REVIEWS
Sci-fi meets crime thriller in a polarised future
The best fiction immerses the reader in a vividly evoked world, and this week we have two novels that do that brilliantly, while also highlighting the diversity of the form.
Nick Harkaway is no stranger to expert worldbuilding, having written four highly acclaimed science fiction novels. He’s also a fan of darkly comic crime fiction, having delivered a couple of terrific slices of noir under the pen-name Aidan Truhen. His latest novel,
Titanium Noir, combines these two loves to deliver a story that is simultaneously a down-and-dirty crime tale and a wonderfully expansive and visionary piece of speculative fiction.
In the future, a revolutionary gene therapy called T7 has created an elite band of humans called Titans who are giants with immense strength and longevity. Only the richest and most privileged can afford the therapy, and it makes the Titans almost godlike on earth. So when one of their number is found murdered, it’s a real shock.
Enter world-weary detective Cal Sounder, handed the case by the police because he has some
