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What Members Thought
Conrad Metcalf is a private dick in a dystopia where asking questions is outlawed by the government. Individual evolution is sped up so infants, called babyheads, rebel like out of control teenagers, smoking, swearing, taking drugs and hanging out in gangs. Animals have been genetically engineered so they can do menial work but they also commit crimes and one of them is gunning for Metcalf. Smart, dark and funny.
Clever, unexpected, and breathlessly paced. Suffered from the typical noir problem of too many names, too many relationships, not enough transparency, to the point where I had to flip back and forth repeatedly to keep track of who was who, but that didn't spoil the overall story. Recommended.
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leisurely paced and relentlessly weird, 'gun' easily lives up to the pitch that it's Raymond Chandler by way of PK Dick: prefaced by a Chandler quote that something obvious sticks out like a kangaroo in a dinner jacket, Lethem's dame-packed, drug-fueled, jaw-cracking detective noir heavily pastiches the schtick of weary gumshoe tales, while also featuring an actual non-metaphorical kangaroo as an antagonist. it all starts out more than a little self-consciously, but once you get into the swing o
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Aug 31, 2008
Richard
rated it
it was amazing
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
science-fiction,
5-stars
Nov 10, 2009
bsc
marked it as to-read
Jan 15, 2010
Julie S.
marked it as to-read
Aug 22, 2014
Eric
marked it as to-read
