Customer Reviews

The Immortal Game

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

August Riordan's smart mouth and take-no-prisoners attitude make this page-turner really fun to read. Coggins deft, tight prose and dialog keep things moving and complement the fast-paced action and plot twists. The '90s update of the hard-boiled private eye makes for many memorable encounters. For me, the backdrops of Silicon Valley high tech and San Francisco subculture offer many familiar and not-so-familiar references, all nonetheless authentic and vivid. Each chapter starts with a provocative photograph (the author is an accomplished photographer as well as writer) tied directly to some aspect of the story in that chapter. In addition to being a great read, the book's high production values, particularly in book design, make it a rare find.

"The Immortal Game" - chess afficionados willrecognize it as the famous battle between Anderssen and Kieseritzkywith the ingenious endgame, while mystery fans will instantly draw parallels with other crime novels that carried chess themes. This is a more than competent debut by Mark Coggins and he successfully recreates a Chandler-esque flavor throughout the novel. In fact, many fans will no doubt enjoy spotting various little references to Chandler and other hard-boiled greats.

The premise itself is relatively simple: millionaire game developer, Edwin Bishop, has had the latest - and only - copy of his Grand Master-level, computer chess game stolen. He comes across an almost identical game at a trade convention and hires PI August Riordan to track down the stolen program and Tracy McCulloch, his former live-in female companion whom he suspects for the crime. What ensues is a page-turning tour through the Bay Area's more "interesting" locales. Riordan encounters thugs, killers, computer geeks, transvestite entertainers, socialites and a fair share of dominatrices. Highly entertaining and compulsively readable, I zipped through this one in no time at all. Will I pick up Mr. Coggins' next novel (tentatively titled "Vulture Capital")? Most definitely - he's a very good writer with a solid grasp of pacing and dialogue. The characters are well drawn too, especially that of Chris Duckworth, Riordan's sidekick wannabe. There is a lot of material here that can be solidly followed up on in subsequent novels - there is at least one other August Riordan novel in the works.

Now for the quibbles. As an homage to Chandler, Hammett, etc., "The Immortal Game" fulfills every expectation I had of it. However, Mr. Coggins mentioned in his amazon.com interview that the novel carries a major chess theme, and I have no choice but to take issue with that. Sure, the plot of the novel surrounds a stolen piece of chess software and the solution to the mystery does have something to do with The Immortal Game, but that's about as far as it goes. Riordan himself does not know much about chess, although he does learn quite a bit about it by the end of the case. The other major quibble is that Mr. Coggins' description of the stolen piece of software just doesn't seem all that compelling. There is a virtual reality game interface and an artificial intelligence or human emulation engine built into it that allows the computer to perform like a real player, i.e. declining gambits, accepting tactical sacrifices for positional/strategic gains, etc. Well, there are quite a few examples of chess games out there that already do this and have for some time. In fact, the stolen chess game could have been substituted for just about anything else - some other kind of software, jewellery, confidential documents - and the novel would still have been as good.

As things stand, I think I'd say that chess appears more as a device rather than a theme or motif. If you're an avid chess fan, you'll be disappointed by the intermittent role that the game plays in the story - look for Paolo Maurensig's "The Luneberg Variation" or Arturo Perez-Reverte's "The Flanders Panel" instead. I'm sure that most mystery fans will enjoy "The Immortal Game" and those who don't already know much about Anderssen Vs. Kieseritzky might feel inspired enough to do some of their own research afterwards. If the sign of a good book is its ability to open the doors to new worlds and interests, then I'm sure that Mark Coggins has done an admirable job with this fine debut effort.

I live in Texas and did not have access to this book, but was lucky enough to get it from a friend in California. I'm very glad I got it because this is one of the most entertaining mysteries I've ever read. The lead character, August Riordan, is possibly the most enjoyable character that I've had the good fortune to 'meet'. I finished this book way too quickly and hope that the author, Mark Coggins, writes fast. I look forward to more August Riordan mysteries and hope you get a copy of this book and read it. You will not be disappointed (my personal guarantee). The Immortal Game is a book that deserves a WIDE audience and I hope this review helps just a little.

