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Titanium Noir #2
Sleeper Beach
From the Sunday Times bestselling author of Karla's Choice, comes a thrilling new detective novel.
On the shore of a rundown holiday town, a young woman washes up dead. Martha Erskine, the matriarch of a local dynasty, suspects a member of her own family might be involved in the murder, and calls in Cal to investigate.
Cal Sounder is a detective first and a Titan second, but it's not easy to make that work. It's hard to be an ordinary guy when you're fundamentally not ordinary anymore. Cal has recently taken a dose of T7, a rare drug that is usually the preserve of the rich, making its users - called the Titans - younger and bigger each time they take it, so that as they age the bodies of the ultra-wealthy become as immense as their bank accounts.
As Cal digs into the crime, he finds this forgotten town is simmering with wage disputes, strikes, and political conflict, and no one is quite who they say they are - not even the victim. As Cal second-guesses everyone he meets, he is forced to confront his own identity and ask himself who he wants to be from the far side of the mirror of power, age and greed.
Sleeper Beach is a hugely original, powerful and action-packed novel from the acclaimed novelist Nick Harkaway.
On the shore of a rundown holiday town, a young woman washes up dead. Martha Erskine, the matriarch of a local dynasty, suspects a member of her own family might be involved in the murder, and calls in Cal to investigate.
Cal Sounder is a detective first and a Titan second, but it's not easy to make that work. It's hard to be an ordinary guy when you're fundamentally not ordinary anymore. Cal has recently taken a dose of T7, a rare drug that is usually the preserve of the rich, making its users - called the Titans - younger and bigger each time they take it, so that as they age the bodies of the ultra-wealthy become as immense as their bank accounts.
As Cal digs into the crime, he finds this forgotten town is simmering with wage disputes, strikes, and political conflict, and no one is quite who they say they are - not even the victim. As Cal second-guesses everyone he meets, he is forced to confront his own identity and ask himself who he wants to be from the far side of the mirror of power, age and greed.
Sleeper Beach is a hugely original, powerful and action-packed novel from the acclaimed novelist Nick Harkaway.
256 pages, Hardcover
First published April 10, 2025
86 people are currently reading
1521 people want to read
About the author
Nick Harkaway
31 books53.8k followersNick Harkaway was born in Cornwall, UK in 1972. He is possessed of two explosively exciting eyebrows, which exert an almost hypnotic attraction over small children, dogs, and - thankfully - one ludicrously attractive human rights lawyer, to whom he is married.
He likes: oceans, mountains, lakes, valleys, and those little pigs made of marzipan they have in Switzerland at new year.
He does not like: bivalves. You just can't trust them.
He likes: oceans, mountains, lakes, valleys, and those little pigs made of marzipan they have in Switzerland at new year.
He does not like: bivalves. You just can't trust them.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 79 reviews
September 20, 2025
New weird
(crime, science‑fiction and fantasy mash‑up) – in which a newly‑minted Titan immortal, Cal Sounder, private investigator, investigates the murder of a mortal woman in an older immortal’s fiefdom on an alt‑Earth. Second book in the author’s Titanium Noir series.
Cal Sounder, the new Titan immortal, works through the changes in perspective needed to work, live, and love for hundreds of years.
My dead‑tree copy was a modest 312 pages long. It carried a 2025 UK copyright.
Nick Harkaway , the nom de plume of Nicholas Cornwall, is a British novelist and commentator. He is also the son of the late author John Le Carré . He has written almost ten novels of fiction and one of non‑fiction. This was the fourth book I’ve read by him, the most recent being Titanium Noir (Titanium Noir, #1) (my review).
TL;DR Review
Titans are the world’s fabulously wealthy, near‑immortal elite. Their status is achieved through an enormously expensive medical procedure that has the side effect of giant‑like stature. Sounder, never a rich man, owes his state to complicated events involving the family dynasty that discovered, owns, and controls the genetic therapy for immortality. Even as a new Titan, he possessed considerable Titan “street cred”. Crime involving Titans is always complicated—especially when Sounder’s investigation points to an Erskine perpetrator.
This is an introspective Sounder story. It delves into his new identity as an immortal and the moral conflicts that arise from his former human self. It is chock‑full of noirish detective tropes and continues Harkaway’s exploration of class struggle, the dynamics of power (Titans have no concept of Noblesse oblige ), the pollution of wealth and the planet, and the Mount‑Olympus‑like political conflict in the Titan dystopia.
The Review
I’m somewhat of a Harkaway fanboy. While I haven’t read all of his novels, I have read many and keep a few on my physical TBR heap. That he's a fan of both Michael Chabon and William Gibson shows in this book. I am also a fan of hard‑boiled detective fiction, science‑fiction, and urban fantasy. His Titanium Noir series is detective fiction that also blends science‑fiction and urban‑fantasy world‑building—a combination often labeled New Weird Fiction. China Miéville ’s The City & the City is an example of New Weird. Detective, sci‑fi, and urban fantasy all in one book—what’s not to like?
Harkaway is a proficient, experienced author. Both dialogue and descriptive prose feel contemporarily hip. I noted that, being a UK edition, the prose has not been “Americanized” from the author’s native Brit. Wordplay and sly references abound; some may seem obscure, but most are amusing. Dialogue is good, containing the short, snappy sarcastic patter expected in a noir detective story. Although Harkaway’s metaphors are not as fully developed as Raymond Chandler’s, his action scenes are solid. I did find the numerous fight scenes overly elaborate. Be prepared to linger over the descriptive narrative—Harkaway is a creative literary writer.
There are two types of characters: mortal humans and Titans. Most characters are human. Titans are an elite group of extremely wealthy individuals—often whole families—who are immortal and possess prodigious regenerative powers. This is achieved through the Titanium 7 (T7) genetic therapy. The slogan for T7 treatment is “If you have to ask the price, you can’t afford it.” The transition from human to Titan also has side effects. Physically, each T7 dose increases muscle and bone density, turning recipients into giants. A three‑dose Titan can stand four meters (≈13 ft) tall and proportionally wide. Full mental and emotional maturity as a Titan can take a hundred years. In many ways, Titans constitute a distinct human subspecies.
The novel follows a single POV: Cal Sounder, the protagonist. (Hard‑boiled detective fiction is traditionally first‑person, single‑POV.) Sounder is a Philip Marlowe‑esque wise‑cracking, hard‑drinking, tough private eye. He began as a T7 “Objector.” In Titanium Noir he was spared death as a reward for services rendered, receiving a T7 dose while unconscious. Becoming a Titan triggers an identity crisis that remains unresolved when the story begins. Sounder is about forty years old, but as a Titan he stands roughly seven feet tall, with immense strength—essentially a linebacker‑sized figure.
Ailsa Lloyd is the “vic.” She is a human found dead by strangulation, dumped into the sea, and washed ashore on the resort’s beach. She is an enigmatic, well‑heeled, big‑city party girl involved in class‑struggle activism. She is also reported to be the season’s lover of the youngest Erskine, a non‑Titan scion. The vic serves as the story’s femme fatale. (I didn’t think you could have a dead one!)
Martha Erskine is a very old, multi‑dose Titan. She is so massive that she spends most of her time swimming in the ocean or suspended in buoyant pools. She heads the large Erskine conglomerate, though a still‑human descendant, Bail Erskine, runs the day‑to‑day business. Martha is one of the first Titans; after centuries she is beginning to act peculiar, even for a Titan. She is about the size of a full‑grown orca whale.
Timothy Iverson is the “good‑cop” Titan in the story. He has been police chief of the resort for decades. He is a mature, one‑dose Titan—about a hundred years old but looking forty. He is also an Erskine (biological) bastard. Iverson runs the police Lloyd murder investigation to avoid any “surprises.”
“Doublewide” is a failed T7 experiment who ends up a King of Thieves outside the Titan sub‑culture. In classic hard‑boiled fiction he would be a Gentleman Gangster or Club Owner archetype, but here he occupies a unique niche.
The story also contains a host of supporting characters with modern twists on hard‑boiled archetypes. True to the genre, Sounder “knows a guy or gal” for everything needed to move the plot forward—a forensic CPA, for instance. Sporty Jasmine (not her real name) is Sounder’s new, scarily capable human assistant. Other figures include the: “good Bad Girl,” Bad Corporate Cop, Rookie Cop, Club Owner, Lesbian Medical Examiner, Hotelier, Leftist Activists, etc. The narrative is littered with thugs—both townies and corporate—but, interestingly, there are no lawyers, crooked or otherwise. For such a slim book, Harkaway employs a surprisingly large cast of genre characters.
When Sounder arrives in Shearwater, the town is teetering on the brink of class warfare between the Titan Erskine elite and the working‑class townies, fisherfolk, and wage slaves employed at Erskine’s corporate facilities. Sounder “eats shoe‑leather”, chasing leads on “Who was Ailsa Lloyd?” The murder investigation wades through layers of Titan corporate deception as well as recalcitrant townies and the Erskine family. All the while Sounder tries to wrap his new, longer, Titan arms around his new Titan identity (there are no Titan PIs). The murder mystery includes a school of red herrings offshore and onshore of Shearing and a quadruple “bait ’n switch.” Unfortunately, the final switch—only five pages from the end—feels less credible than earlier twists.
