It’s pretty rare than an author can write a science fiction mystery and make it good. I’ve read a few attempts over the years, most of which I don’t recall. There was Whatdunits a few years ago. I remember the stories in that anthology being awful. Robert Sawyer’s Hominids had a mystery component. But it fell flat. As do most S.F. attempts at mystery. The authors usually seem to have the mystery take a back seat to the speculative part. Consequently, the mystery isn’t really developed as well.
That’s not the case with Jonathan Lethem’s Gun, With Occasional Music. This is excellent noir as well as excellent speculation. For once, I think even the back cover synopsis does a good job of introducing the story. Better than I can at least. So here it is:
Gumshoe Conrad Metcalf has problems — not the least of which are the rabbit in his waiting room and the trigger-happy kangaroo on his tail. Near-future Oakland is an ominous place where evolved animals function as members of society, the police monitor citizens by their karma levels, and min-numbing drugs such as Forgettol and Acceptol are all the rage. In this brave new world, Metcalf has been shadowing the wife of an affluent doctor, perhaps falling a little in love with her at the same time. But when the doctor turns up dead, our amiable investigator finds himself caught in the crossfire in a futuristic world that is both funny — and not so funny.
Just a couple of things to add to the description. In this future world, political correctness has been taken to an extreme. In other words, no one wants to offend other people. If you offend other people, particularly the Inquisitors (the police), you can have karma taken away (like demerits in high school). Asking questions is offensive. Metcalf is allowed to ask questions as a private inquisitor. But his karma is pretty low, and he starts pissing off the Office (the police) in his investigation, who nip off his few points of karma.
It’s a very Philip K. Dick like world. Out of all the S.F. writers I know, Dick is the best suited for noir. I hadn’t thought about it before, but Blade Runner (Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?) is quintessential noir. So is Gun, With Occasional Music.
Anyway, it’s totally worth the read. Lethem explains his vision of the future just enough. Not so much that it doesn’t leave something to your imagination. Enough to give you the gist of what’s going on, so the reader isn’t thinking I don’t get it
all the time.
Author: Jonathan Lethem
Title: Gun, with occasional music
Imprint/Publisher Harvest Books / Harcourt
Year: 1994
Format: Trade paperback
Pages: 271 p.
ISBN-10: 0-15-602897-2
Subject: Private investigators — California — Oakland — Fiction
Subject: Oakland (Calif.)
LC Classification: PS3562.E8544G86 2003
