Nocturne for a Dangerous Man

By Marc Matz

Book Overview

Professional tracker Gavilan Robie, a sophisticate capable of assuming many identities, finds his many powers tested to their limits on a mission to rescue a man kidnapped by terrorists. This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0312869355
• ISBN13: 9780312869359
• Release Date: January 1999
• Publisher: Tor Books
• Length: 494 Pages
• Weight: 1.55 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.8" x 1.8" x 6.3"

Customer Reviews

Nocturne For A Dangerous Man

Loved it. My educated male friends loved it. I have additional praise for this book. I enjoy books of this genre, however I weary of the inevitable sex scenes. They're usually written by male authors or from the viewpoint of a male hero. As a heterosexual female, I find the scenes doubly onerous. It's sooooo refreshing to read a book that *doesn't*. The protagonist thinks about it sometimes, and gets offers, but actually has some self control. And hey, this action hero actually *cares* about women as people. I really appreciated the author's descriptions of his character's thought processes and mental strategies behind the male dominance behaviors when jockeying with other males. I've only read female authors who try to do that with their characters. So interesting to read a male author's description. My friends and I eagerly await Mr. Matz's next novel.

Better than that.

I'd have to disagree with the last reviewer. First off, any story set more than a few years in the future is science fiction, or to use the much better term, speculative fiction. If the science doesn't jump out at you (and there's a lot more than is apparent at a glance) that's because Matz is of the show, not tell, school of SF writers. Second Gavilan Robie is an extraordinary character, but he's no superman. He falls into the very capable, mature, category of heroes -- such as his spiritual ancestor, Travis McGee. (If you don't believe that there are people who are incredibly at both physical and intellectual activities, check out Joanna Zeiger. She's a top marathoner, Olympic class triathlete, and is going for her Phd at John Hopkins in genetic epidemology. Superwoman?) Robie may be at the high end of the curve, but he's not off the chart. Anyway, I like reading about people who are really gifted, and giving. Sometime Matz enjoys being erudite, but obfuscation? I didn't find the book either confusing or obscure. What I did find was a thoughtful, and exciting, thriller that got me to think about what kind of plausible future we are going to get and what kind of people we want to be.

A rich tapestry

Reading this book makes me want to describe it in more poetic or evocative language than I usually use. The villains evoke the Greek Furies, but to describe the book as a whole I would evoke the Fates who spun the lives of men. Nocturne is a rich tapestry with threads of many lives. I might nickname it The Webs of a Life. The phrase "A Knight of Ghosts and Shadows" also comes strongly to mind, but that has already been used as an SF title. The hero, Gavilan, is a true paladin living in a world 50 years from now. He makes his living recovering stolen art, but his life is rescuing people. The events in the novel take less than 10 days, but Gavilan's ghosts and flashbacks span 30 years of rescues and family memories cover over 100 years.The plot can be described simply: a brilliant young scientist is kidnapped by terrorists, and Gavilan is convinced to try to rescue her before a 10-day ransom deadline. The characters and the book are not simple, they are deep and rich. The terrorists are misguided idealists. Gavilan is a musician, an art lover, and a deadly unarmed combat expert with strong ethical principles against killing. His actions are always aimed at preserving lives, even those of his opponents, not taking lives, but his actions are not always gentle. (Don't let the cover mislead you--Gavilan does not carry a gun, but he is indeed dangerous.)The world in Nocturne is very lived-in. There are no expository lumps to describe gee-whiz changes to the reader, but there are many changes from our world present in the background.I can recommend this book to anyone who likes science fiction, music, art, martial arts, daring rescues, loving relationships, haunted heroes, strong ethics, believable futures and many other threads woven into a rich whole.

Science Fiction for Real Adults

An intense, enthralling thriller. What I like best about Nocturne for a Dangerous Man is that the characters are complex and multi-layered. The eco-terrorists have background and stories; they are not just stereotyped villains. The protagonist is a complex mixture of many emotions and motives. I particularly appreciate his dedication to ethical principles--and cynical idealism. He is truly the dangerous man of the title, yet operates from a worldview that favors freedom and many other important values. The author does not allow his rich characterizations to interfere with the story. This is a thriller and you feel the tension as he tries to get to the kipnapped executive before she is killed. Buy this novel. You'll be thrilled, scared, inspired and more.

Powerful--grabs your emotions. Richly textured characters

This book is like a combination of the best of early Robert Heinlein and Theodore Sturgeon. The action is gripping with dramatic tension (it is a thriller!), but the characters are also fascinating and varied. No cardboard heroes or villains here. Shades of gray are very evident. Set in a future 50 years from now, suffering from ecological consequences to human greed. The protagonist (Gavilan Robie) is Scottish, Basque, and American Indian, a master cellist, a former member of the Action Rescue Committe (freeing political prisoners at great personal risk), skilled at a wide variety of martial arts, multilingual, and making a living from recovering fine art (that has been stolen). He also, sometimes, tries to find people who have been kidnapped. Matz does an excellent job of exploring Robie's psyche and world while keeping the reader's tension high. (The kidnapped victim--a brilliant woman who may be the 21st century's Leonardo da Vinci--is slated to die in a week.) I particularly liked that Robie is complex. In some ways, he can be quite nasty (he'll use bribery, blackmail, and physical violence if necessary), yet he is amazingly compassionate and holds to a clear set of ethical values. Even the "minor" characters in Nocturne for a Dangerous Man have stories to tell. I saw that Nocturne got rave reviews from Kirkus and Publisher's Weekly. I think they are well deserved. This is a new author and I'll be watching for his work in the future. Buy this book--you'll be powerfully moved by it!