Titanium Noir - Nick Harkaway

There's a definite Blade Runner vibe to Titanium Noir, but that's probably only to be expected. It's going to be hard to avoid comparison to a work as influential in the science-fiction world as that when a movie or book adopts the style of the noir genre, is futuristic and somewhat nihilistic in outlook. There is still plenty of room for originality here however, particularly for an author like Nick Harkaway, and while there are some obvious and probably unavoidable similarities and correlations with Ridley Scott's influential take on Philip K Dick, Titanium Noir succeeds to some extent in putting its own stamp on the material, or at the very least manages to be a hugely entertaining dark futuristic science-fiction noir thriller.

Cal Sounder is not an official on the police force but a 'specialist' they call upon when it comes to dealing with any crime or incident that involves individuals known as Titans. Much like Rick Deckard when it comes to dealing with escaped off-world replicants. Titans however are actually human, but modified to become, as you might guess, taller than the average person. The reason for that is that, unlike replicants with limited life spans, Titans gain a measure of long life when they are given a dose of Titanium 7, a drug developed by Tonfamescasca (cf. the Tyrell Corporation). The treatment effectively turns the aging clock back, so clients actually start growing again as "new-minted god children", gaining a height sometimes in excess of 7 or 8 feet tall. With additional doses, a Titan can achieve some measure of immortality.

But not invulnerability. Their size and build makes them difficult to harm, but evidently they can be killed or murdered, which is why Cal has been called in to look into the case of Roddy Tebbit, a professor in marine biology, murdered in his apartment. Although he is certainly on the tall side, no-one really suspected that he might be a Titan, as there are not that common. There are only a couple of thousand privileged individuals favoured with this treatment by Tonfamescasca in the whole world. The giveaway here is Roddy's driving licence, found by the police in his apartment where someone has put a .22 derringer against his head,  that reveals that he was ninety-one years old.

Although he investigates cases like these as a favour for Stefan Tonfamescasca, Cal has a somewhat conflicted relationship with the owner of the company that produces Titanium 7. On the one hand, he is in love with Athena, the requisite femme fatale who turns up alluringly and mysteriously in his apartment. Cal is in love with her, but she is a Titan and from the Tonfamescasca family, and as such out of his league, since Cal refuses to take a dose himself. She still exercises a powerful influence on him. Stefan however trusts Cal to keep the record straight with Titan affairs, since the T7 enhancements are expensive and the clientele select or pretty much untouchable, which is why the police don't like to get their hands dirty on such cases.

You can run through all the similarities with Blade Runner, like the exotic singer rather than an exotic snake dancer that Cal meets backstage, but like the appearance of a fatman (Doublewide) who plays an ambiguous angle on matters - these conventions are as much typical of the noir genre as they are Blade Runner. What is also part of the package - perhaps the most important aspect certainly as far as the written noir thriller - is the snappy exchanges and witty dialogue, and it's here that Titanium Noir really takes off and shines, and where Nick Harkaway imprints his own character on the genre.

Originality, not so much, but that's to be expected when you are working within the limitations and conventions of the genre. Nonetheless, with Cal's complicated relationship with the police, Athena, Stefan and basically everyone, in addition to the difficulty of wresting information out of reluctant witnesses and dubious characters, there are plenty of opportunities in this particular world of Titans for terse exchanges, mysteries and secrets, frustrations and revelations as Cal tries to find out who killed Roddy Tebbit. And not just who, but why. And, you can be sure that he takes plenty of knocks, bruises and the odd gunshot on the way to a well-managed conclusion in this highly entertaining venture into future noir. 

Reading notes: Titanium Noir by Nick Harkaway is published by Corsair on the 4th May 2023. This review was drafted on the 21st November 2022 from an advance eBook proof. My thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for an advance proof copy for review.