Nick Harkaway

Assigned to a ceremonial post in Mancreu, British consul and Afghanistan war veteran Lester Ferris is compelled to disregard widespread underworld activities while bonding with a comic-addicted youth who during a violent uprising desperately relies on him for help. By the award-winning author of Angelmaker.

A Novel

Tigerman

Jason Porterfield

Bryan Alexander

Tigerman is a moving, entertaining, engaging, and ultimately sweet novel.

The book came to me as a combination recommendation and gift from my brother. I've already read and enjoyed both of Harkaway's previous novels (Gone-Away World, Angelmaker). So my hopes were elevated, and my expectations included what I see as the author's mix of humor, adventure, and pathos. Tigerman delivered on all of those.

The plot concerns a British soldier living in semiretirement on the mythical island of Mancreu (somewhere east of Africa, west of the Indian Ocean, close to India and Egypt). Sergeant Ferris has some vague responsibility to look into (or over) things on Mancreu, being the sole occupant of what remains of a British colonial and ambassadorial presence. The island is doing poorly, being victimized by environmental distress which could spread elsewhere, and hence scheduled at some point to receive an airborne attack which will end its society. An ominous fleet anchors in the island's main bay, hosting a variety of illegal activities. An international humanitarian mission, NatProMan, occupies part of Mancreu's main town. But a sudden burst of unscheduled violence kicks Ferris out of his doomed yet cheery complacency and into a spiraling investigation. 

Ferris' friendship with the boy anchors that mystery-solving. Ferris wants to be a father to the lad (who calls himself Robin, but the name doesn't take), and strives to reshape himself accordingly. The boy, however, introduces the older man to comic books, eventually helping the sergeant become the superhero Tigerman.

Saying more about the plot requires spoilerizing. (view spoiler)[Ferris becomes Tigerman and in so doing grows into a warrior and hero, reaching global status by the conclusion. He ferrets out corruption in the island's multinational humanitarian force, while learning that Mancreu's demolition has been sped up. Around halfway through the novel I guessed two things which turned out to be true: that the boy was the architect of many schemes, and that he would die. Being correct didn't prevent me from being moved by "Robin"'s disappearance and Ferris' grief, then by his final move into long-deferred romance. (hide spoiler)]

Harkaway manages a fascinating hybrid, a cross between Joseph Conrad and the superhero genre. Like Lord Jim or Victory this novel is primarily about the protagonist growing from a position of moral weakness and mental stasis to a better place of physical and moral strength. We have the colonial and maritime setting, along with interloping and occasionally sinister Europeans, plus a sense of the tragic. From the superhero side we see the origin of Tigerman (more like Batman's, nothing supernatural) and his crime-fighting career. We also get comedy and a lighthearted sensibility. As the nexus point between the two lies a great deal of action, scene-establishing, and pathos.

There is much to admire about Tigerman, starting with the way it pulls off that hybridization. The superhero and the Conrad hero mesh smoothly in Ferris/Tigerman. Harkaway somehow manages to alternate between tragedy and comedy without jarring.

Some of the comedy comes from the father-son relationship. The boy speaks almost completely in a mix of comic book and internet memes, which the older man sometimes understands. Faced with sudden violence and emotional panic, the boy calms himself, explaining: "Emote later. Right now: Voight-Kampff FTW." (That's a Phil Dick/Blade Runner reference, dear reader). Reacting to a superhero plan, the boy rhapsodizes:
Then he explained in a whisper that the plan was composed entirely of awesome. It was made and designed by the House of Awesome, from materials found in the deep awesome mines of Awesometania and it would be recorded in the Annals of Awesome - and nowhere else, because any other book would catch fire and explode from the awesome - and by its awesomeness it would be known from now until the crack of doom. (Kindle location 2114 out of 5729)
That just begs to be read aloud.

