Thursday, August 20, 1998
Title: Only Forward
Author: Michael Marshall Smith
Publisher: Harper Collins
This is the first novel by Michael Marshall Smith, which has just been reprinted with new artwork to coincide with the release of his third novel, "One Of Us", in hardback. In this book he demonstrates a quick incisive wit - while it is set in an alternate existence, he still manages to take sideways pokes at ours. The style is like many a classic detective thriller but, as with many who use this style, the flow is fueled by humour. And the flow is such that the whole novel is a fluid read; I literally sat and read this in one day - I wasn't sleeping until I'd finished, despite this being my second read.
The story involves a city which has grown to take up 70% of the land mass of the country it is part of. Part of this evolution has been the formation of Neighborhoods, where people who want to live in a certain way live together. The main character is a man called Stark, who does not fit into any of the Neighborhoods as they exist, which makes him uniquely equipped to take on "special" jobs. The "special" job in this case revolves around a kidnapping - but of course, to prevent that being to simple, things are not as they seem. To this end, the action takes a strange twist until the characters are entering a peculiar dream world. In doing so the true history and reasoning of the protagonist becomes clear.
The characters are well written - Stark never being caught short of a witty line. While the dialogue is clever and amusing, it also achieves great depth in the examination of the character's history, covering childhood, friendships, and betrayal; each of these areas affecting the character's journeys through his dreams and through his memories. All of the Neighborhood's they travel through have their own peculiarities - from Stark's Colour, where the walls are sensitive to the mood and clothes of residents; through Action, where everyone is a "can-do" workaholic; to Cat where only cats live and only those that love cats can enter.
The story, while being funny, also has other aspects to it - elements of thriller, of tech, and of horror - thrills as it becomes clear that there is a force working against Stark, then chills with the realization of the awful truth. The tech is ever present and while it is not a driving element, it serves to give substance and background to the character's lives - examples are the talking machines with bad attitudes (a warped lift and a huffy bug detector) or the grav-benders (turning the gravity planes of items and rooms around on themselves). Progressing to the final section of the book, Michael has added another reality to the already strange city in the form of the dream world - where in the characters meet their worst nightmares in a form more horrific than they are really prepared for.
Having sought this book out after reading one of Michael's short stories, I can say I was not disappointed. I enjoyed it as much this second time as I did the first and would recommend it, along with his second book "Spares". For those interested, I suggest you check out the preview of "Spares" on the publisher's site Harper Collins/Voyager2, which will give you a feel for how this man works.
RVWR: PTR
August 1998
