Having read some of the authors comic books I thought it was time to see how he transitioned to the novel form. It translates into a gritty, dark, crude and depraved look at the seedier side of life by way of a private detective searching for a book for the Vice-President of the United States which could help turn the tide of moral decay spreading in the country and worldwide. His search starts of with macroherpetophilia (don’t look this one up in work) and gets progressively worse with each step. For me, it was a helluva lot of fun. ( )

It's probably only a two-star book, but the aww-shucks hero made the whole thing too light and fluffy to really hate the fact it's mostly icky things that are old hat to the Internet strung together in a half-formed, Swiss-cheesed plot. It made a couple of good points, had a handful of amusing scenes, and tried too hard while not really trying hard at all. ( )

The viewpoint is engaging, drily witty and starts out as a very good humouristic noir pastiche. Unfortunately there's not much plot to speak of, just an episodic hop of the protagonist unhappily encountering one unusual (and often, but not at all always, vile and off-putting) deviant from the perceived norms of sexual behaviour after another. There is some humour in this, but for my money, much less than the author seems to think there is, and whatever minor shock value it might be going for wears of pretty quickly. The romance subplot is decently told, but rather by-the-numbers, and (spoiler alert) the resolution is a rather obvious twist combined with a convenient deus ex machina character introduced towards the end of the narrative. I had fairly high expectations to this book, and have liked what (admittedly little) I've read of Ellis' comics work, but all in all I found it to be rather forgettable. It's a shame, because a stronger plot and actual mystery at the heart would have made this a great read -- even as it stands, the narration is so well done as to keep me flipping pages despite the lack of plot momentum, and most chapters offered at least a chuckle or two. ( )

"I looked back to see a team of cops lay into her with batons. “I’m white, you bastards!” she yelled, until one of them shot her with a Taser."

Warren Ellis make you squirm and laugh at the same time with prose as delightful as his work in comics. ( )

Just when you think that things can't get more depraved, frustrating, and undercutting to your faith in humanity, they do.

This was a hell of a fun read, from cover to cover. I'm not quite sure if it's making fun of the detective novel form, or taking it out for a night on the town, getting it good and liquored up, and making sure that the hangover was well worth it.

I really enjoyed reading this one, from cover to cover. I laughed out loud at several points, and just shook my head at others. I wonder if that fortune-telling girl on the corner will show up in any of his other works... ( )