Altered Carbon made me feel all nostalgic. Something about it reminded me of a phase I went through when I was a nipper. When I used to watch old black and white movies with the likes of Bogart. When I tracked down any pulp crime novel I could lay my mittens on. When I loved 60s scifi movies.

When the two blurred into one and Bogart was out tracking down the mad scientist who invented Godzilla.

Not that this is what Altered Carbon is about, of course. It just evoked that feeling in me.

Richard Morgan is obviously what you get when aliens from the far distant future abduct Raymond Chandler and force him to have a few too many alcoholic beverages with another abductee, William Gibson. Unfortunately, the aliens from the far flung corner of the yoon in the way so distant future aren’t too savvy when it comes to humans and don’t realise while the two might become mates over a few too many beers, they might not mate as it were. So they zap the two and send them back to where they belong, but as a kind of experiment they splice the genes of the two writers and force the subsequent clone to watch Bogart movies while reading Neuromancer. It’s their idea of homage.

The call the clone Richard Morgan, and send him to earth some time in the near-flung present, and there you go. The kid makes a living selling his imagination.

Good story, if you can write it.

Me, though, I’m a hack, so I’m happy enough to read it.

Mister Morgan’s first novel is a knockout. It’s got a hardboiled detective (ex-ubersoldier) and a millionaire hiding deep dark secrets of the sleazy sexual kind. It’s got an equally sleazy millionaire’s wife, a cynical sexy police detective and an equal number of goons hired on simply to be killed by our hero. Sometimes, because they’re cool, they even get killed twice. Because that’s the kind of book this is.

I’m getting a bit carried away here, but I’m finding myself desperately trying to resist using words like “dame” and “gumshoe.”

I think Mister Morgan knows how that feels.

Altered Carbon is a unique novel in many ways, as much as it is a cheerful blend of two very well-worked genres of fiction. The two blend seamlessly into his novel, and it’s filled with some rather interesting and intriguing plot angles. For example, in Mister Morgan’s world, the characters are pretty much immune (for the most part) from death. They die, they just wake up in another clone, or a different body (called a sleeve). This puts a bit of a downer on the whole idea of fighting. I mean, if you can’t die, then what’s the point? Alas, there’s always a final death! Just destroy the chip in the back of your victim’s head, and there you go. No back-up. Brilliant.

I loved this angle. I’d also like to have my own little back-up me.

The story was simple private-eye fare, and you could probably guess a few things, but it does make enough twists and turns to keep a crime junkie happy whilst having enough scifi treats to keep the nerds drooling. Trust me, I needed a bucket at some stages. Also there’s a scene at the end involving a dog which had me feeling at turns like wincing, throwing up, and laughing a little too loud. I hope no one knows I giggled!

The central character of Takeshi Kovaks is pretty good. He certainly stacks up well and pretty much could only be played by Bogart with any convincibility. It’s got that whole I’m a tired old soldier, but wake me and I’ll kill you thing going. It’s simple and effective.

This is the first in a small series, the next being Broken Angels. And if that’s halfway as good as this one was, I’ll be very happy indeed.