Review: Gun Machine

Ask me about Warren Ellis on an unguarded moment and I might gush and squee like a 13-year-old.

I'm a bit of a fan.

I love "Ocean" and feel this needs to be made into a movie yesterday. Unchanged.

I think that the failure to deliver a "Global Frequency" TV show is a crime against humanity. The comic collections are utter genius.

"Freak Angels" is... okay, I'm running out of synonyms for "genius". Same deal with "Gravel" and the various other works of mad genius Ellis has graced this deranged world with.

So I just finished "Gun Machine" a few minutes ago. This is the first purely-written work of his that I've read. Up to this point I've pretty much just read his comics.

GodDAMN this was a good book!

Part of me prays that this never makes it to the big screen (or TV) ever. Part of me hopes it does, but only if someone capable does it.

The plot: NYPD Detective John Tallow sees his partner killed by a lunatic. Accidentally, Tallow stumbles across an apartment room filled with guns.

And then things get messy.

The story starts off slow-ish, but that's 'cause Ellis is establishing a mood. Then comes in the crazy.

Crazy characters. Not all of them are the bad guys.

Crazy circumstances. Crazy, crazy stuff.

I had a hard time putting this book down. I paced myself on it mainly out of a desire to savor it, but my will power faded the further along in the story I found myself.

If you like cop stories and if you like a good, weird tale, get a copy of "Gun Machine" and read it all the way through.

It's my hope that you will enjoy it as much as I did.

And I enjoyed this story quite a lot.