The story contains no sex, some drug use, no rock ’n’ roll, and moderate violence.
A secondary effect of T7 is a hyperactive sex drive. Sounder spends a lot of time with a “not while on a case” attitude. Sexual harassment appears in the narrative. Interestingly, no tobacco products are consumed; tobacco is a Schedule I substance in the alt‑future, akin to cannabis in our reality. Alcohol is consumed, though not in excess—characters drink beer, wine, and “cocktails” at beachside and dive bars, but never from cans. Pharmaceutical abuse is mentioned only in passing. There is no alt‑future rock ’n’ roll described, though people do dance in beach bars.
Violence is moderate, involving fists, edged weapons and firearms. Sounder is a tough, skilled, dirty fighter; Titan reflexes augment his abilities. He only resorts to violence when provoked or cornered, taking punishment that would have killed a grizzly bear—yet T7 grants Titans the resilience of a grizzly. Resulting trauma is described with moderate detail; the body count is low.
A minor but important location is the city of Chersenesos on the shores of the alpine Lake Othrys. It serves as the capital, the large city of Harkaway’s alt‑Earth. Though its name resembles Chersonesus , there is no direct connection. I picture it as a recovering American “Rust Belt” city—think Pittsburgh—on the shores of Lake Geneva, Switzerland. It feels gritty enough outside the Titans’ palatial residences.
Shearwater, the resort town, reminded me of Newport, Rhode Island , but with volcanic beaches and the post‑naval decline after the 1970s. Environmental change has shifted currents, eroding sand beaches and depositing micro‑plastics. The population has dwindled, businesses have closed, and property values have plummeted.
Readers should note the Foodie subplot Harkaway inserts into the genre. Immortal Titans believe life is short and refuse to waste it on anything less than excellent food and drink. The character Doublewide insists on a beer before “work,” a quirky detail that made me crave “traditionally brewed lager bier in the fashion of my [Doublewide] Slav ancestors.” (His Slav ancestors would drink pivo, not German bier—one of the few factual errors I spotted.) The Erskines also dine well.
Finally, this book is blissfully short compared with today’s often bloated contemporary sci‑fi, detective, and fantasy novels.
Summary
This story is a solid example of New Weird. It stays true to the hard‑boiled detective genre while keeping the series’ sci‑fi/fantasy setting credible, with minimal window‑dressing. The super‑rich immortal Titans function as an immoral, corrupt separate species, and climate change provides the most notable urban‑fantasy and sci‑fi contribution. In many places Harkaway’s millennial riffs on hard‑boiled conventions are noteworthy.
Like Harkaway’s previous novels, this one has a graphic‑novel‑style look ’n feel. For example, unlike “true” hard‑boiled fiction, there is one too many elaborate fight scenes—some feel unnecessary. The level of technical detail is good, with just enough hand‑waving to make the alt‑future plausible (most authors don’t realize that less [world‑building] can be more?). The ending is series‑specific.
I am, however, disappointed that a creative author like Harkaway has fallen victim to the easy money of serial fiction. There is little new world‑building and only occasional new characters, in it, making writing an easy dollar and guaranteeing income flow. This comes at the price of creativity.
Rating: I rarely rate serial fiction higher than three stars.
Prerequisites: Readers should have at least a passing acquaintance with classic hard‑boiled detective fiction to get the most out of this novel. They also must have read the preceding book.
Recommendation: Read it, if you are agile of mind, and have read the first book.
Cal Sounder, the new Titan immortal, works through the changes in perspective needed to work, live, and love for hundreds of years.
My dead‑tree copy was a modest 312 pages long. It carried a 2025 UK copyright.
Nick Harkaway , the nom de plume of Nicholas Cornwall, is a British novelist and commentator. He is also the son of the late author John Le Carré . He has written almost ten novels of fiction and one of non‑fiction. This was the fourth book I’ve read by him, the most recent being Titanium Noir (Titanium Noir, #1) (my review).
"People always think it’s my fault, but I just show up when things get messy."Having read Titanium Noir , the first book of the series, is almost required to get this novel. It heavily leverages world‑building and characters, and continues long‑term series plotlines introduced in that book. Because this is a relatively slim volume, there are not many pages devoted to back‑story.
— Cal Sounder, Private Investigator (PI)
TL;DR Review
There must be in‑groups whom the law protects but does not bind, alongside out‑groups whom the law binds but does not protect. — Wilhoit’s LawPrivate Detective Cal Sounder, now a Titan immortal, investigates the murder of a human woman in the down‑on‑its‑heels, chi‑chi seaside resort of Shearwater. The resort is also the seat of the long‑established Erskine Titan line’s business empire.
Titans are the world’s fabulously wealthy, near‑immortal elite. Their status is achieved through an enormously expensive medical procedure that has the side effect of giant‑like stature. Sounder, never a rich man, owes his state to complicated events involving the family dynasty that discovered, owns, and controls the genetic therapy for immortality. Even as a new Titan, he possessed considerable Titan “street cred”. Crime involving Titans is always complicated—especially when Sounder’s investigation points to an Erskine perpetrator.
This is an introspective Sounder story. It delves into his new identity as an immortal and the moral conflicts that arise from his former human self. It is chock‑full of noirish detective tropes and continues Harkaway’s exploration of class struggle, the dynamics of power (Titans have no concept of Noblesse oblige ), the pollution of wealth and the planet, and the Mount‑Olympus‑like political conflict in the Titan dystopia.
The Review
I’m somewhat of a Harkaway fanboy. While I haven’t read all of his novels, I have read many and keep a few on my physical TBR heap. That he's a fan of both Michael Chabon and William Gibson shows in this book. I am also a fan of hard‑boiled detective fiction, science‑fiction, and urban fantasy. His Titanium Noir series is detective fiction that also blends science‑fiction and urban‑fantasy world‑building—a combination often labeled New Weird Fiction. China Miéville ’s The City & the City is an example of New Weird. Detective, sci‑fi, and urban fantasy all in one book—what’s not to like?
Harkaway is a proficient, experienced author. Both dialogue and descriptive prose feel contemporarily hip. I noted that, being a UK edition, the prose has not been “Americanized” from the author’s native Brit. Wordplay and sly references abound; some may seem obscure, but most are amusing. Dialogue is good, containing the short, snappy sarcastic patter expected in a noir detective story. Although Harkaway’s metaphors are not as fully developed as Raymond Chandler’s, his action scenes are solid. I did find the numerous fight scenes overly elaborate. Be prepared to linger over the descriptive narrative—Harkaway is a creative literary writer.
There are two types of characters: mortal humans and Titans. Most characters are human. Titans are an elite group of extremely wealthy individuals—often whole families—who are immortal and possess prodigious regenerative powers. This is achieved through the Titanium 7 (T7) genetic therapy. The slogan for T7 treatment is “If you have to ask the price, you can’t afford it.” The transition from human to Titan also has side effects. Physically, each T7 dose increases muscle and bone density, turning recipients into giants. A three‑dose Titan can stand four meters (≈13 ft) tall and proportionally wide. Full mental and emotional maturity as a Titan can take a hundred years. In many ways, Titans constitute a distinct human subspecies.
The novel follows a single POV: Cal Sounder, the protagonist. (Hard‑boiled detective fiction is traditionally first‑person, single‑POV.) Sounder is a Philip Marlowe‑esque wise‑cracking, hard‑drinking, tough private eye. He began as a T7 “Objector.” In Titanium Noir he was spared death as a reward for services rendered, receiving a T7 dose while unconscious. Becoming a Titan triggers an identity crisis that remains unresolved when the story begins. Sounder is about forty years old, but as a Titan he stands roughly seven feet tall, with immense strength—essentially a linebacker‑sized figure.
Ailsa Lloyd is the “vic.” She is a human found dead by strangulation, dumped into the sea, and washed ashore on the resort’s beach. She is an enigmatic, well‑heeled, big‑city party girl involved in class‑struggle activism. She is also reported to be the season’s lover of the youngest Erskine, a non‑Titan scion. The vic serves as the story’s femme fatale. (I didn’t think you could have a dead one!)
Martha Erskine is a very old, multi‑dose Titan. She is so massive that she spends most of her time swimming in the ocean or suspended in buoyant pools. She heads the large Erskine conglomerate, though a still‑human descendant, Bail Erskine, runs the day‑to‑day business. Martha is one of the first Titans; after centuries she is beginning to act peculiar, even for a Titan. She is about the size of a full‑grown orca whale.
Timothy Iverson is the “good‑cop” Titan in the story. He has been police chief of the resort for decades. He is a mature, one‑dose Titan—about a hundred years old but looking forty. He is also an Erskine (biological) bastard. Iverson runs the police Lloyd murder investigation to avoid any “surprises.”
“Doublewide” is a failed T7 experiment who ends up a King of Thieves outside the Titan sub‑culture. In classic hard‑boiled fiction he would be a Gentleman Gangster or Club Owner archetype, but here he occupies a unique niche.
