By Stephanie Robinson
I’m in a book club. In this book club, we alternate three people each time to choose an author, narrow down to three books, and ultimately pick the book we’re all reading. Back in December, Abe chose Jonathan Lethem, Emi narrowed it to Motherless Brooklyn, Gun, With Occasional Music, and The Feral Detective, and Danny selected this one.
Originally published in March 1994, Gun, With Occasional Music is a hardboiled detective noir set in a strange dystopian world where animal hybrids walk the streets (and work as hired muscle), babies are adults, and people use a drug called “make” in alarming amounts.
In this strange future, psychology is treated as a religion, questions are rude, and guns play music when drawn.
“It performed a couple of bars of ominous, pulsing violin when it came out of his pocket, like the occasional music titled GUN for an old radio show.”
Me when I got to that line in the book
This book was an interesting mix of Dick Tracy, Animal Farm, and Brave New World. I gave it ⅘ stars. I would be interested in reading his other work and would recommend this to fans of sci-fi, noir, or dystopia.
My Goodreads (if you’re interested)
