Nocturne For A Dangerous Man [Paperback]

Marc Matz (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 15, 2000

Gavilan Robie was a man who lived a very private life--under any of a number of names and faces, many of whom had acquaintances and friends--but only a very few people were acquaintances of Gavilan Robie. Robie was a hunter, once a member of the clandestine Action Rescue Commitee, now freelance. And when he's hired by a powerful multi-national corporation to find an employee kidnapped by terrorists, he finds himself in over his head. He will need every trick he's picked up during years of covert ops just to survive.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Noir detective fiction and cyberpunk make beautiful music together in Marc Matz's first novel, Nocturne for a Dangerous Man. Gavilan Robie, the hero, is first cousin to legendary PIs Travis McGee and Dave Robicheaux. Mostly he recovers missing art. But sometimes he "tries to recover people who are lost and need, badly, to be found." For him, these jobs are "the equivalent of having a stiff drink to take the edge off an endless hangover"; he's addicted to staking his life on his ability to beat the odds.

Robie's world has survived multiple man-made natural disasters: climate change, rising seas, unstoppable plagues, and famine. Now Siv Matthiessen, brilliant executive for a multinational corporation, has been seized by ecoterrorists. Despite ransom demands, Matthiessen's boss believes they'll kill her. Robie tracks her captors using advances in robotics, medicine, and cyber-technology, along with various martial arts, the I-Ching, Taoist philosophy, music, and contacts around the globe. He uncovers a web of unholy alliances among a rival corporation, a corrupt foreign government official, opportunistic bankers, and organized crime.

This intricate thriller demands careful reading. Matz reveals his world as the story unfolds; both are complex. But Gavilan Robie makes this a debut no fan of William Gibson or James Lee Burke should miss. --Nona Vero --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly

In the middle of the 21st century, Gavilan Robie has retired from rescuing kidnap victims for the covert Action Rescue Committee and is content to play his antique cello, quarrel with his mistress and keep his hand in by recovering missing works of art. But when Siv Mattheissen, the female lover of a high-powered lesbian CEO of an international conglomerate, is kidnapped by a self-proclaimed eco-terrorist group named "the Erinyes," Robie receives an offer he cannot refuse. Using a host of old connections as well as high-tech (virtual personas) and low-tech (martial arts) techniques, Robie tracks the kidnappers to a Chinese-controlled bank in Chile. Matz's first novel boasts a robust background (including substantial global warming, among other features), a large cast of ethnically diverse characters (Robie's own ancestry includes French, English, Scot, Basque and Native American) and a wealth of detail about life in the future. The world-building is so involved, in fact, that it sometimes slows the novel's pace and substantially diminishes its climax. But overall, this is an excellent debut, and one featuring a sensitive protagonist certain to appeal to intelligent action-SF readers. (June)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 480 pages
• Publisher: Tor Science Fiction; First Edition edition (April 15, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0812575377
• ISBN-13: 978-0812575378
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4.2 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,263,077 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Better than that., June 4, 2000

By 

MacDonald Fan (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Nocturne For A Dangerous Man (Paperback)

I'd have to disagree with the last reviewer. First off, any story set more than a few years in the future is science fiction, or to use the much better term, speculative fiction. If the science doesn't jump out at you (and there's a lot more than is apparent at a glance) that's because Matz is of the show, not tell, school of SF writers. Second Gavilan Robie is an extraordinary character, but he's no superman. He falls into the very capable, mature, category of heroes -- such as his spiritual ancestor, Travis McGee. (If you don't believe that there are people who are incredibly at both physical and intellectual activities, check out Joanna Zeiger. She's a top marathoner, Olympic class triathlete, and is going for her Phd at John Hopkins in genetic epidemology. Superwoman?) Robie may be at the high end of the curve, but he's not off the chart. Anyway, I like reading about people who are really gifted, and giving. Sometime Matz enjoys being erudite, but obfuscation? I didn't find the book either confusing or obscure. What I did find was a thoughtful, and exciting, thriller that got me to think about what kind of plausible future we are going to get and what kind of people we want to be.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Science Fiction for Real Adults, June 22, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Nocturne for a Dangerous Man (Hardcover)

An intense, enthralling thriller. What I like best about Nocturne for a Dangerous Man is that the characters are complex and multi-layered. The eco-terrorists have background and stories; they are not just stereotyped villains. The protagonist is a complex mixture of many emotions and motives. I particularly appreciate his dedication to ethical principles--and cynical idealism. He is truly the dangerous man of the title, yet operates from a worldview that favors freedom and many other important values. The author does not allow his rich characterizations to interfere with the story. This is a thriller and you feel the tension as he tries to get to the kipnapped executive before she is killed. Buy this novel. You'll be thrilled, scared, inspired and more.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A rich tapestry, July 15, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Nocturne for a Dangerous Man (Hardcover)

Reading this book makes me want to describe it in more poetic or evocative language than I usually use. The villains evoke the Greek Furies, but to describe the book as a whole I would evoke the Fates who spun the lives of men. Nocturne is a rich tapestry with threads of many lives. I might nickname it The Webs of a Life. The phrase "A Knight of Ghosts and Shadows" also comes strongly to mind, but that has already been used as an SF title. The hero, Gavilan, is a true paladin living in a world 50 years from now. He makes his living recovering stolen art, but his life is rescuing people. The events in the novel take less than 10 days, but Gavilan's ghosts and flashbacks span 30 years of rescues and family memories cover over 100 years.

The plot can be described simply: a brilliant young scientist is kidnapped by terrorists, and Gavilan is convinced to try to rescue her before a 10-day ransom deadline. The characters and the book are not simple, they are deep and rich. The terrorists are misguided idealists. Gavilan is a musician, an art lover, and a deadly unarmed combat expert with strong ethical principles against killing. His actions are always aimed at preserving lives, even those of his opponents, not taking lives, but his actions are not always gentle. (Don't let the cover mislead you--Gavilan does not carry a gun, but he is indeed dangerous.)

The world in Nocturne is very lived-in. There are no expository lumps to describe gee-whiz changes to the reader, but there are many changes from our world present in the background.

I can recommend this book to anyone who likes science fiction, music, art, martial arts, daring rescues, loving relationships, haunted heroes, strong ethics, believable futures and many other threads woven into a rich whole.