I liked him, but I didn't like the investigation or the endless conversations he has with various potential informants. Titanium Noir, by Nick Harkaway delivers on both counts, and is a size-15 gumshoe full of fun that I tore through in just a couple days.

Titanium Noir - Better As An Alloy - The Quill to Live Titanium Noir - Better As An Alloy - The Quill to Live

Like a mixture of Chandler, Sin City and The Boys, Harkaway mashed genres together with great skill. By the end of the first scene, I was already rooting for Cal with his down-to-earth, sarcastic, trash-talking approach to life. Titanium Noir' is a treat for anyone who likes their Speculative Fiction to be wrapped around a well-crafted mystery and told with style. Cal has an in with the Titans’ founding family, a previous relationship with the daughter of the man who discovered the therapy, and that proximity gives him insight and access unavailable to average cops. A nerdy tech guy named Roddy Tebbit is found dead with a gunshot to the head, lying on his apartment floor.

Yet, he relentlessly pursues the truth, flirts with rebellion and even performs some mild blackmail on the way. But don't start this one late at night--the pacing starts frenetic from the gitgo and does not let up!

TITANIUM NOIR | Kirkus Reviews

It is all so familiar, and the added sci-fi element of the Titans and updated technology brings a freshness, so none of the characters is a cliche. After taking a drug named T7, a human is “reset” to adolescence, then, rapidly and painfully, they sprint back through puberty, resulting in a rejuvenated body.T7 turns average humans into near-immortal distortions of themselves—with immense physical proportions to match their ostentatious, unreachable lifestyles.

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My opinion was probably influenced by the fact that I listened to the audiobook and the narrator didn’t have the combination of ennui and grit usually found in the genre. He’s also a fan of darkly comic crime fiction, having delivered a couple of terrific slices of noir under the penname Aidan Truhen.

On closer inspection, he is found to be ninety years old despite looking no older than thirty, clearly a result of the T7 genetic therapy. I highly recommend it to mystery fans, Noir fans, Speculative Fiction fans and anyone who is looking for a well-told tale that entertains you while making you think about how the world works. Nick Harkaway is no stranger to expert worldbuilding, having written four highly acclaimed science fiction novels. Titans are ordinary humans injected with T7 that reverses the aging process and in so doing makes the recipient bigger, stronger, and almost immortal.