One part cyberpunk, one part 1940’s detective movie, “Noir” by K.W. Jeter blends and bends the genres.
The tale is set in a dystopian future Las Angeles in which governments have fallen and laws are issued from megacorporations that survive through cannibalizing the world’s remaining resources and human life is just another commodity. The story features McNihil, an ex-cop with a past hired by one of the reigning multinationals to solve a murder and to retrieve the valuable information of the deceased’s “prowler,” a computer simulation that flits through the computerized systems like a ghost.
McNihil is fascinated by the past and has come to view himself as a hard-boiled film noir detective. It is a persona ironically suited to the dying world he navigates.
Joined by a deadly and beautiful female mercenary named November, McNihil untangles a web of deception in his search for the truth. It is a search that will take him into his own turbulent past and what he finds will shock even his cold cynicism. In the end, he will be called upon to sacrifice all that he has and more.
Not everyone will like this book. “Noir” is uneven on several points. It is often confusing and at times gruesomely comic. The most serious crime one can commit is copyright infringement, and the authorities have perfected some rather inventive methods to punish violators. Punishments that can’t be escaped, even through death.
Around the middle of the book, the author indulges in what can only be described as a 50-page revenge fantasy against a perp guilty of such a crime. The segment will give pause to anyone who has ever contemplated downloading music or stealing cable.
In addition, the plot of the last half of the book is incomprehensible until the final twenty pages, when McNihil offers up his stunning denouement and everything is made clear.
The story is primarily to be read for the atmosphere and the strength of the two main characters.
I can’t say more without giving away the end, but long after turning the final page the reader will be left with a chill on remembering the initials: TOAW.

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Created Jul 02, 2007 at 11:11pm • Submit your own review...