by Jonathan Lethem

isbn: 0312858787
subject: SF, Fiction and Literature
finished: 10/26/2000

Gun, With Occasional Music is about Conrad Metcalf, a private inquisitor who stays on a case far past the point of diminishing returns for what I assume are standard noir detective reasons: the authorities are determined to pin a murder on an innocent man and Conrad makes solving the case a substitute for actually cleaning up his sorry excuse for a life. The SF elements of this book work well, but they're mostly decorative until the end when they become important to the plot. I enjoyed this book, but having read As She Climbed Across the Table I know that Lethem can do better.