The story also contains a host of supporting characters with modern twists on hard‑boiled archetypes. True to the genre, Sounder “knows a guy or gal” for everything needed to move the plot forward—a forensic CPA, for instance. Sporty Jasmine (not her real name) is Sounder’s new, scarily capable human assistant. Other figures include the: “good Bad Girl,” Bad Corporate Cop, Rookie Cop, Club Owner, Lesbian Medical Examiner, Hotelier, Leftist Activists, etc. The narrative is littered with thugs—both townies and corporate—but, interestingly, there are no lawyers, crooked or otherwise. For such a slim book, Harkaway employs a surprisingly large cast of genre characters.
When Sounder arrives in Shearwater, the town is teetering on the brink of class warfare between the Titan Erskine elite and the working‑class townies, fisherfolk, and wage slaves employed at Erskine’s corporate facilities. Sounder “eats shoe‑leather”, chasing leads on “Who was Ailsa Lloyd?” The murder investigation wades through layers of Titan corporate deception as well as recalcitrant townies and the Erskine family. All the while Sounder tries to wrap his new, longer, Titan arms around his new Titan identity (there are no Titan PIs). The murder mystery includes a school of red herrings offshore and onshore of Shearing and a quadruple “bait ’n switch.” Unfortunately, the final switch—only five pages from the end—feels less credible than earlier twists.
The story contains no sex, some drug use, no rock ’n’ roll, and moderate violence.
A secondary effect of T7 is a hyperactive sex drive. Sounder spends a lot of time with a “not while on a case” attitude. Sexual harassment appears in the narrative. Interestingly, no tobacco products are consumed; tobacco is a Schedule I substance in the alt‑future, akin to cannabis in our reality. Alcohol is consumed, though not in excess—characters drink beer, wine, and “cocktails” at beachside and dive bars, but never from cans. Pharmaceutical abuse is mentioned only in passing. There is no alt‑future rock ’n’ roll described, though people do dance in beach bars.
Violence is moderate, involving fists, edged weapons and firearms. Sounder is a tough, skilled, dirty fighter; Titan reflexes augment his abilities. He only resorts to violence when provoked or cornered, taking punishment that would have killed a grizzly bear—yet T7 grants Titans the resilience of a grizzly. Resulting trauma is described with moderate detail; the body count is low.
A minor but important location is the city of Chersenesos on the shores of the alpine Lake Othrys. It serves as the capital, the large city of Harkaway’s alt‑Earth. Though its name resembles Chersonesus , there is no direct connection. I picture it as a recovering American “Rust Belt” city—think Pittsburgh—on the shores of Lake Geneva, Switzerland. It feels gritty enough outside the Titans’ palatial residences.
Shearwater, the resort town, reminded me of Newport, Rhode Island , but with volcanic beaches and the post‑naval decline after the 1970s. Environmental change has shifted currents, eroding sand beaches and depositing micro‑plastics. The population has dwindled, businesses have closed, and property values have plummeted.
Readers should note the Foodie subplot Harkaway inserts into the genre. Immortal Titans believe life is short and refuse to waste it on anything less than excellent food and drink. The character Doublewide insists on a beer before “work,” a quirky detail that made me crave “traditionally brewed lager bier in the fashion of my [Doublewide] Slav ancestors.” (His Slav ancestors would drink pivo, not German bier—one of the few factual errors I spotted.) The Erskines also dine well.
Finally, this book is blissfully short compared with today’s often bloated contemporary sci‑fi, detective, and fantasy novels.
Summary
This story is a solid example of New Weird. It stays true to the hard‑boiled detective genre while keeping the series’ sci‑fi/fantasy setting credible, with minimal window‑dressing. The super‑rich immortal Titans function as an immoral, corrupt separate species, and climate change provides the most notable urban‑fantasy and sci‑fi contribution. In many places Harkaway’s millennial riffs on hard‑boiled conventions are noteworthy.
Like Harkaway’s previous novels, this one has a graphic‑novel‑style look ’n feel. For example, unlike “true” hard‑boiled fiction, there is one too many elaborate fight scenes—some feel unnecessary. The level of technical detail is good, with just enough hand‑waving to make the alt‑future plausible (most authors don’t realize that less [world‑building] can be more?). The ending is series‑specific.
I am, however, disappointed that a creative author like Harkaway has fallen victim to the easy money of serial fiction. There is little new world‑building and only occasional new characters, in it, making writing an easy dollar and guaranteeing income flow. This comes at the price of creativity.
Rating: I rarely rate serial fiction higher than three stars.
Prerequisites: Readers should have at least a passing acquaintance with classic hard‑boiled detective fiction to get the most out of this novel. They also must have read the preceding book.
Recommendation: Read it, if you are agile of mind, and have read the first book.
Want to read
November 29, 2024I NEED this, like, yesterday.
April 30, 2025
2.5
Sleeper Beach is the second in Harkaway's Titanium Noir series. I hasten to add I have not read the first and this has probably coloured my rating because, for me, a lot of the references were completely unintelligible.
That said I don't think I'll read the first or any others in this series, should there be more.
Cal Sounder is a detective but he's also a Titan -which I gather is a human who has been given an injection which prolongs life but also gives the recipient more bulk. Cal is clearly bigger than the average human male but other Titans who have received more than one dose are considerably bigger - I'm not sure if this means height or fat or both.
Cal is employed by a multiple injection Titan, Martha Erskine to investigate the death of a young woman, Ailsa Lloyd, whose body has washed up on a beach near her luxury home.
Cal finds himself stepping into the murky dealings of the Erskine family as he tries to unravel whether Ailsa was murdered or killed by accident.
That is the basic plot but there are so many other strands sewn into the plot that it'd take pages to explain what else Cal gets involved in. There's his being a Titan, which seems to offend people; his attachment to the rival Tonefamacasca family (and yes that is the most irritating name I ever came across - even one if the characters complains about it); there's the presence of the sleepers who appear to be suicidal people who have come to the beach to die; there are other law enforcement officers doing their own thing; there is a historical element which involves some form of revolt by unions ...
As you can see, there's a lot to the book. The murder itself is almost lost in the narrative. In fact the only part of the book I really enjoyed was the end, which deals solely with the murder.
Simply not for me. Overly complicated with not particularly likeable characters.
Thankyou to Netgalley and Little, Brown Book Group for the advance review copy.
Sleeper Beach is the second in Harkaway's Titanium Noir series. I hasten to add I have not read the first and this has probably coloured my rating because, for me, a lot of the references were completely unintelligible.
That said I don't think I'll read the first or any others in this series, should there be more.
Cal Sounder is a detective but he's also a Titan -which I gather is a human who has been given an injection which prolongs life but also gives the recipient more bulk. Cal is clearly bigger than the average human male but other Titans who have received more than one dose are considerably bigger - I'm not sure if this means height or fat or both.
Cal is employed by a multiple injection Titan, Martha Erskine to investigate the death of a young woman, Ailsa Lloyd, whose body has washed up on a beach near her luxury home.
Cal finds himself stepping into the murky dealings of the Erskine family as he tries to unravel whether Ailsa was murdered or killed by accident.
That is the basic plot but there are so many other strands sewn into the plot that it'd take pages to explain what else Cal gets involved in. There's his being a Titan, which seems to offend people; his attachment to the rival Tonefamacasca family (and yes that is the most irritating name I ever came across - even one if the characters complains about it); there's the presence of the sleepers who appear to be suicidal people who have come to the beach to die; there are other law enforcement officers doing their own thing; there is a historical element which involves some form of revolt by unions ...
As you can see, there's a lot to the book. The murder itself is almost lost in the narrative. In fact the only part of the book I really enjoyed was the end, which deals solely with the murder.
Simply not for me. Overly complicated with not particularly likeable characters.
Thankyou to Netgalley and Little, Brown Book Group for the advance review copy.
May 4, 2025
Sci fi noir. It kinda works. I like the main character, Cal, private investigator and titan. He goes about finding the murderer of a young woman found on the beach where depressed people go to await something maybe death. It’s a clever plot with twists and red herrings, I did find myself a bit bored with some of the detail. I must say I preferred Harkaway’s earlier books.
Read
March 11, 2025Everything I wanted to say about this novel is in my review for Locus, which will come out in the April edition. The TLDR version,* is that if you liked Titanium Noir, the first book in the series,** you’ll enjoy this one. Sleeper Beach is, in fact, the better of the two. Harkaway expands his Universe and adds texture.***
I was struck by how political the novel is. I don’t know the way Harkaway leans, but if I had to gauge his views based on this novel, he’s firmly to the left, not so much a progressive left, (although I’m sure he’s that as well) but more the old-fashioned class consciousness variety where the rich are seen as parasites feeding on the working class. So, you know, Marxism.***** The overt-ness of it all, with one of the key plot points being a union-busting operation that goes horrifically wrong, took me a little by surprise. There are scant few core genre novels that are this politically bolshie. Because of this, the book comes off as a bold and provocative. (Less so if it was published in the 70s).
If you like your noir novels spiced up with giants (one so big she lives in the sea) and class solidarity, you should read this—though maybe start with Titanium Noir.
*Although, please do read the actual review!
