Tigerman

I'm sorry to say I wasn't very impressed by this.

It had such an interesting premise: an island, subject to its own unique brand of natural disaster, the Discharge Clouds that have a strange and inexplicable effect on the residents. Harkaway uses it for a great setup, an island doomed by international consent and useful, therefore, as cover for skulduggery on a grand scale.

Unfortunately, he doesn't do much of interest with it beyond the setup. The writing is lacking, and he damages one of his major characters by trying too hard. The kid talks like a caricature if the Internet: zomg. Full of win. And so on.

I loved Gone-Away World; I'm sorry to say this isn't up to that standard.

Lester Ferris is the Brevet-Consul to Her Majesty on the tiny island of Mancreau, somewhere off the coast of North Africa. Years of irresponsibly disposed chemicals have been stewing merrily underneath the island, resulting in potentially deadly Discharge Clouds erupting periodically. So the island is slated for destruction and in the meantime lives in an international limbo that attracts a lawless cadre of ships called the Black Fleet where one might partake in illegal surgeries, trafficking of all kinds and military torture.

It's in that sun drenched Gotham we witness the transformation of Lester Harris into Tigerman, prompted in no small part by his mysterious and unnamed young friend who flippantly refers to himself as Robin. He is the Obi Wan to Lester's Luke. Full of win and rocking it Gangnam style he is the connected, new world to Lester's old.

Despite being firmly rooted in the comics tradition, the book is nonetheless a more serious work compared to the steampunk aesthetic and apocalypse bees of Angelmaker. Pulpy, shadowy, Graham Greene tropical thriller with a chewy heart.

Oh, Nick, did you have to break my heart so thoroughly? 
As a work of fiction, this is an incredible accomplishment. The focus on a relationship between a young person and a man who's trying to be a father figure, but particularly the inner life of someone contemplating that role, the intimate scale of some sad age old truths regarding corruption, exploitation, pollution, fear versus science, bureaucracy and duty versus ‘the right thing', the apathy of the global community in the face of suffering witnessed at a distance. 
The characters are vivid, the writing is superb. The Suit chapter is one of my favourite moments in a book, ever.
As a reading experience, it HURTS. I think if I explain how it hurts any further I risk giving something away, and the book deserves to be experienced at full impact by the next masochist who picks it up. And yes, I will be picking up more from this author. 
⚠️Animal death, child abuse
child death(?)