Gun, with Occasional Music (Harvest Book) book cover by Jonathan Lethem
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Gun, with Occasional Music (Harvest Book)

Adult • Mystery • Thriller & Suspense • Animals • Thriller
Gumshoe Metcalf works in Oakland Murder of a wealthy doctor complicates case Talking animals are integrated into society Police monitor citizens by karma levels A love interest complicates the investigation

Gumshoe Conrad Metcalf has problems—there's a rabbit in his waiting room and a trigger-happy kangaroo on his tail. Near-future Oakland is a world where evolved animals are members of society, the police monitor citizens by their karma levels, and mind-numbing drugs such as Forgettol and Acceptol are common.

Metcalf has been shadowing Celeste, the wife of an affluent doctor, and perhaps he's falling a little in love with her. When the doctor turns up dead, the investigator finds himself caught in a crossfire between agents from the Inquisitor's Office and gangsters who operate out of the back room of a bar called the Fickle Muse. The novel follows Metcalf as he navigates talking animals, competing authorities, and altered social norms while pursuing the truth.

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Edition information

Book details

Publisher
Ecco
Publication date
September 1, 2003
Print length
269 pages
Language
English
ISBN
9780156028974

Mystery + Thriller & Suspense + Animals

Reader guide

What to Know Before Reading Gun, with Occasional Music (Harvest Book)

Gumshoe Conrad Metcalf is a private investigator in near-future Oakland where evolved animals coexist with humans. He has been shadowing Celeste, the wife of an affluent doctor, and may be falling for her; when the doctor is found dead, Metcalf is pulled into a murder investigation that pits the Inquisitor's Office against gangsters operating from the bar the Fickle Muse. The book examines surveillance by karma scores, the social effects of drugs such as Forgettol and Acceptol, and the uneasy boundaries between species and authority as Metcalf tries to solve the crime without becoming collateral.

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G-NRIS™ story intelligence

Why readers connect with Gun, with Occasional Music (Harvest Book)

A concise view of the book’s strongest literary signals and the reading interests shared by people connected to it on bks.social.

Story profile

G-NRIS™ identifies Gun, with Occasional Music (Harvest Book) primarily as Science Fiction, Mystery, and Speculative Fiction. Its strongest themes include Surveillance and Control, Social Stratification, Identity and Otherness, and Love and Obsession. Prominent narrative patterns include Hardboiled Detective, Anthropomorphic Animals, Near-Future Dystopia, and Corrupt Authority.

Reader connection

Readers connected to this book most often reflect Psychological Moral Explorer reader archetypes. Their strongest shared genre interests include Dark Fantasy, Thriller, Mystery, and Noir. They are commonly drawn to themes such as plot twists, secrets, toxic family dynamics, and enemies to lovers.

About the author

Jonathan Lethem

Jonathan Lethem

Jonathan Lethem was born in New York and attended Bennington College. He is the author of seven novels including Fortress of Solitude and Motherless Brooklyn, which was named Novel of the Year by Esquire and won the National Book Critics Circle Award and the Salon Book Award, as well as the Macallan Crime Writers Association Gold Dagger. He has also written two short story collections, a novella and a collection of essays, edited The Vintage Book of Amnesia, guest-edited The Year's Best Music Writing 2002, and was the founding fiction editor of Fence magazine. His writings have appeared in the New Yorker, Rolling Stone, McSweeney's and many other periodicals. He lives in Brooklyn, New York
Author information: Wikipedia

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