String City by Graham Edwards

March 7, 2019

THE UNIVERSE IS MADE OF STRING. WHEN THE KNOTS TIGHTEN, THE COSMOS QUAKES.

It’s a tough job being a gumshoe in an interdimensional city full of gods, living concepts and weirder things. Good thing I’m a stringwalker, able to jump between realities.

It started when I was hired to investigate an explosion at a casino. A simple heist, I thought, but it turned into a race to stop the apocalypse. So I rolled the dice, and now I’m up against the ancient Greek Titans, an interdimensional spider god and a mysterious creature known as the Fool. I’m going to need more than just luck to solve this one.

If I fail, all things—in all realities—could be destroyed.

Just another day in String City.

This week, it’s time for some crime, but with a distinctly different flavour than any other crime novel I’ve ever reviewed before. The threads of reality that hold the fabric of existence together all meet in String City. All manner of beings, weird and wonderful, devilish and divine, inhabit the city streets. When things go wrong, and a degree of subtlety is required, then a certain individual is called upon to ensure the wheels of all the multiverses continue to turn smoothly.

How does a down-at-heel shamus navigate through the cacophony of chaos that is String City? Well, a reliable coffee machine, a multi-dimensional filing cabinet and a Swiss Army coat* certainly help. Of course, when you are dealing with the entirety of existence then you are also going to need friends. The good news is that “The Gumshoe” (he is never explicitly named) is not alone. Over the course of his adventures, he manages to pick up some new associates; a young woman called Zephyr, with the obligatory mysterious past, and an artificial intelligence nicknamed Bronzey who has decided there must be more to life than office work. This mismatched surrogate family try to solve the cases that cross their desk, but each new clue seems to point even bigger mysteries including the threat of a forthcoming apocalypse.

There is a nice episodic air to String City. We get to follow The Gumshoe as he uncovers the culprit behind The Tartarus Heist. Who would be stupid enough to steal from a Titan? I mean they are huge, and I suspect their vengeance would probably be, at the very least, pretty damned wrathful). Elsewhere, simple cases of marital infidelity manage to be far more complex than they initially appear. Each new case reveals a little bit more about what is going on whilst still managing to also succeed as a standalone. My favourite parts of the narrative occur in a case called Windy City. Our erstwhile hero gets involved in a local labour dispute with the gods of weather that spirals out of all control. On a side note, I was pleased to discover that of course the tax inspectors in String City are giant insects. I mean c’mon, why wouldn’t they be?

Where I think String City really excels is in the use of language. There are a whole host of marvellously judged throw away lines. Edwards lets rip with a plethora of old school crime busting lingo. We are firmly in the realms of detective noir and there is an expectation that a private eye is going to talk a certain way. The writing embraces this idea wholeheartedly. The voice of the main protagonist is suitably crumpled and ground down by life. I think I was imagining a cross between Columbo and Sam Spade. A little dishevelled, but given half a chance still an ace investigator.

“In String City, the sewer system has a mind of its own. Trouble is, it’s the mind of a serial killer.”

Detectives eh, always with a witty comeback, snarky comment or pithy remark.

Graham Edwards’ latest put me in mind of Simon R Green’s gleefully bonkers Nightside novels and The Office of Lost and Found by Vincent Holland-Keen. If you’ve read any of these then String City is going to feel like a treat. We’re transported to a vast metropolis where anything and everything are possible. Where else will you find ancient Greek heroes, with partial memory loss, captaining a boat on a mystical river? Golems rub shoulders with zombie angels and buildings have a tendency to explode unexpectedly. String City feels all encompassing, like a microcosm of the cosmos.

Blending together fantasy, quantum theory and well-established detective tropes creates an evocative adventure that often delights. I’ll be honest, a lot of the sciencey type stuff was a bit over my head but it sure sounded impressive. I’m a simple soul, much like The Gumshoe himself, but my woeful lack of understanding did not detract from the action one iota.

String City is published by Rebellion Publishing and is available now. If you’re looking for some smart hard-bitten detective noir with a cosmically mind-bending chocolatey centre, then you need look no further. Highly recommended.

My musical recommendation to accompany this oddly wonderful writing is the wonderfully odd album Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes by Liam Sauvé. I can’t even begin to describe what category this soundtrack falls into. All I can tell you is that it dovetails perfectly with the novel. Everything from jingly elevator music to tracks featuring ominous and sinister chords, I rather suspect this album may have originated direct from String City itself.

*It’s like a Swiss Army knife but with more pockets, a nice lining and a couple of sleeves.

 

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