Sidekick

So why is Black Man by Richard Morgan so good? Initial examination show that it looks to be just another SF thriller. A crime story told in a recognisable future with a hard boiled lead character and lots of violence. It is large and yet tightly written, with a complex interwoven plot, fast paced and has an excellent cast of secondary characters. Those are the standard things that an SF thriller has and Morgan does them all well. He is pretty much the master of this corner of the genre. Other writers are migrating here but Morgan started off writing this stuff and this is him at the top of his form.

Yet, to me, there seems just a little bit more here as well. It isn't the added political and cultural comment. Everybody is doing it these days and while Morgan does it well, it is not special. No, I think that it is the character engagement that catches you by surprise. I really lived with the secondary characters - yes the secondary ones. It is in the nature of these types of books that the hero is a bit beyond human. They may be flawed and complex but there is something that is not in the normal realm about them. Actually, in Black Man that is literally the case. In any case, you expect to have a little difficulty identifying with them. The secondary characters in most thrillers are part of the scenery - motivation, target, red herring, villain and so forth. You don't really expect to care about them. Except this time you do. Gosh, just like a real book. Perhaps I'm reading the wrong thrillers. Anybody worried that this is some attempt to be "arty" - first note that "little bit" at the beginning of this paragraph and then go back and read the first paragraph.