Gun Machine

Gun Machine

2012 • 308 pages

Ratings20

Average rating4.1

15

This is not Woody Allen's Manhattan.

I read the first half of this in one night, staying up late reading for the first time in a long time. I'm enjoying this one much more than Crooked Little Vein. The strengths of the book include how the history of Manhattan island plays into things (as well as the history of guns) and the dual(-ish) narrator structure, where we get some direct insight into both the cop and the criminal.

The negatives are mostly personal, for me–the protagonist sounds too much, to me, like Warren-Ellis-as-a-cop, running around with his “tablet device, e-reader and portable wifi”, for one thing; also, the supporting characters talk a lot like the supporting characters in, say, Transmet. But these are small, small negatives, as I not only like the way his supporting characters often talk, but also kind of like the idea of Ellis as a cop, running around Manhattan.


Finished this up in a few days, and it has a very satisfying ending, with some wonderful (if sparse) character development. I'm hoping we get to follow Detective Tallow around again...