Night Call (The Walking Shadows, #1)

by Brenden Carlson

A rogue robot is terrorizing the dark underbelly of 1930s Manhattan. Can detective Elias Roche and his new Automatic partner track it down?

The year is 1933. Even in a world with free energy, robot labour, and megacorporations, nothing could stop the collapse of the American Dream. As the world-spanning Great Depression rages on, the remaining New York–based mafias clash with police for control of the broken city. Elias Roche, former police officer turned Mafia enforcer, works to maintain a tenuous peace between the two parties.

Accustomed to settling disputes with the business end of a gun, Roche must expand his repertoire after a violent murder is covered up by the FBI. With the Mafia insisting they’re innocent of the crime and the police powerless to help, Roche and his new Automatic partner, Allen, must root out those responsible before the situation sparks a war in the city streets.

FINALIST FOR THE 2021 RAKUTEN KOBO EMERGING WRITER PRIZE

• ISBN10: 1459745795
• ISBN13: 9781459745797
• Publish Date: 24 December 2020 (first published 17 October 2020)
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: CA
• Imprint: Dundurn Group Ltd
• Format: Paperback (US Trade)
• Pages: 336
• Language: English

Reviews

[annieb123]

Originally published on my blog: Nonstop Reader.

Night Call is the first in an SF-noir alternate 1930s timeline PI murder mystery series by Brenden Carlson. Released 10th Nov 2020 by Dundurn, it's 336 pages and available in paperback, audio, and ebook formats.

This is an engaging book in a much beloved subgenre. I love the noir vibe. I love the androids and their often fraught interactions with humans. I really enjoyed the darkness (often literal) and desperation of the Lower City of NY. There's a lot of Philip K. Dick and Asimov nuance floating around in the narrative and I really did enjoy reading it. With that being said, the book is not entirely unproblematic. There are several aspects I found myself struggling with. There is -so- much gratuitous violence. The main (human) protagonist Elias Roche murders witnesses, thugs, pretty much everyone, willy nilly. He's a very dangerous guy. I get that it's part of the gritty noir vibe, but in my opinion the author does a superlative job of calling up the mean streets of New York without the superfluous body count. There are very few females mentioned in the entire book (the female director of the FBI makes an appearance), there are some mentions of prostitutes, and various secretaries. Again, the author is adept enough that the omission is certainly intentional to better call up the 1930s noir vibe, but it seemed unnecessary in context.

Other reviewers have done a good job of providing a precis of the plot, so I'll avoid going into details except to say that the denouement was a bit of a letdown given the otherwise generally good buildup. The language is rough overall (and somewhat anachronistic - I'm pretty sure 1930's cops didn't drop the "f" word nearly as often as occurs in this volume).

I enjoyed the characterizations (especially Roche's android partner, Allen). I really really enjoyed the vibe (pitch perfect!). It's not flawless, but it certainly was well written and diverting.

Four stars. I would recommend it unhesitatingly to fans of unredacted Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler, and James M. Cain.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes