Customer Reviews

The Gumshoe, the Witch, and the Virtual Corpse

5 star:		(32)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

For the record, I hate Keith Hartman. I've never met the guy, don't know much about him, but what I do know is this: His debut novel, The Gumshoe, the Witch, and the Virtual Corpse, is better than any first novel has a right to be. Like anyone else with aspirations of writing the Great American Novel, I get royally ticked any time someone else does so, especially on their first try.

And this is easily the best debut genre novel in years. Set in a future Atlanta (where magic, be it Christian, Native American or Wiccan, is commonplace), Gumshoe offers us more protagonists than I've seen in a while, and gives them amazingly unique voices, from the Witch (who works as a reporter during the day) to the Chosen (Benji, a teen who believes that God has chosen him as the butt of every cosmic joke), to the Lunatic (a Cherokee shaman who wonders why the totems she sees are as likely to look like Bugs Bunny or aliens from Star Trek as bears and monkeys). Having eleven (yes, eleven!) characters narrate in the first person is an amazing feat for any writer to pull off. The fact that Hartman manages to give them unique voice (I quite honestly didn't have to even look at the chapter headings after a while) is astounding.

The plot? Well, we've got the Cherokee, attempting to get the United States to uphold the Supreme Court rulings of the early 19th century granting them North Georgia. We've got a gumshoe with some serious issues. We've got a Southern Baptist senator/televangelist who argues about a devil-worshiping anti-Christian conspiracy perpetrated by everyone from Jews to Wiccans to Unitarians (and if he can't find evidence of the conspiracy, he'll fake it). We've got a dead body in a graveyard that might have been carved up by Wiccans, or maybe by Christians. We've got the witch/investigative journalist looking into the mystery, as well as the Baptist News Network and the regular Atlanta police force. And we've got a missing psychic private eye who works with a number of these characters. And that's just the tip of the iceberg. What's amazing isn't the disparate plot elements; it's that Hartman manages to make them all work.

Thick as it is in characters and plot, where Gumshoe really shines is as a social commentary. Although Hartman is coming from the left in general, he's not above poking fun at the excesses of anyone, ranging from homophobes who are willing to overlook their stance against abortion upon hearing that the fetus has tested positive for the "gay gene," to art snobs who are so caught up in their own pretentious world, they're incapable of recognizing real art when they see it. But for all the satire and commentary, Hartman gives us genuine characters -- everyone, from the Baptists to the Quakers, the homosexuals to the heterosexuals, the Wiccans to the Cherokee, is portrayed as an individual, not just another icon in a group. And the world itself is fully believable, every little image extrapolated from contemporary society, with some absolutely brilliant visions of a future America. The little touches -- a vending machine that offers brie and watercress sandwiches, a bondage-themed gym using a rack for pull-downs -- override whatever touches of cliche (references to the Stallone and Heston presidencies) that creep in.

This is not a book for the faint of heart (the graveyard mutilation, as well as some of the later crime sequences, is easily gross enough to fit into a Laurell K Hamilton novel), nor for those who might be easily offended, but if you want a great read and/or a book that actually makes you think (even while making you laugh out loud), this is a damned good novel.

Two final caveats: First, the editing, frankly, was pretty atrocious in the opening chapter or two -- once you get past the third chapter, the grammar seems to have righted itself. Also, do not start this on a worknight, as it will keep you up all night reading.

This was one of my favorite books of last year. It has an amazing number of viewpoints yet somehow all the pieces fit together beautifully. Keith Hartman creates a fascinating near-future world and peoples it with wonderfully diverse characters from the gay male detective, to Wiccans, to a rebellious Baptist teen who unknowingly could cause riots, death and destruction on a large scale. The story is suspenseful, humorous, and in the end makes you think hard about where our society is now and where it may be heading. I'm eagerly awaiting the sequel!

Every once in a while one finds a book that is genuinely surprising. 'The Gumshoe, the Witch, and the Virtual Corpse' is a tale that manages to break every rule and still be not just a great first novel, but a great piece of detective fiction, period. The setting is Atlanta in 2025, a city divided along religious and sexual preference lines. Magic works and shamans coexist with high technology. Fundamentalists have their own political party and television shows are available in several grades of sex and violence. Fortunately for the reader, people still murder each other.

The first victim was already dead - for several months. The desecrated remains are found in a graveyard, crucified upside-down, with signs of a magical ritual all about. Detective Megan Strand finds herself in the midst of an ugly crime with the Baptist News Network screaming about a Satanic plot to take over the world. But the next crimes are murders, one after the other. And each has the overtones of witchcraft and Satanism. The large fundamentalist segment of Atlanta seethes with rumor and panic.

If Wiccans are suspects, they are also victims, and several members of a coven turn up dead or missing. One of these is Jen Gray, who is the partner of P.I. Drew Parker. Parker begins to investigate and finds a trail that leads to the hit religious singer Justin Weir. It also leads the P.I. into the hands of Ice-in-Summer, a Cherokee Shaman who has some very strange plans for the detective. Fleeing through this chaos are two teenagers, Benji Danvers and Summer Jacobs, one a Baptist and the other a Wiccan. Benji has somehow drawn the attention of an unidentified group of agents (Men In Black Suits) and Summer helps to keep him one step ahead of an unknown fate.

Lest I forget, the primary cast also includes a mad artist, a senator with dubious ethics, the aforementioned singer, and a news witch. For Hartman these are not just players on a stage, but active participants. Each takes turn after turn at first person narrative and it can truly be said that this is a novel with no main character. For all that I dislike this kind of shifting viewpoint, Keith Hartmann manages to make a great success of it, rarely allowing the possibility of narrative confusion. Here the technique creates a baroque plot that is in perpetual motion and still manages to create a great deal of connection with the characters. This tale is a great success, whatever its genre is, and I am anxious to read the sequel.

I met Keith Hartman when he was guest of honor at Diversicon in Minneapolis. We traded books, because that's what authors do for each other sometimes. I knew I liked him right away, but I held off reading his book because I was worried that his writing would disappoint me and I really wanted to like the guy, you know? (You've seen his picture on his web site right? He's a hottie, and a smart, interesting guy to boot).

Plus, after looking at all the SF luminaries who praised his book, I thought to myself, "Who is this guy sleeping with to get cover quotes like this?!" I decided he had to be all hype and no talent.

I couldn't have been more wrong.

This book rocks. First of all it's kick-you-in-the-pants fun. Keith easily adds funny editorial asides/narrative commentary that could, in less skilled hands, knock a reader out of the story. But, Keith has a kind of easy yet smart-aleck style of writing that makes you feel, instead, like he's personally taken you into his confidence... which serves to only draw you deeper into the character's lives.

And what interesting lives they lead! Besides, the Gumshoe and the Witch, there's also a Christian rockstar, a bumbling geeky teenager, a Baptist senator, and many many more. Plus, the near-future world of Keith's novel is wonderfully diverse--a kind of place you want to spend days exploring (luckily it's a good, long book and there's a sequel! Which, BTW, I intend to run out and buy today).

Future Atlanta's neighborhoods have been divided mostly by religion, the gay ghetto being the one exception. One of the things I admired is that, despite a kind of plot that could have focused only on Baptist fundamentalists, Keith never forgets that there are a million kinds of religious orientations out there. I'm a practicing Wiccan, and I usually expect to be irritated when people in novels start casting circles and spells. Not so here. The Craft as Keith writes it is closer to my experience than anything I've seen in a long time.

One of the earlier commentators said they didn't think this book was for everyone. I couldn't disagree more. One of the other things I'm forced to admire (okay, so I've got a wee bit authorial jealousy going on here), is the way that Keith manages to write about everyone with such compassion. I found myself sympathizing with the serial killer for crying out loud! I'm not straight, but I really wanted the two teenage sweethearts Benji and Summer to get together. I'm not a gay man, but I really wanted the Gumshoe and Laughing Bear to get together. I'm not a Native American cross-dressing shaman, but... well, I think you get the point.

Not to give anything away, but I think the whole theme of this novel is that maybe we should all open our hearts to "the other" a little bit. In that way, I think this book is for everyone.

Go out and buy a copy. No, go buy fifty!

This is quite frankly one of the best first novels I've ever read. Even the best writers are usually a little tentative and linear in their first efforts. This one reads as if written by a grizzled veteran. Hartman deftly weaves together multiple story lines with multiple characters and then finally brings them together for the stunning climax. One of the most astonishing aspects of this is not only that he managed to maintain complete control, but that he managed to draw his characters so clearly and completely that I was never once confused in following the complicated plot or the shifts in point of view.

This novel combines all the best of quite a few genres; there are elements of science fiction, fantasy, suspense/thriller, all wrapped up with a non-intrusive social commentary, and a great deal of wit, ranging from the wry to the thigh-slapping.

Buy this book! You won't regret it. (But be prepared to stay up all night compulsively turning pages!)

Positively amazing. I was searching for a book with some queerness about it that didn't involve large sections of porn when I stumbled upon this novel. What starts off as a potentially chintzy detective novel evolves into a complex story fraught with realistic characters that come to life right before your eyes. There's a little bit of everything in this novel, and yet it ties together like an eccentric tapestry; utilizing it's unique narrative to it's fullest extent. And unlike many other near future stories that skirt actual names and events, this one relies not only on our factual recent history, but also on realistic potential events that seem to be extensions of our current socio-politic climate.

I highly recommend this book!

I'm a particular fan of contemporary urban fantasy/socio-religio-political satire, and this book is a grand example. It's also a book in which you have to pay close attention to the chapter titles, because there are so many first person narrators in the story, and they change for nearly ever chapter. But the effort is worth it. I got a kick out of this author's freewheeling writing style and his ability to create charming and likable characters of every ethnic, religious, and sexual stripe, including the gumshoe and witch of the title, as well as a cross-dressing shaman and a contemporary Christian singer who wants to save the world...literally. I can't wait to read the sequel.

This book is equally at home in SF, mystery, sociology, gay-lesbian studies, or Wiccan studies. An intriguing novel set in the future, a variety of individuals from various cultural backgrounds find their lives intertwined as a mystery unfolds. A masterpiece of first-person narrative (at least 5 different voices), this book turned out to be as good as the description promised. I hope Keith Hartman writes again -- he is the most promising new author I have read in quite some time.

The first few times I tried to read this book, I had a hard time getting started. The problems: The author switches to a new character for each of the first 8 or so chapters. The typsetting is very poor, with tightly crunched words on one line and spaced out words on the next - most people won't notice this consciously, but it makes the book more difficult to read. The preachiness level is higher than I like, also. But! Ignore all those faults (and most of the reviews here) and just enjoy the book. The plotting and the characters are superb. Each of the first few chapters reads like a short story and a character sketch, and the book is like a spiderweb of interconnected parallel stories that collide in extremely satisfying ways. The book might have been more fun if written solely from Benji's point of view, but you would have missed so much interesting plot that it's hard to nitpick. It reminds me of (but is not quite as good as) Nina Kiriki Hoffman's The Thread that Binds the Bones. Also similar to some parts of the story, and also superior in my opinion, is Laruell K Hamilton's Anita Blake series. The summary: This book had evocative characters that I expect will stay with me for a long time, and a plot and structure that I was skeptical of at first, but which I cannot now stop praising. It works. The best book by an author I had previously not known that I've read in a while.

I picked up this book at the Meisha Merlin stand at the 2000 Westercon. The customer reviews are right. This book is exceptional - the chapter describing the art show ceremony in particular has made a permanent impression on me and rarely am I in the fortunate position to say this.

What I don't understand is - where are the awards? While I concede that everyone might not think it was the best SF novel of its year (though I'd want to know why) I would at least expect it to turn up on the odd shortlist. This has got to be best SF novel I have read not to have received any recognition. It even seems to be a first novel, which is incredible given the quality of plot, language, world-building and characterisation.

I can't help thinking that it it was published by giant Tor rather than little Meisha Merlin it would be on everybody's reading list. But I haven't even seen a Locus review, for crying out loud (though I hope I am mistaken in this).

I can hope that the praise it has received from those who *have* read it is of some consolation to the author for the critical snub. Note: There seems to be an upcoming sequel.