Nick Harkaway

Avoiding the lifestyle of his late gangster father by working as a clock repairman, Joe Spork fixes an unusual device that turns out to be a former secret agent's doomsday machine and incurs the wrath of the government and a diabolical South Asian dictator.

Angelmaker

This book is like climbing onto a merry-go-round only to discover that the music plays backwards, someone put a GT engine in it, and the horses all breathe fire.

Theo

Camilla Woodhouse

LOVED it. Took a while to get into it but when it started gathering pace it became an irresistible read. A thinner with a touch of Sci-Fi - great combination

From the acclaimed author of The Gone-Away World - a new riveting action spy thriller, blistering gangster noir, and howling absurdist comedy: a propulsively entertaining tale about a mobster's son and a retired secret agent who are forced to team up to save the world. All Joe Spork wants is a quiet life. He repairs clockwork and lives above his shop in a wet, unknown bit of London. The bills don't always get paid and he's single and has no prospects of improving his lot, but at least he's not trying to compete with the reputation of Mathew "Tommy Gun" Spork, his infamous criminal dad. Edie Banister lives quietly and wishes she didn't. She's nearly ninety and remembers when she wasn't. She's a former superspy and now she's... well... old. Worse yet, the things she fought to save don't seem to exist anymore, and she's beginning to wonder if they ever did. When Joe fixes one particularly unusual device, his life is suddenly upended. The client? Unknown. And the device? It's a 1950s doomsday machine. And having triggered it, Joe now faces the wrath of both the government and a diabolical South Asian dictator, Edie's old arch-nemesis. With Joe's once-quiet world now populated with mad monks, psychopathic serial killers, scientific geniuses and threats to the future of conscious life in the universe, he realises that the only way to survive is to muster the courage to fight, help Edie complete a mission she gave up years ago, and pick up his father's old gun...

++ surreal noir thriller with a Dickensian flavour, a rewarding reading journey
-- a bit longwinding at times and, in my opinion, a rushed ending

Jennifer

I discovered Nick Harkaway's Angelmaker when I was browsing one of my fave author's book recommendation list. As promised, Harkaway's sophmore novel is an eccentric and mind-bending novel full of intricate imageries and supernatural elements. What's also impressive: the clever word play and that there's a surprisingly coherent worldview throughout the novel.

Personally I would had hoped to have gotten more into Angelmaker. I think the combination of slow pacing and alternating POV's is quite a stretch to get used to. I think it's one of those books that needs to be read at the right state of mind because when I was reading this I felt that several chapters really dragged and I had to endure to the very end to figure out how all the details piece together.

Concerns aside, I do think the concept of Angelmaker is pretty interesting and if you're into intricate prose & want to experience the joy where everything clicks together in the end, this is still worth checking out! Just be aware that the writing is very dense and slow paced.

N.B. This book contains following content warnings: death, drowning, violence, blood mention, and weapons

Phil James

As another reviewer already said this "ticks all the boxes" but is ultimately disappointing. After Nick Harkaway's brilliant debut novel "The Goneaway World" that was edgy, creepy and seriously mind-blowing scienc-fiction I was expecting more. After reading Neil Gaiman and China Mieville's takes on the secret London conspiracy plot I did feel as if I'd read it all before, and was just looking for the climax and the end.

Bryan Alexander

Splendid fun. 
Angelmaker reminds me of Tim Powers at his best. There are ancient conspiracies, art obsessives, love, a suffering hero, a dash of fantasy, history, world-threatening doom.
It's also fine pulp. One plot thread involves a hyper-Bondian spy vs spy struggle (which surely irritates and/or amuses Harkaway's more famous father, John Le Carre).
The language is lush, playful, sometimes wry, usually a treat.

Michael Cowell

Molly Shipley

Cena

From the acclaimed author of The Gone-Away World - an adventure story, a war story, and a love story, all wound into one brilliant narrative that runs like clockwork. Shortlisted for the Arthur C. Clarke Award for Science Fiction Literature. Joe Spork, son of the infamous criminal Mathew 'Tommy Gun' Spork just wants a quiet life, repairing clockwork in a wet, unknown bit of London. Edie Banister, former superspy, lives quietly and wishes she didn't. She's nearly ninety and the things she fought to save don't seem to exist anymore. She's beginning to wonder if they ever did. When Joe is asked to fix one particularly unusual device, his life is suddenly upended. The client? Unknown. The device? A 1950s doomsday machine. Having triggered it, Joe now faces the wrath of both the government and a diabolical South Asian dictator, Edie's old arch-nemesis. Joe's once-quiet world is now populated with mad monks, psychopathic serial killers, scientific geniuses and threats to the future of conscious life in the universe. The only way he can survive, is to muster the courage to fight, help Edie complete a mission she gave up years ago, and pick up his father's old gun...

Angelmaker

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