Goodreads Book Review - Gun Machine

Gun Machine by Warren Ellis

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I've always loved Warren Ellis as a comic book writer, but this novel is so good it sort of makes me wish he'd give up comics and just write novels full-time. It's a fresh take on the police procedural, a genre that has been popular for years now, complete with its own CSUs (Scarly and Bat, two characters so fresh and entertaining that they deserve their own spin-off immediately) to go along with the traumatized cop protagonist. The plot is suitably warped and tangled to keep you interested and a little mystified, but not so obtuse that you can't figure it out along with, if not ahead of, Detective John Tallow. The prose is well-written, filled with Ellis' trademark bizarreness as well as his penchant for technology; simultaneously though it manages to be an almost classic look at the detective genre with an appreciation for history. I thoroughly loved it. The only thing that kept me from giving it five stars is that I wasn't thrilled with the twist at the end. It wasn't necessarily a bad twist, and it doesn't ruin the story or anything. I'd just have been happier without it. Still, I can't recommend this book enough.



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