**Alternate history noir where the rich people are literal giants.
***You may also be aware that Harkaway published Karla’s Choice, the first Smiley novel since his father’s death last year. ****
****Yep, another gaping hole to be filled.
*****I’m sure smart peeps like [Ben Burgis](https://benburgis.substack.com) would debate the level of Harkaway’s Marxism. But for dullards like me, it seemed pretty Das Kapital to me.
I was struck by how political the novel is. I don’t know the way Harkaway leans, but if I had to gauge his views based on this novel, he’s firmly to the left, not so much a progressive left, (although I’m sure he’s that as well) but more the old-fashioned class consciousness variety where the rich are seen as parasites feeding on the working class. So, you know, Marxism.***** The overt-ness of it all, with one of the key plot points being a union-busting operation that goes horrifically wrong, took me a little by surprise. There are scant few core genre novels that are this politically bolshie. Because of this, the book comes off as a bold and provocative. (Less so if it was published in the 70s).
If you like your noir novels spiced up with giants (one so big she lives in the sea) and class solidarity, you should read this—though maybe start with Titanium Noir.
*Although, please do read the actual review!
**Alternate history noir where the rich people are literal giants.
***You may also be aware that Harkaway published Karla’s Choice, the first Smiley novel since his father’s death last year. ****
****Yep, another gaping hole to be filled.
*****I’m sure smart peeps like [Ben Burgis](https://benburgis.substack.com) would debate the level of Harkaway’s Marxism. But for dullards like me, it seemed pretty Das Kapital to me.
September 30, 2025
Highly recommend reading Titanium Noir before reading this.
I felt this slid into a sentimentality that felt hokey. Lacked the punchiness of the first. Could've used a tighter edit.
One of the characters was called "Ailsa" which gave me a shock.
I felt this slid into a sentimentality that felt hokey. Lacked the punchiness of the first. Could've used a tighter edit.
One of the characters was called "Ailsa" which gave me a shock.
June 27, 2025
Sleeper Beach is quite satisfying blend of noir detective story and near-future sci-fi, where Titans (the ultra-rich who've genetically enhanced themselves) literally and metaphorically tower over ordinary people.
This isn’t just mystery with slick dialogue, clever one-liners, and a murky seaside murder, the Harkaway also weaves in a social commentary on class, capitalism, power, and generational conflict. Wage disputes, labor unrest, and Titan oligarch dynasties aren’t just backdrop but vital part of story.
This isn’t just a question of whodunit, it’s a story that asks what kind of world makes certain murders inevitable.
This isn’t just mystery with slick dialogue, clever one-liners, and a murky seaside murder, the Harkaway also weaves in a social commentary on class, capitalism, power, and generational conflict. Wage disputes, labor unrest, and Titan oligarch dynasties aren’t just backdrop but vital part of story.
This isn’t just a question of whodunit, it’s a story that asks what kind of world makes certain murders inevitable.
May 12, 2025
"Oh, yes. I'm a cult leader. A madwoman. I must be. No one rational would take on the system. It's so enormous, so dominating. There's no point in my preparations, so I must be bent on a noble death. There it is again, that certainty of your own power. You can't fight the system, so no one can. If the system can't be fought, it must be ameliorated, and to do that, you need to borrow its power. Collaborate, but in a good cause. Is that about the size of it, Mr Sounder?"
Cal Sounder is back and more sarcastic than ever before!
Once again Nick Harkaway plays on the classic noir private detective style whilst weaving a dystopian near future where Titans rule the world. Humans who have received a dose, or possibly more, of T7. Humans grow in stature and de-age; an immortality of sorts. But this treatment is only reserved for the select few, the richest of the rich and occasionally those we can benefit them.
Having barely survived the events of Titanium Noir, Cal Sounder now finds himself walking amongst the Titans. Saved as he was, by receiving a dose of T7. Having spun this element, it was no surprise that the murder this time involved a human being killed, potentially by a Titan.
The story has more depth and give some glimpses into the events that led to the future Cal finds himself in. The cast of characters also grows, with the setting moving to the coast. There is a family dynasty of Titans, Communistist, Rebels, and double agents. There are twists, turns, and good amount of tension as Cal tries to navigate the world as a Titan, being judged differently by the people he tries to help.
I am really enjoying this series and I hope it gets enough traction to continue. 5 stars.
Cal Sounder is back and more sarcastic than ever before!
Once again Nick Harkaway plays on the classic noir private detective style whilst weaving a dystopian near future where Titans rule the world. Humans who have received a dose, or possibly more, of T7. Humans grow in stature and de-age; an immortality of sorts. But this treatment is only reserved for the select few, the richest of the rich and occasionally those we can benefit them.
Having barely survived the events of Titanium Noir, Cal Sounder now finds himself walking amongst the Titans. Saved as he was, by receiving a dose of T7. Having spun this element, it was no surprise that the murder this time involved a human being killed, potentially by a Titan.
The story has more depth and give some glimpses into the events that led to the future Cal finds himself in. The cast of characters also grows, with the setting moving to the coast. There is a family dynasty of Titans, Communistist, Rebels, and double agents. There are twists, turns, and good amount of tension as Cal tries to navigate the world as a Titan, being judged differently by the people he tries to help.
I am really enjoying this series and I hope it gets enough traction to continue. 5 stars.
May 27, 2025
This book took me forever to read. Part of it was just that I couldn't remember much of the first book - and second - this story just dragged on. There were a million characters (okay, maybe not a million but a lot) and since I kept putting it down for days I couldn't keep track of them. Bits of the first book would come in when Cal would talk about his change to a Titan...but not enough for me to remember much. Why would anyone want to be a Titan? Maybe that's part of the problem with this series for me. I am not sure I would read another one - this book just wasn't for me.
December 21, 2025
Prior to the start of this book, and to save his life, Cal has been given a first shot of the Titan drug which builds muscle and bone and extends lifespan. As a result, this book contains a lot more introspection and consideration on Cal’s part of what it is to be a Titan than in the first book in the series when he was still a (fairly) normal man. It’s a very interesting concept – how do you manage relationships when you could live for 1000 years or more, whereas the normal population lives a pretty much standard human lifespan?
The story itself was interesting and immersive, although maybe not quite up to the level of the first book. And the future of this book, more so than the first, felt fairly bleak and frighteningly possible.
An interesting, thought-provoking and well imagined read overall.
The story itself was interesting and immersive, although maybe not quite up to the level of the first book. And the future of this book, more so than the first, felt fairly bleak and frighteningly possible.
An interesting, thought-provoking and well imagined read overall.
December 14, 2025
This is the second book in Harkaway's Titanium Noir series. I enjoyed it as much as the first one.
I love Harkaway's writing, and this series did not disappoint. A satisfying noir detective and science fiction blend. The Titan characters are intriguing, and the narrator, Cal Sounder, reminds me a little of Philip Marlowe. I highly recommend this novel (and Titanium Noir, too), especially if you are a lover of crime fiction and/or near future science fiction.
I love Harkaway's writing, and this series did not disappoint. A satisfying noir detective and science fiction blend. The Titan characters are intriguing, and the narrator, Cal Sounder, reminds me a little of Philip Marlowe. I highly recommend this novel (and Titanium Noir, too), especially if you are a lover of crime fiction and/or near future science fiction.
July 20, 2025
Interesting albeit a teensy bit slow. And the second consecutive book I’ve read where there have just been too many characters. That may say more about my distractability, though.
July 29, 2025
Closest you can get to Gun, with Occasional Music without getting wet.
Give Harkaway a blank check and let him write 20 more books in this series.
Give Harkaway a blank check and let him write 20 more books in this series.
Read
September 30, 2025Good, but not sure I loved it as much as the first.
October 3, 2025
A slight step down with too many worn tropes. However, Harkaway remains a very enjoyable, capable writer.
May 17, 2025
Sleeper Beach is the second book featuring Cal Sounder, PI in a near-future, fractured reality. In the first story, Titanium Noir, we saw (spoilers!) Cal fatally injured and treated with the drug T7, which prolongs life and increases body mass, strength and endurance.
Five years on, Cal is still learning to live with his new body and with the profound change to his status in his own - and wider society's - perception. Cal is now a "Titan", one of of a tiny number of reengineered supermen (and women) who seem set to inherit the earth, poisoned and heated as it is. Titans can live for hundreds of years, with many acquiring great wealth over their prolonged lifetimes. They have a different view of the world, losing track of relationships and of the lives of the ephemeral "baselines", many of whom are resentful, forced to the sidelines of life in what is a nakedly capitalist, dog-eat-dog world.
Despite his new status, Cal continues to do what good he can, rather than allowing himself to be enfolded by the cushion of money and privilege that might be afforded by his girlfriend's, Athena's, membership of the powerful Tonfamecasca corporate family. This is how he comes to be investigating the suspicious death of a young woman in the seaside town of Shearwater. Harkaway lovingly portrays the atmosphere of the peeling resort/ fishing town, a place dominated by the Esrkine family who've been having trouble with their workers. It's a complex plot featuring potential revolutionaries, trades unions and family tensions all of whom have only one thing in common - a preference for Cal to mind his own business. Lurking in the background is the mysterious organisation the 1848, a revolutionary sect that may or may not exist and may or may not be set to avenge the massacre that happened some decades earlier in a place called Tilehurst.
