Though not perfect, I really enjoyed this Harkaway book and hope to read more. Sad, and funny, and full of human insights. Somehow both reflective and full of action (but low on violence or nastiness). Almost all the characters are interesting and people you can like or at least relate to. ( )

Tigerman is decidedly less sfnal than other Harkaway novels I have read (The Gone-Away World and Gnomon), but it is in large measure an indulgence in costumed vigilantism with the superhero mythos firmly in its sights. In the third chapter, a twelve-year-old boy uses a rolled up copy of an Invisibles comic book to attack a bandit. And I think that Tigerman is to Aidan Truhen's (i.e. Harkaway's) later Jack Price books very much as Grant Morrison's The Filth was to his own earlier Invisibles work. It's a matter of worrying at the same questions and catastrophes from two different perspectives: the criminal (The Invisibles; Jack Price) and the cop (The Filth; Tigerman).*

"His perceptions of copperhood were formed by the dream of England, still. A copper was a bloke in a slightly silly hat who walked the beat, talked to shopkeepers about the price of fish, and sorted out young ruffians." (59)

Protagonist--and eventual secret identity--Lester Ferris is an English infantry sergeant serving as brevet consul, the sole vestigial authority of the UK in the former colony of Mancreu, an island slated for eradication by the UN Security Council because of its contamination by chemical and biological hazards. Seen through a wide lens, there are many curious parallels here with the bachelor police investigator of The Wicker Man (1973), although this book lacks the movie's happy ending. And of course the folk horror setting is changed for a 21st-century neocapitalist backdrop of ecocide and digital mediascapes.

Tigerman is a fast read in about twenty longish chapters, each digestible in a single sitting. It has a lot of strongly-drawn characters, none of them entirely realistic, and many quite over-the-top. There is a major twist that I was able to anticipate just a few pages ahead of its official reveal. I suspect that was by the author's design--a pleasant experience for readers.

* Edited to add: Now that I have read Angelmaker I realize that the matched criminal/cop pair is really Angelmaker and Tigerman.

Up to the last twenty pages, this was a five-star book. Clever wordplay that made you want more, engaging characters that you actually care about.
And then the ending ruined it. The bad guy turns out to be someone toy least expected. ok, that's fine. But no need to break our protagonist's heart in the end! Boo, Nick. Unnecessary. ( )

Mancreu is an island in the Indian Ocean under a death sentence, due to burn for its crimes. But the crimes are environmental, created by outside empires and corporations who have turned the island into a chemical disaster zone with their pollution. There's also an offshore fleet of ships taking advantage of lax laws to engage in unregulated business of all types. The island is to be evacuated, then destroyed.

Lester Ferris is an army sergeant, war veteran, and the lone British official on the island. His orders are to lay low and cause no embarassment to the U.K. But some of the contractors supposed to be keeping order are engaged in drug trafficking and who knows what else. Ferris is also trying to figure out a way to adopt a semi-feral island boy and get him safely off the island before it ceases to exist. Inspired by the boy's beloved comic books, Ferris gets drawn into a highly visible role as a crime fighter who becomes known as Tigerman (not Tiger Man.) Like previous superheros, Tigerman's true identity is not known to most.

Set in a backdrop of chaos and high emotions Ferris's quest to do good sets off a dramatic series of unintended consequences. A highly original and entertaining book. ( )

Mancreu is a place beyond the law. A former British colony, this little island is at risk of being destroyed by an environmental disaster: clouds of toxic chemicals whose full health effects can’t be fully predicted. Until the island dies, the inhabitants are left to fend for themselves, and the Black Fleet of law-evading criminals looms just offshore. Lester Ferris is the sole British consular representative left on the island, and he finds himself embroiled in saving the island from self-destruction at the hands of rioters. But he’s not alone: he has a comic-book-obsessed youth for a sidekick. Together they will bring Tigerman to life.

As with Harkaway’s other novels that I’ve read (Angelmaker, The Gone-Away World), this is a great concept, but it definitely took some digging for me to get into it. It’s not a casual read, although it is amusing in a dry-wit sort of way.

I will warn the prospective reader that there are two scenes where harm comes to animals (specifically, dogs). ( )