This book has a great mystery, plenty of colorful characters, and witty dialog that would make Raymond Chandler jealous. The plot gets very interesting *very* fast, and I found myself really rooting for Riordan to get his man. (A few scenes were downright disturbing, but then again, so were some of the characters.) A great read for anyone who likes a classic detective story!

If you love Raymond Chandler's novels, you'll love this book. It is stylishly written, with a good plot and fun characters. It is particularly enjoyable to see how the San Francisco Bay Area is woven into the fabric of the story.

I should add that for me personally the chess theme was a guaranteed hook; I used to play chess professionally and I wrote the Complete Idiot's Guide to Chess. But while the chess aspect of the story is fun, this is really a mystery thriller written as an homage to Raymond Chandler. Read this book because you love a well-written hard-boiled mystery, not because you love chess. (Although loving chess will add to your pleasure!)

A bonus to this book is that there are many inside winks to people who are knowledgeable about Raymond Chandler or the San Francisco Bay Area. Also, each chapter is framed by a photo of some place in the Bay Area, and some of these photos are quite nice.

Been a while since I had the fun of reading a Raymond Chandler style detective novel, and seeing this updated with a remarkably realistic high-tech angle made it even better for me. I'm looking forward to the next August Riordan story.

Mark Coggins' "The Immortal Game" is an involving, well-written mystery that suffers several mortal wounds that keep it from being the timeless classic it strives to be. To begin with, the chapter-starting photos gave the book a somewhat juvenille pulp fiction-feel, and seemed to bring the level of writing down. I enjoyed the hard-boiled banter between August and the other characters...to a point. But Coggins tends to give all his characters that sarcastic, shady sense of self. After a while, everyone tends to sound the same. In the end, few of the characters are memorable or distinguishable, except by name. And the monotone manner seems to bog down the pace and slow what is an otherwise well-thought-out plot. Finally,chess doesn't seem to be as much of a character (or even metaphor) as the title suggests. It becomes an afterthought that bookends the plot: showing up in the beginning and end, but not really explored deeply within. All-in-all, August Riordan is very Chandleresque--almost Spenser-like--in his lifestyle and attitudes. But when everyone--every scene--is colored with that shade, there is no room for the novel to breathe, to grow on the reader. Sadly, The Immortal Game is quite a mortal reading experience that doesn't separate itself from the middle of the morass of mystery reads.

Mark Coggins (no relation I know of) finds a voice that is familiar yet unique in it's own right. The wise-cracking PI Riordan at times nearly crosses the line into parody of the genre, but the storyline is too real, original, and tight to let that happen. I laughed out loud at some of the outrageous characters who are more decent and admirable than the outwardly impressive villains. (I couldn't help but think of Toole's "A Confederacy of Dunces".) This was a thoroughly enjoyable read that has sent be back to Amazon for another dose of Mark Coggins' wry wit.

Meanwhile, I'm working on the family tree .... surely Mark must be some distant cousin.

Mark Coggins is a writer to look forward to. He evokes a San Francisco reminiscent of Raymond Chandler. Despite being set in a modern day, Silicon Valley-contemporary environment, Coggins manages to cast a fustiness over the sunny San Francisco cityscape he depicts in word and photograph. His frequently sexually contorted characters stand up well. In the case of his main character, private detective August Riordan, and his part time sidekick (also part time transvestite), Chris Duckworth, you hope to see them again in a future novel. The technology theft of a chess game and the subsequent trail of murders in interesting circumstances and locations is challenging enough to keep us guessing and reading.

Mark Coggins has done his own photography for the book. Each chapter starts with a photo related to the action or locale of the chapter's action, adding greatly to the sense of place, and to the texture of the story.

The Immortal Game is a gritty story. It is one of those books can't put down, hate to finish, and are left wondering what the main charaters are doing today.

A very entertaining story that has all the elements of the mystery genre in a contemporary setting. The finely crafted writing brings you right into the story settings and the twists and turns (along with a wonderfully dry sense of humor) made it a hard book to put down. The hi-tech connection adds a nice touch and is realistically done.