That name is one of the few familiar anchors for me to the present - I regularly travel through Tilehusrt on the train, although it's not the small city portrayed here - the action in the book taking place in a strange, almost dreamlike place that's hard to connect, either spatially or temporally, to now. From the hard boiled tone of the narration one might think the story was based in the US, but other place names, and the geography, seem frustratingly off for that. Maybe there's more going on here than one might think - perhaps Cal, who is our narrator, is already succumbing to the Titan outlook, telescoping time and the b brief lives of baseline humans. Perhaps history is being rewritten, and the centuries the Titans have allegedly been around for are a myth, or something worse? It's all tantalising.
Harkaway is certainly having fun with all this, and, I felt, perhaps poking fun at another current project, the continuation of the George Smiley books. There's perhaps a thin line between Cal's profession and that of the spy, the Communist organisation in the shadows suggests, of course, a subtle enemy and I definitely spotted allusions ion the language - as for example when there is a need for a "legend for a girl".
But the fun doesn't take over. Cal is not in fact a spy, he is a hardboiled detective - a man who may walk down the mean streets but is not himself mean, hard though it may be to grasp his humanity changed as he is - and in Sleeper Beach he does just want he ought to, carrying out the instructions of his mysterious client, who may or may not be fatale, she is definitely femme but not a stereotype dangerous blonde, to discover who is the murderer. There may or may not be a Titan angle here - it's so easy for them to become killers, so easy to escape justice. There may or may not be a political angle. Cal makes alliances and enemies, explores the roots of the town and spends a great deal of time on that beach where the hopeless come to let their lives drain away.
It's a glorious book, a knotty detective mystery wrapped round a peeling dystopia. I can't think of anything quite like this series. It's got noir, obviously. It's got echoes of M John Harrison's Viriconium. It's got a scorching moral centre as Cal processes the nature of the creature he's become and debates its right to exist. So maybe add Frankenstein to that mix? And I could go on. It's weird, it's sad, it's fun and it's all its own thing.
Strongly recommended.
Five years on, Cal is still learning to live with his new body and with the profound change to his status in his own - and wider society's - perception. Cal is now a "Titan", one of of a tiny number of reengineered supermen (and women) who seem set to inherit the earth, poisoned and heated as it is. Titans can live for hundreds of years, with many acquiring great wealth over their prolonged lifetimes. They have a different view of the world, losing track of relationships and of the lives of the ephemeral "baselines", many of whom are resentful, forced to the sidelines of life in what is a nakedly capitalist, dog-eat-dog world.
Despite his new status, Cal continues to do what good he can, rather than allowing himself to be enfolded by the cushion of money and privilege that might be afforded by his girlfriend's, Athena's, membership of the powerful Tonfamecasca corporate family. This is how he comes to be investigating the suspicious death of a young woman in the seaside town of Shearwater. Harkaway lovingly portrays the atmosphere of the peeling resort/ fishing town, a place dominated by the Esrkine family who've been having trouble with their workers. It's a complex plot featuring potential revolutionaries, trades unions and family tensions all of whom have only one thing in common - a preference for Cal to mind his own business. Lurking in the background is the mysterious organisation the 1848, a revolutionary sect that may or may not exist and may or may not be set to avenge the massacre that happened some decades earlier in a place called Tilehurst.
That name is one of the few familiar anchors for me to the present - I regularly travel through Tilehusrt on the train, although it's not the small city portrayed here - the action in the book taking place in a strange, almost dreamlike place that's hard to connect, either spatially or temporally, to now. From the hard boiled tone of the narration one might think the story was based in the US, but other place names, and the geography, seem frustratingly off for that. Maybe there's more going on here than one might think - perhaps Cal, who is our narrator, is already succumbing to the Titan outlook, telescoping time and the b brief lives of baseline humans. Perhaps history is being rewritten, and the centuries the Titans have allegedly been around for are a myth, or something worse? It's all tantalising.
Harkaway is certainly having fun with all this, and, I felt, perhaps poking fun at another current project, the continuation of the George Smiley books. There's perhaps a thin line between Cal's profession and that of the spy, the Communist organisation in the shadows suggests, of course, a subtle enemy and I definitely spotted allusions ion the language - as for example when there is a need for a "legend for a girl".
But the fun doesn't take over. Cal is not in fact a spy, he is a hardboiled detective - a man who may walk down the mean streets but is not himself mean, hard though it may be to grasp his humanity changed as he is - and in Sleeper Beach he does just want he ought to, carrying out the instructions of his mysterious client, who may or may not be fatale, she is definitely femme but not a stereotype dangerous blonde, to discover who is the murderer. There may or may not be a Titan angle here - it's so easy for them to become killers, so easy to escape justice. There may or may not be a political angle. Cal makes alliances and enemies, explores the roots of the town and spends a great deal of time on that beach where the hopeless come to let their lives drain away.
It's a glorious book, a knotty detective mystery wrapped round a peeling dystopia. I can't think of anything quite like this series. It's got noir, obviously. It's got echoes of M John Harrison's Viriconium. It's got a scorching moral centre as Cal processes the nature of the creature he's become and debates its right to exist. So maybe add Frankenstein to that mix? And I could go on. It's weird, it's sad, it's fun and it's all its own thing.
Strongly recommended.
April 13, 2025
Complex. Not. Who dunnit?
May 19, 2025
When the body of a young woman washes up on Sleeper Beach hard boiled PI Cal Sounder, think Chandler's Marlowe in a sci-fi setting, is hired to investigate. As Cal investigates he finds a town full of secrets, political disputes and historical conflict. Although I enjoyed Sleeper Beach I suspect I would have enjoyed it much more if I'd read the first book, Titanium Noir, first. Harkaway does give a lot of backstory, but I did at times feel like I was missing that little bit of background detail.
Thanks to NetGalley, Little, Brown Book Group UK and the author for an advance copy.
Thanks to NetGalley, Little, Brown Book Group UK and the author for an advance copy.
December 31, 2025
a phenomenal book , that perhaps was a tad too smart for me ( or I read over a busy period so kept losing track) as I felt the character list was almost too much to track.
but a beautifully written noir detective thriller with one of the best "bastard with a heart of tarnished gold" archetypes
the sci fi elements adding such depth and tweaks to the classic points.
an an ending that genuinely took my breath away
a superb sequel
but a beautifully written noir detective thriller with one of the best "bastard with a heart of tarnished gold" archetypes
the sci fi elements adding such depth and tweaks to the classic points.
an an ending that genuinely took my breath away
a superb sequel
April 24, 2025
brilliant, engrossing, unable to be put down, had to ration it to myself!
Only thing I wish I'd done different?
Should have read the first book again to double down on the worldview : )
one of my favourite collectable authors
Only thing I wish I'd done different?
Should have read the first book again to double down on the worldview : )
one of my favourite collectable authors
November 19, 2025
Secuela directa de Titanium Noir. Como su título sugiere, es una saga detectivesca transhumanista (y no cyberpunk, por razones que luego explico).
El novum/premisa sigue siendo el T-7, una sustancia que los millonarios se inyectan para rejuvenecer y, debido a efectos secundarios, hacerse físicamente más grandes. Quienes acumulan dosis (4) siguen creciendo hasta alcanzar casi tres metros y medio de altura, junto con una lista de problemas cardíacos y óseos que solo pueden compensarse con implantes y, en muchos casos, con una vida anfibia. De ahí que el mar sea el escenario central de esta entrega.
Harkaway abandona los callejones de asfalto de Othrys y sitúa la trama en Sheerwater, una ciudad pesquera reconvertida en productora de potenciadores de olor y sabor a partir de los plásticos del océano. Sheerwater está bajo el control de Martha Erskine, una titán de cuatro dosis y más de dos siglos de edad que ahora vive literalmente en el mar. Allí aparece el cadáver de una joven en la playa y Cal Sounder, detective privado, es enviado a descubrir qué ocurrió.
Enseguida surge la pregunta: ¿dónde está la tecnología que cabría esperar? Con T-7, taxis voladores y millonarios bicentenarios, ¿por qué todavía se usan móviles, existen fábricas y no hay rastro de la Singularidad ni de hologramas? ¿Por qué el mundo parece anacrónico, casi salido de una novela de Dashiell Hammett o Raymond Chandler?
Precisamente ahí radica la habilidad de Harkaway. Igual que en Gnomon (algún día hablaré de esta obra maestra), es maestro en sugerir un trasfondo vastísimo sin explicarlo de forma directa. Construye un iceberg de contexto a través de ausencias, implicaciones y detalles laterales, confiando en que el lector unirá los puntos. El mundo parece más grande que la novela, pero sin sermones, monólogos ni infodumps. Esa es la base de un buen worldbuilding.
