Description:
Noir detective fiction and cyberpunk make beautiful music together in Marc Matz's first novel, Nocturne for a Dangerous Man. Gavilan Robie, the hero, is first cousin to legendary PIs Travis McGee and Dave Robicheaux. Mostly he recovers missing art. But sometimes he "tries to recover people who are lost and need, badly, to be found." For him, these jobs are "the equivalent of having a stiff drink to take the edge off an endless hangover"; he's addicted to staking his life on his ability to beat the odds. Robie's world has survived multiple man-made natural disasters: climate change, rising seas, unstoppable plagues, and famine. Now Siv Matthiessen, brilliant executive for a multinational corporation, has been seized by ecoterrorists. Despite ransom demands, Matthiessen's boss believes they'll kill her. Robie tracks her captors using advances in robotics, medicine, and cyber-technology, along with various martial arts, the I-Ching, Taoist philosophy, music, and contacts around the globe. He uncovers a web of unholy alliances among a rival corporation, a corrupt foreign government official, opportunistic bankers, and organized crime. This intricate thriller demands careful reading. Matz reveals his world as the story unfolds; both are complex. But Gavilan Robie makes this a debut no fan of William Gibson or James Lee Burke should miss. --Nona Vero
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