Nick Harkaway, Angelmaker
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Humor, intrigue and the secret life of mechanical bees
Nick Harkaway is a master of wordy, straight-faced silliness. If you want a hint at what you’re in for with his marvelous second novel, look no further than the first appearance of the mysterious Rodney Titwhistle and Arvin Cummerbund. “Those are our actual names, I’m afraid. Life is capricious. If you should feel the urge at any time to chuckle, we’re both quite big enough to share the joke.” The man they’re addressing is our accidental hero Joe Spork, a person who knows a thing or two about name baggage. Being the son of notorious London gangster Matthew Spork doesn’t help. (Harkaway, meanwhile, is John Le Carre’s kid; read into that what you like.) Joe’s attempt at a quiet life — he fixes clocks and other intricate mechanical doodads — gets a spanner in the works when the comically spooky Titwhistle and Cummerbund drop by in search of clues as to the whereabouts of the Angelmaker, a doomsday device of the highest craftsmanship. (You know, the type of rare antiquity that turns up in sleepy London clock shops.)
Suffice it to say, this is where the ball gets rolling, with Joe always pursuing one set of enigmatic men while barely dodging another. Soon we’ve got secret societies, spies, automatons, a swarm of steampunk bees, a Bond-worthy supervillain and one of the funniest, nerdiest and most awkward sex scenes in literary history.
Following up 2008′s post apocalyptic The Gone-Away World, Harkaway proves he’s just as adept at moving his chess pieces around a still-here world. Thick with deadpan British humor, inventive plot twists and memorable visuals, Angelmaker is a smart, wild, calculated joyride.