La historia sigue una estructura clásica de novela negra: un detective llega a una ciudad ajena, conoce a una red de personajes y sospechosos, se implica emocionalmente y desentraña el misterio. En este marco, Sleeper Beach logra sorprender. Hay células comunistas clandestinas, mujeres de cuatro metros que nadan en mar abierto, asesinos especializados en eliminar titanes y multitudes que se tumban en hamacas playeras para, sencillamente, esperar la muerte (Sleepers). Todo ello teñido por el recuerdo de la masacre de Tilehurst veinte años atrás, cuando “la piel se desprendió del cráneo del mundo” y los muros entre ricos y pobres (titán o humano, dueño o trabajador) quedaron expuestos sin filtros.
El estilo es directo, con la ironía ocasional del narrador en primera persona, pero también con grandes pasajes descriptivos de prosa sensorial muy cuidada. Los diálogos son breves, quirúrgicos, y cada personaje tiene una voz distinta. Harkaway entiende que en un mundo donde el acceso a la cultura y la longevidad determinan la clase social, la voz también es biografía escondida de cada personaje.
A diferencia de Titanium Noir, centrado más en la acción y en sorprender con el impacto del T-7, Sleeper Beach opta por un ritmo más pausado, introspectivo y emocional, ampliando el mundo de forma horizontal. Junto a la investigación principal, conviven tramas políticas, ideológicas, personales y la propia adaptación física y psicológica de Cal tras los efectos del T-7 al final del primer libro.
Pero Sleeper Beach no renuncia a la acción. Cal es un protagonista que no espera: se adelanta, interviene, se expone (y se lleva golpes, moratones y narices rotas como todo detective de novela negra). Sin un acontecimiento épico global ni conspiraciones cósmicas, Harkaway ha encontrado un nicho híbrido entre géneros para contar lo que realmente le interesa: un misterio personal narrado en primera persona, donde las acciones (por pequeñas que sean) hacen más que cualquier ideología. Incluso cuando uno es poco más que una hormiga rodeada de gigantes.
«They’re dusty white with salt and a fine powder of glass. The combination is abrasive, so the ones who’ve been here longest have angry sclera and pink tear tracks from the corners of their eyes downward, like the saddest clown make-up you ever saw. I force myself to see faces, not masks: a man, young and hungry-looking, completely rapt in his contemplation, male pattern baldness thick with sand; a woman with a stack of family albums unopened on her lounger, who looks like she oughta be baking cookies for her grandkids; a run of three-time losers and petty thieves I almost recognise from bail flight posters, clustered together as if they’ve turned to stone; an executive in a smart suit, what they call anthracite. He must be cooked, and the sweat is running down his face over cracked lips, grey hair and grey skin and grey dust and still holding a briefcase as if it matters any more».
El novum/premisa sigue siendo el T-7, una sustancia que los millonarios se inyectan para rejuvenecer y, debido a efectos secundarios, hacerse físicamente más grandes. Quienes acumulan dosis (4) siguen creciendo hasta alcanzar casi tres metros y medio de altura, junto con una lista de problemas cardíacos y óseos que solo pueden compensarse con implantes y, en muchos casos, con una vida anfibia. De ahí que el mar sea el escenario central de esta entrega.
Harkaway abandona los callejones de asfalto de Othrys y sitúa la trama en Sheerwater, una ciudad pesquera reconvertida en productora de potenciadores de olor y sabor a partir de los plásticos del océano. Sheerwater está bajo el control de Martha Erskine, una titán de cuatro dosis y más de dos siglos de edad que ahora vive literalmente en el mar. Allí aparece el cadáver de una joven en la playa y Cal Sounder, detective privado, es enviado a descubrir qué ocurrió.
Enseguida surge la pregunta: ¿dónde está la tecnología que cabría esperar? Con T-7, taxis voladores y millonarios bicentenarios, ¿por qué todavía se usan móviles, existen fábricas y no hay rastro de la Singularidad ni de hologramas? ¿Por qué el mundo parece anacrónico, casi salido de una novela de Dashiell Hammett o Raymond Chandler?
Precisamente ahí radica la habilidad de Harkaway. Igual que en Gnomon (algún día hablaré de esta obra maestra), es maestro en sugerir un trasfondo vastísimo sin explicarlo de forma directa. Construye un iceberg de contexto a través de ausencias, implicaciones y detalles laterales, confiando en que el lector unirá los puntos. El mundo parece más grande que la novela, pero sin sermones, monólogos ni infodumps. Esa es la base de un buen worldbuilding.
La historia sigue una estructura clásica de novela negra: un detective llega a una ciudad ajena, conoce a una red de personajes y sospechosos, se implica emocionalmente y desentraña el misterio. En este marco, Sleeper Beach logra sorprender. Hay células comunistas clandestinas, mujeres de cuatro metros que nadan en mar abierto, asesinos especializados en eliminar titanes y multitudes que se tumban en hamacas playeras para, sencillamente, esperar la muerte (Sleepers). Todo ello teñido por el recuerdo de la masacre de Tilehurst veinte años atrás, cuando “la piel se desprendió del cráneo del mundo” y los muros entre ricos y pobres (titán o humano, dueño o trabajador) quedaron expuestos sin filtros.
El estilo es directo, con la ironía ocasional del narrador en primera persona, pero también con grandes pasajes descriptivos de prosa sensorial muy cuidada. Los diálogos son breves, quirúrgicos, y cada personaje tiene una voz distinta. Harkaway entiende que en un mundo donde el acceso a la cultura y la longevidad determinan la clase social, la voz también es biografía escondida de cada personaje.
A diferencia de Titanium Noir, centrado más en la acción y en sorprender con el impacto del T-7, Sleeper Beach opta por un ritmo más pausado, introspectivo y emocional, ampliando el mundo de forma horizontal. Junto a la investigación principal, conviven tramas políticas, ideológicas, personales y la propia adaptación física y psicológica de Cal tras los efectos del T-7 al final del primer libro.
Pero Sleeper Beach no renuncia a la acción. Cal es un protagonista que no espera: se adelanta, interviene, se expone (y se lleva golpes, moratones y narices rotas como todo detective de novela negra). Sin un acontecimiento épico global ni conspiraciones cósmicas, Harkaway ha encontrado un nicho híbrido entre géneros para contar lo que realmente le interesa: un misterio personal narrado en primera persona, donde las acciones (por pequeñas que sean) hacen más que cualquier ideología. Incluso cuando uno es poco más que una hormiga rodeada de gigantes.
«They’re dusty white with salt and a fine powder of glass. The combination is abrasive, so the ones who’ve been here longest have angry sclera and pink tear tracks from the corners of their eyes downward, like the saddest clown make-up you ever saw. I force myself to see faces, not masks: a man, young and hungry-looking, completely rapt in his contemplation, male pattern baldness thick with sand; a woman with a stack of family albums unopened on her lounger, who looks like she oughta be baking cookies for her grandkids; a run of three-time losers and petty thieves I almost recognise from bail flight posters, clustered together as if they’ve turned to stone; an executive in a smart suit, what they call anthracite. He must be cooked, and the sweat is running down his face over cracked lips, grey hair and grey skin and grey dust and still holding a briefcase as if it matters any more».
November 4, 2025
I like Nick Harkaway and I really enjoyed the first Titanium Noir book (called unsurprisingly Titanium Noir) and so was keen to read this, the follow up, Sleeper Beach (Titanium Noir #2).
This continues Cal Sounder's story. Cal is a private investigator who is now a "Titan" (someone who has taken the drug T7, which grants longevity but also makes the wealthy users progressively larger). Cal struggles to maintain his identity as an ordinary detective while possessing this extraordinary, new physiology.
Cal is called to the rundown seaside town of Shearwater to investigate the suspicious death of a young woman whose body washes ashore. His client is Martha Erskine, the Titan matriarch of a powerful local dynasty, who suspects a member of her own family may be involved.
Sleeper Beach is another compelling, genre-blending outing. Once again class and capital are front and centre. The Titans, with their literal giantism and effective immortality, are a potent metaphor for ultra wealthy elites.
If anything, this is even better than Titanium Noir. Another strong, smart, highly entertaining, and politically charged detective story with an interesting and imaginative speculative element, all wrapped in the cadence of classic noir.
4/5 (pushing five stars)
From the Sunday Times bestselling author of Karla's Choice, comes a thrilling new detective novel.
On the shore of a rundown holiday town, a young woman washes up dead. Martha Erskine, the matriarch of a local dynasty, suspects a member of her own family might be involved in the murder, and calls in Cal to investigate.
Cal Sounder is a detective first and a Titan second, but it's not easy to make that work. It's hard to be an ordinary guy when you're fundamentally not ordinary anymore. Cal has recently taken a dose of T7, a rare drug that is usually the preserve of the rich, making its users - called the Titans - younger and bigger each time they take it, so that as they age the bodies of the ultra-wealthy become as immense as their bank accounts.
As Cal digs into the crime, he finds this forgotten town is simmering with wage disputes, strikes, and political conflict, and no one is quite who they say they are - not even the victim. As Cal second-guesses everyone he meets, he is forced to confront his own identity and ask himself who he wants to be from the far side of the mirror of power, age and greed.
Sleeper Beach is a hugely original, powerful and action-packed novel from the acclaimed novelist Nick Harkaway.
This continues Cal Sounder's story. Cal is a private investigator who is now a "Titan" (someone who has taken the drug T7, which grants longevity but also makes the wealthy users progressively larger). Cal struggles to maintain his identity as an ordinary detective while possessing this extraordinary, new physiology.
