Gun Machine

De: Warren Ellis

Narrado por: Reg E. Cathey

Warren Ellis reimagines New York City as a puzzle with the most dangerous pieces of all: guns.

After a shootout claims the life of his partner in a condemned tenement building on Pearl Street, Detective John Tallow unwittingly stumbles across an apartment stacked high with guns. When examined, each weapon leads to a different, previously unsolved murder. Someone has been killing people for twenty years or more and storing the weapons together for some inexplicable purpose.

Confronted with the sudden emergence of hundreds of unsolved homicides, Tallow soon discovers that he's walked into a veritable deal with the devil. An unholy bargain that has made possible the rise of some of Manhattan's most prominent captains of industry. A hunter who performs his deadly acts as a sacrifice to the old gods of Manhattan, who may, quite simply, be the most prolific murderer in New York City's history.

Warren Ellis's body of work has been championed by Wired for its "merciless action" and "incorruptible bravery," and steadily amassed legions of diehard fans. His newest novel builds on his accomplishments like never before, announcing Ellis as one of today's most daring thriller writers. This is twenty-first century suspense writ large. This is Gun Machine.

Reseñas de la Crítica

"Warren Ellis's work displays a knack for mad hilarity, merciless action, dark cynicism and incorruptible bravery."—Wired

All around excellent

I loved every second of this book. The narrator is a perfect match to the story.

Excellent

I love how Warren Ellis can describe something so well that you feel it and feel like you are there. Reg E. Cathey's voice is a perfect fit. Highly recommend!

Maybe 3 stars?

Would you listen to Gun Machine again? Why?

I am ambivalent about "Gun Machine". I won't recount the plot points, because so many other reviewers have done so already, and done it very well. PROS: I really, really liked the writing style, the author is showing his comic book roots and really knows how to plot out a story. And the story starts great, with immediate action and an eerie mystery, and some funny parts too. Finally, without revealing any spoilers, there's a plot twist involving the killer that I rather liked. Not a big surprise or a big deal, but handled in a very matter-of-fact way that just appealed to me. The narrator does a good job and definitely has a way with delivering tricky/conic dialogue. CONS: But it all collapses in the last third of the novel, which is kinda slow. When the ending finally arrives, it is abrupt and flat. Also, most of the characters are common stereotypes. I am particularly tired of the lesbian with the rapacious sexual appetite who can get any beautiful, hot young thing the male protagonist/author desires; she seems to be everywhere lately.

Great Story

The narrator was awesome and the story by Warren Ellis was one of his best. It was so good I listened to it in a few days. I can say that I'll be buying more audiobooks by the author.

Serial killer investigation with a weird edge

Structurally, this story operates much like many other serial killer investigations. A police detective inadvertently stumbles upon evidence that two decade's worth of unsolved homicides have all been the work of one psychotic but very, very careful killer. Over the course of the book, the detective gets into the killer's mindset and has a final showdown, cop vs criminal.

But it takes a turn for the bizarre with the fact that the killer's delusions are all strongly tied to the Native American history of the island of Manhattan, and the ritualistic nature of his kills demand that he use a particular, ironically chosen guy to kill each victim, and then he uses the guns in an elaborate design in his apartment. As such, the detective's path to tracking down the killer involves deep dives into local Manhattan history and legends, as well as some very specific details about firearm manufacture.

The best part of the book is the set of characters in Tallow (the protagonist), Scarly and Bat (his crime scene team dedicated to helping him manage the evidence), and the killer, who is only ever referred to as "the hunter" or "CTS" (stands for "crazier than shit").

Unfortunately sometimes the characters get in the way of a good story. I enjoyed Scarly's relationship with her spouse, and Tallow's relationship with his lieutenant, and seeing the inside of the hunter's insane delusion, but the fact is these were almost always just speed bumps along the investigative path.

What's worse, we're shown the hunter's mindset and motivations long before Tallow himself figures it out. So even though we're supposed to be excited about Tallow's deductive powers, the reader's experience of the mystery is lessened because we already know the answer. It's not a "whodunit", it's a "how are we gonna catch this asshole".

I also have mixed opinions on the narrator. His voice is super low and gravelly, and while I like that it lends an air of solemnity and grim determination to the story, it sometimes was hard to understand, especially for the first 30 seconds after I turned it on. It didn't stop me from enjoying the book, but I could see how it might be a problem for other people.