Ferris isn't immune to geekiness, as when he wonders about the right verb to describe the act of adding keywords to a document (Kindle location 4918 out of 5729)

There's also a steady stream of repartee. The British Ferris and NatProMan's American commander tease each other, like so:
"Seen from space, Lester. Space. The place where British people do not go because the British space program is, what, two guys with a really long stick?"
"In that way, Jed, it is very much like U.S. healthcare." (Kindle location 3299 out of 5729)
Not to mention self-mocking: The Brit abroad is always the voice of caution. Persons of other cultures are known to be undisciplined, prone to leaning out of car windows and cooking with garlic.(Kindle location 211 out of 5729)

While amusing us Harkaway also turns the book into an anticolonialist critique. At the novel's beginning all seems benign, with foreigners nicely snuggled into Mancreu's pluralistic society. And yet... (view spoiler)[NatProMan turns out to be running heroin. The Fleet's crimes grow to include not only what we normally think of as crimes (kidnapping, murder, drug-running, prostitution) but also crimes committed by America in the war on terror: extraordinary rendition, torture, extrajudicial killings. We learn of Ferris' career in Afghanistan without being assured that it was a good cause. And the British house on the island contains records and references to horrible British rule elsewhere, like Kenya. The international community knows about and tolerates much of this, of course. It will act... to destroy everything but the crimes, in order to protect itself from an environmental disaster caused by a bad industrial actor. (hide spoiler)] Tigerman issues serious political critique, much as Conrad and comics sometimes did (and do). 

I found myself invested in Ferris' character arc, not least because I'm a father to a geekish boy. Harkaway loads the story with all kinds of threats, keeping us in a state of anxiety throughout. We're reminded of how things could turn out badly from the sergeant's ongoing reading of 
  The Friends of Eddie Coyle
.

This may be the best superhero novel I've read, and is certainly a delightful novel. Recommended.

Hannah Swithinbank

Lester Ferris, sergeant of the British Army, is a good man in need of a rest. He's spent a lot of his life being shot at, and Afghanistan was the last stop on his road to exhaustion. He has no family, he's nearly forty, burned out and about to be retired. The island of Mancreu is the ideal place for Lester to serve out his time. It's a former British colony in legal limbo, soon to be destroyed because of its very special version of toxic pollution - a down-at-heel, mildly larcenous backwater. Of course, that also makes Mancreu perfect for shady business, hence the Black Fleet of illicit ships lurking in the bay: listening stations, offshore hospitals, money laundering operations, drug factories and deniable torture centres. None of which should be a problem, because Lester's brief is to sit tight and turn a blind eye. But Lester Ferris has made a friend: a brilliant, internet-addled street kid with a comic book fixation who will need a home when the island dies - who might, Lester hopes, become an adopted son. Now, as Mancreu's small society tumbles into violence, the boy needs Lester to be more than just an observer. In the name of paternal love, Lester Ferris will do almost anything. And he's a soldier with a knack for bad places: 'almost anything' could be a very great deal - even becoming some sort of hero. But this is Mancreu, and everything here is upside down. Just exactly what sort of hero will the boy need?

Phil James

Danny Engström

Johanna Kenrick

Jessie Alvarez

Remi Damours

Greg Park

Michael Bowman

'Gloriously exuberant and entertaining.' Guardian 'A funny, moving and thought-provoking tale ... It's brilliant.' Independent on Sunday Sergeant Lester Ferris is a good man in need of a rest. He’s spent a lot of his life being shot at. He has no family, he’s nearly forty, burned out and about to be retired. The island of Mancreu is the perfect place for Lester to serve out his time – and the perfect place for shady business, too, hence the Black Fleet of illicit ships lurking in the bay: listening stations, money laundering operations, drug factories and deniable torture centres. None of which should be a problem, because Lester’s brief is to turn a blind eye. But Lester has made a friend: a brilliant, internet-addled street kid with a comic-book fixation who might, Lester hopes, become an adopted son. As Mancreu’s small society tumbles into violence, the boy needs Lester to be more than just an observer. He needs him to be a hero.

Tigerman A Novel

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