Cal is called to the rundown seaside town of Shearwater to investigate the suspicious death of a young woman whose body washes ashore. His client is Martha Erskine, the Titan matriarch of a powerful local dynasty, who suspects a member of her own family may be involved.
Sleeper Beach is another compelling, genre-blending outing. Once again class and capital are front and centre. The Titans, with their literal giantism and effective immortality, are a potent metaphor for ultra wealthy elites.
If anything, this is even better than Titanium Noir. Another strong, smart, highly entertaining, and politically charged detective story with an interesting and imaginative speculative element, all wrapped in the cadence of classic noir.
4/5 (pushing five stars)
From the Sunday Times bestselling author of Karla's Choice, comes a thrilling new detective novel.
On the shore of a rundown holiday town, a young woman washes up dead. Martha Erskine, the matriarch of a local dynasty, suspects a member of her own family might be involved in the murder, and calls in Cal to investigate.
Cal Sounder is a detective first and a Titan second, but it's not easy to make that work. It's hard to be an ordinary guy when you're fundamentally not ordinary anymore. Cal has recently taken a dose of T7, a rare drug that is usually the preserve of the rich, making its users - called the Titans - younger and bigger each time they take it, so that as they age the bodies of the ultra-wealthy become as immense as their bank accounts.
As Cal digs into the crime, he finds this forgotten town is simmering with wage disputes, strikes, and political conflict, and no one is quite who they say they are - not even the victim. As Cal second-guesses everyone he meets, he is forced to confront his own identity and ask himself who he wants to be from the far side of the mirror of power, age and greed.
Sleeper Beach is a hugely original, powerful and action-packed novel from the acclaimed novelist Nick Harkaway.
November 20, 2025
After the success of Titanium Noir, it was almost inevitable that Nick Harkaway would give us another novel featuring his future noir detective Cal Sounder - and in many ways this doesn't disappoint. The action takes place at a faded beach resort with a weird (and not entirely explained) phenomenon that gives the book its title - hundreds of people are lying on plastic beds on the (not very pleasant sounding) volcanic beach, effectively having totally given up on life.
Sounder is there at the request of a Titan who has gone through the medical procedure that he has had once - this extends life but also makes the Titan bigger each time, and arguably less human. He is hired to look into the death of a young woman with a mysterious past who was found dead on the beach.
As he digs deeper, Sounder is both looking into the dominant (Titan-led) industry of the area and the revolutionary socialist background that the dead woman seems linked to. There's some nice detective work, and a few dramatic action scenes. As was the case with Titanium Noir, one of the fight scenes is both very dramatic and distinctly unnerving.
Overall it was a satisfying read, but I didn't like it as much as the first novel. In part it was because there was no introduction to the context - it's a couple of years since I read the previous book, and I couldn't remember how things got to the way they were. More so, when I read Titanium Noir, I pointed out how much more I enjoyed it than Harkaway's Gnomon, because that was so ponderous and filled with unnecessary detail. Sleeper Beach has lost some of the pared-down elegance of its predecessor. There's rather too much introspection on the nature of being a Titan versus a 'baseline' human. Also there was less of the gumshoe noir feel I so enjoyed in the first book - Sounder still speaks like a noir detective, but had lost some of the grittiness in his life.
That all sounds a bit negative, but I'd still recommend this book over many of the SF novels you will see recommended in the press by those who don't really understand the genre.
Sounder is there at the request of a Titan who has gone through the medical procedure that he has had once - this extends life but also makes the Titan bigger each time, and arguably less human. He is hired to look into the death of a young woman with a mysterious past who was found dead on the beach.
As he digs deeper, Sounder is both looking into the dominant (Titan-led) industry of the area and the revolutionary socialist background that the dead woman seems linked to. There's some nice detective work, and a few dramatic action scenes. As was the case with Titanium Noir, one of the fight scenes is both very dramatic and distinctly unnerving.
Overall it was a satisfying read, but I didn't like it as much as the first novel. In part it was because there was no introduction to the context - it's a couple of years since I read the previous book, and I couldn't remember how things got to the way they were. More so, when I read Titanium Noir, I pointed out how much more I enjoyed it than Harkaway's Gnomon, because that was so ponderous and filled with unnecessary detail. Sleeper Beach has lost some of the pared-down elegance of its predecessor. There's rather too much introspection on the nature of being a Titan versus a 'baseline' human. Also there was less of the gumshoe noir feel I so enjoyed in the first book - Sounder still speaks like a noir detective, but had lost some of the grittiness in his life.
That all sounds a bit negative, but I'd still recommend this book over many of the SF novels you will see recommended in the press by those who don't really understand the genre.
August 3, 2025
The Cal Sounder of Sleeper Beach is a different man than the Cal Sounder of Titanium Noir, and largely in good ways. He's happier, for one, and in a relationship that seems genuinely healthy. It makes it a nice read, despite all the bloodshed and misery of the case: it's nice to see characters I like do well. This Cal is also a Titan, and his changed perspective is examined in an interesting way.
I always appreciate books that have leftist politics that are nuanced. One of the other reviews of this book suggests that Harkaway's politics are Marxist, but I don't think that's true. There's a lot of examination of the evils of corporate power and of the suppression of labour power, but that's not the same thing as Marxism because there's also a healthy amount of disdain for the "read praxis" bros, the leftists agitating for a violent revolution, the schmucks who espouse equality for all men and then treat their wives and children like shit. The characters that Sounder (and by extension Harkaway) have the most respect for are the ones that one character disdainfully describes as running "left anarchic mutual support networks at a local level." One character says it directly:
Beyond that, the mystery itself is a delight, the investigation is consistently interesting, and the prose is engaging and funny. I'm going to seriously recommend this to my crime fiction obsessed father.
I always appreciate books that have leftist politics that are nuanced. One of the other reviews of this book suggests that Harkaway's politics are Marxist, but I don't think that's true. There's a lot of examination of the evils of corporate power and of the suppression of labour power, but that's not the same thing as Marxism because there's also a healthy amount of disdain for the "read praxis" bros, the leftists agitating for a violent revolution, the schmucks who espouse equality for all men and then treat their wives and children like shit. The characters that Sounder (and by extension Harkaway) have the most respect for are the ones that one character disdainfully describes as running "left anarchic mutual support networks at a local level." One character says it directly:
"If the revolution ever comes, it won't be [guns] that matter. It'll be organisation. Infrastructure. To whoever keeps the water and power switched on, the spoils. When the hammer comes down, that's what matters."
Beyond that, the mystery itself is a delight, the investigation is consistently interesting, and the prose is engaging and funny. I'm going to seriously recommend this to my crime fiction obsessed father.
October 1, 2025
This is the second in the Titanium Noir series, or (as I think I would call it) the Titans series. Private eye Cal Sounder, now a Titan himself, is called in to investigate the death of a young woman by another Titan, Martha Erskine, who is the head of a powerful family in a company town. Martha has suspicions, not the least of which is that as a 4th dose Titan, she feels like she might be losing her grip on reality.
This is the second novel I have read recently where the title is taken from a setting that appears at the beginning, but which really has very little to do with the subsequent plot. It sets the tone, and, yes, there is a body that washes up on that beach, but the sleepers on said beach could be omitted completely.
Apart from the future setting and the existence of the virtual immortals known as Titans, this is a classic hard-boiled detective novel, with a first person protagonist who makes a nuisance of himself and often invites people to punch him in the face — or worse.
The woman who washed up on the beach might have been nobody, except she had a relationship with a younger member of the powerful family — and then it turns out that she was living under a false identity.
I didn’t enjoy this quite as much as the first book. For me, it seemed longer than it was (the paperback, when it comes, will be just 320 pages). It still rests on a remarkable premise (the existence of a longevity therapy that makes people physically bigger), but I don’t think as much is done with it in this volume. It reads more as a straightforward thriller, and I don’t think I cared enough about the outcome.
Still, I enjoyed the ride, and I’d still read another.
This is the second novel I have read recently where the title is taken from a setting that appears at the beginning, but which really has very little to do with the subsequent plot. It sets the tone, and, yes, there is a body that washes up on that beach, but the sleepers on said beach could be omitted completely.
Apart from the future setting and the existence of the virtual immortals known as Titans, this is a classic hard-boiled detective novel, with a first person protagonist who makes a nuisance of himself and often invites people to punch him in the face — or worse.
The woman who washed up on the beach might have been nobody, except she had a relationship with a younger member of the powerful family — and then it turns out that she was living under a false identity.
I didn’t enjoy this quite as much as the first book. For me, it seemed longer than it was (the paperback, when it comes, will be just 320 pages). It still rests on a remarkable premise (the existence of a longevity therapy that makes people physically bigger), but I don’t think as much is done with it in this volume. It reads more as a straightforward thriller, and I don’t think I cared enough about the outcome.
Still, I enjoyed the ride, and I’d still read another.
