her employer's Congo Basin construction project. Robie seems to offer her only chance of surviving her ordeal, in a future that's grown warmer, darker, meaner....

This is a book that worked really well while I was reading it, but won't stand up to much post-reading poking-about. In particular, hero Robie is just too omni-competent to be real. But superman power-fantasies are an honorable SF tradition, and Nocturne is a fine and absorbing entertainment. I'm looking forward to Matz's next.

Don't be put off by the lurid cover, which has virtually nothing to do with the book...

[brian dean · Rating 3 out of 5]

Most of this book is a police procedural. The hero tracks a terrorist group by tracing the industrial-espionage organizations that are funding them in order to rescue a highly valuable hostage.
The other part deals with the baggage the hero carries - heavy, deep and meaningful baggage that doesn't stop him from being just about perfect. He is not the single best martial artist in the world but among the best. He is a master musician and highly knowledgeable about any art form. He is remarkably wealthy and drinks only the finest booze. His friends are all highly skilled, capable and perfectly loyal to him. Although entirely independent of the contemporary mafia groups, he has their respect and assistance when he needs it.

It gets to be a bit much.

Still, the description of the future seems very realistic and the hints of the greater world and the disasters it has faced were engrossing.

A good read but more serious than it needed to be.

[Nathan Avery · Rating 4 out of 5]

A well-written and complex protagonist lends credibility to what is overall a solid tale of a fixer in the not-too-distant future. Ultimately the book is dragged down by an abrupt and anti-climactic ending, but the ride up until that point is very enjoyable.

[Steven · Rating 4 out of 5]

A interesting look at how the world might develop

[Maximilian · Rating 3 out of 5]

A tough read. Overly complex with obscure cultural references. At turns fascinating and boring.