October 22, 2025
The second in Mr. Harkaway’s series set in an indeterminate future – the time and the place are not spelt out. Sometimes it feels like centuries in the future, but the tech hints at it being much closer to our time. The setting feels American, but not quite. But despite my curiosity , it doesn’t matter because the world in which Cal Sounder lives is splendidly crafted.
After Titanium Noir, we rejoin Sounder on a case. A young woman washes up on a beach, and Sounder is called in to investigate by the head of the local dynasty – Martha Erskine, a multi-dose Titan with centuries of life behind her. Titans are the ‘beneficiaries of T7, a rejuvenation drug with the side effect of making you grow like a teenager every time you take a dose. Cal is now over seven feet tall, but is dwarfed by older, multi-dose Titans.
As Cal dives into the case, he befriends a local Shearwater cop, Tim Iverson, a fellow Titan. Shearwater is run by the Erskine’s, but there is trouble – the local firm is in a labour dispute and slowly links to a decades past disaster appear. Despite his size, Sounder is not invulnerable, and he has to keep his wits about as he looks to identify the killer.
Once again Mr. Harkaway provides a tremendous noir detective story. Sounder is the typical noir hero – a good guy willing to do what it takes and annoy whoever he has to in order to solve the case. Brilliant. I trust there will be a third.
After Titanium Noir, we rejoin Sounder on a case. A young woman washes up on a beach, and Sounder is called in to investigate by the head of the local dynasty – Martha Erskine, a multi-dose Titan with centuries of life behind her. Titans are the ‘beneficiaries of T7, a rejuvenation drug with the side effect of making you grow like a teenager every time you take a dose. Cal is now over seven feet tall, but is dwarfed by older, multi-dose Titans.
As Cal dives into the case, he befriends a local Shearwater cop, Tim Iverson, a fellow Titan. Shearwater is run by the Erskine’s, but there is trouble – the local firm is in a labour dispute and slowly links to a decades past disaster appear. Despite his size, Sounder is not invulnerable, and he has to keep his wits about as he looks to identify the killer.
Once again Mr. Harkaway provides a tremendous noir detective story. Sounder is the typical noir hero – a good guy willing to do what it takes and annoy whoever he has to in order to solve the case. Brilliant. I trust there will be a third.
September 27, 2025
Sleeper Beach is the follow-up to the scifi noir thriller Titanium Noir, continuing the story of Cal Sounder, a detective who specializes in cases involving Titans—the genetically enhanced, near-immortal elite. Now himself a newly minted Titan after being turned involuntarily to save his life, Cal is working as a private investigator when the matriarch of a powerful Titan family hires him to look into a young woman who washed up on the shores of a fading holiday town. As the investigation pulls him deeper into Titan affairs, even in this seemingly remote place, Cal is forced to grapple with his new identity and the ethical weight of his existence.
As in the first book, the distinctive writing style takes some getting used to, with its long streams of thought and tangents right in the middle of them. I am also still of a mind that this could have benefitted more chapter breaks. But once you get used to it, it does flow a lot better and the dialogue doesn’t feel as choppy.
The book retains the grit and pulpiness of its predecessor, but it’s also more introspective, as Cal wrestles with his transformation and what it means for his morality. While he may not have chosen to become a Titan, he doesn’t regret it, and that tension between his former views and his new reality gives the story depth. The mystery itself is twisty, with an extended investigation that I found especially rewarding, culminating in a revelation and conclusion that are both fitting and satisfying.
Both gritty and reflective, Sleeper Beach deepens the world of Titanium Noir while delivering a satisfying mystery.
As in the first book, the distinctive writing style takes some getting used to, with its long streams of thought and tangents right in the middle of them. I am also still of a mind that this could have benefitted more chapter breaks. But once you get used to it, it does flow a lot better and the dialogue doesn’t feel as choppy.
The book retains the grit and pulpiness of its predecessor, but it’s also more introspective, as Cal wrestles with his transformation and what it means for his morality. While he may not have chosen to become a Titan, he doesn’t regret it, and that tension between his former views and his new reality gives the story depth. The mystery itself is twisty, with an extended investigation that I found especially rewarding, culminating in a revelation and conclusion that are both fitting and satisfying.
Both gritty and reflective, Sleeper Beach deepens the world of Titanium Noir while delivering a satisfying mystery.
April 16, 2025
It is a while since I have read a noir novel and I loved the atmosphere and the full descriptive prose from the author but I was always thinking that things were moving too slowly. Then I was thinking are all noir books like this but I do not think that they are.
I liked Cal Sounder , the private eye set in the old school of American style hard nosed P.I.s. He is trying to solve the case of a murdered girl in a small seaside town set in the not too distant future. The main use of the setting in the future is the group of humans known as the Titans who live longer and get much bigger than ordinary humans. Quite a lot of pontificating takes place about the deficits of such long life , wealth and power and how the Titans should best try and cope.
I liked the plot but if had had just moved a bit faster. I felt nothing much would happen till right before the end and this proved to be the case , albeit with a nice final twist. An interesting book that I am glad I read .
However I expected the sleepers on Sleeper Beach to have played a bigger role in the book. They felt like a riddle that has been left for another book to investigate.
Thanks to NetGalley andLittle, Brown Book Group UK for the ARC
I liked Cal Sounder , the private eye set in the old school of American style hard nosed P.I.s. He is trying to solve the case of a murdered girl in a small seaside town set in the not too distant future. The main use of the setting in the future is the group of humans known as the Titans who live longer and get much bigger than ordinary humans. Quite a lot of pontificating takes place about the deficits of such long life , wealth and power and how the Titans should best try and cope.
I liked the plot but if had had just moved a bit faster. I felt nothing much would happen till right before the end and this proved to be the case , albeit with a nice final twist. An interesting book that I am glad I read .
However I expected the sleepers on Sleeper Beach to have played a bigger role in the book. They felt like a riddle that has been left for another book to investigate.
Thanks to NetGalley andLittle, Brown Book Group UK for the ARC
May 30, 2025
Excellent.
4.5 rounded down, just because some bits of the political theory were a little bleak.
We have become almost inured to wealth-porn, with shows like Succession and The White Lotus making the excesses of the super-rich seem acceptable, so Harkaway's choice to make (potentially) eternal youth a thing that only the rich can access is a very clever way of re-opening the class divide conversation.
Sleeper beach is not only an engrossing murder mystery, with plenty of red herrings, but quite a profound meditation on the ethics of power and economics, which I think will become even more important as we expand into the world of AI. Added to this are interesting characters, great (if a bit depressing) world-building, and a few pleasurable sleights-of-hand, giving a wholly engrossing read.
The beautiful glue that holds it altogether, though, is Harkaway's prose, which is far beyond mere homage to the hard-boiled Chandler era. Yes, he has the cynical aside, the tough-guy repartee down, but oh! There are so many juicy little sentences that absolutely pop, that I am afraid I will be going through my (eventual) hard copy of this with a highlighter, and possibly learning some of them off.
My thanks to Netgalley for the DRC, all opinions are my own
4.5 rounded down, just because some bits of the political theory were a little bleak.
We have become almost inured to wealth-porn, with shows like Succession and The White Lotus making the excesses of the super-rich seem acceptable, so Harkaway's choice to make (potentially) eternal youth a thing that only the rich can access is a very clever way of re-opening the class divide conversation.
Sleeper beach is not only an engrossing murder mystery, with plenty of red herrings, but quite a profound meditation on the ethics of power and economics, which I think will become even more important as we expand into the world of AI. Added to this are interesting characters, great (if a bit depressing) world-building, and a few pleasurable sleights-of-hand, giving a wholly engrossing read.
The beautiful glue that holds it altogether, though, is Harkaway's prose, which is far beyond mere homage to the hard-boiled Chandler era. Yes, he has the cynical aside, the tough-guy repartee down, but oh! There are so many juicy little sentences that absolutely pop, that I am afraid I will be going through my (eventual) hard copy of this with a highlighter, and possibly learning some of them off.
My thanks to Netgalley for the DRC, all opinions are my own
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September 15, 2025I really enjoyed Titanium Noir when I read it a couple of years ago and picked up the sequel with curiosity. Will note here that Sleeper Beach probably doesn’t work well as a standalone read as there are recurrent characters and lingering issues from book 1. As previously, the book is told in first person, present tense by MC Cal Sounder (not a viewpoint I love, but it works here). Cal is a detective who straddles the interface between regular humans and the rare, enhanced Titans. We also explore what such a society might look like as Cal navigates political and family environments in the course of his investigation.
Unsurprisingly for a noir mystery, things kick off with a dead body. There are many strands about whodunnit, whydunnit, and how. I liked the sense that everyone had their own motivations, both overt and hidden. Some groups (such as the titular sleepers) had more emphasis than I felt the plot merited, which makes me wonder if they’ll crop up in a subsequent book. Overall, very similar in style and content to the first book - with a different mystery, of course!
Unsurprisingly for a noir mystery, things kick off with a dead body. There are many strands about whodunnit, whydunnit, and how. I liked the sense that everyone had their own motivations, both overt and hidden. Some groups (such as the titular sleepers) had more emphasis than I felt the plot merited, which makes me wonder if they’ll crop up in a subsequent book. Overall, very similar in style and content to the first book - with a different mystery, of course!
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