Michael Marshall Smith “Only forward”
The world could no longer reach me, and my past had become all I had, a past I could do nothing about, could never go back and change.
Everything you’ve done, everything you’ve seen, everything you’ve become, remains. You never can go back, only forward, and if you don’t bring the whole of yourself with you, you’ll never see the sun again..
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From the back cover:
Stark is the hero the future is waiting for – God help it. He’s smart, alarmingly cool, and has immaculate taste in shirts. He’s a trouble-shooter in the City, a lawless sprawl of Neighbourhoods which covers the country from coast to coast. Each is totally geared to the desires of those who live in it, from can-do corporate types, through deranged criminals, to people who just don’t like loud noises.
Stark accepts a job from Zenda Renn, the human face of the Action Centre – where people who have to be doing something all the time hang out. Someone’s missing. Zenda needs him found, and soon.
In a world where the past and future, reality and dreams meet and have a fistfight, Stark is the only man who can make a difference. Time is running out and there is no going back. Only forward.
When I first read about this book in the Bookcrossing forum, I just signed up for the bookring, because this Stark guy sounded intriguing. I’m so glad that I did, because this book definitely is a discovery on so many levels.It starts out as one of these old-school private detective stories set in the future. With a “hero” that is funny, sarcastic, flawed and really pretty cool. He is looking for a guy that was apparently kidnapped, but later turns out to have left on his own. Although even later it turns out that’s not exactly right, either.
Anyway, the first half of the book is a very entertaining trip through various Neighbourhoods, either chasing clues or getting chased by all kinds of people. Along the way we meet a whole cast of characters who, although some of them are quite unsavoury types, nevertheless you can’t help but like. I grew particularly fond of Stark’s old friend Ji, who definitely should have stayed away from dark-haired women, if you ask me.
I was especially taken with the whole concept of the Neighbourhoods. Stark lives in Colour, a Neighbourhood for people “who are heavily into colour. All the streets and buildings are set for instant colourmatch: as you walk down the road the change hue to offset whatever you’re wearing.” Then you have the Action Centre Neighbourhood, the place for people with a can-do attitude. They even “keep moving the buildings around just for something to do in lunchbreaks, and if you don’t keep up with the pace you can walk into the Centre and not know where everything is.” Here lives Stark’s client Zenda, who works in the department of Doing Things Especially Quickly as an Under-Supervisor of Really Hustling Things Along. Well, you get the image…
So, during the first half of the book, Stark is showing us around in this world and along the way trying to solve his case, which then takes a surprising and dramatic turn after we first visit Jeamland.
Jeamland was actually freaking me out right from the start. It’s a kind of Alice in Wonderland meets a bad LSD-trip, very surreal and creepy. It is not only the place where you go to dream, but also a place where you can – and sometimes have to – confront things from your past. Incidentally, and fittingly, it is situated adjacent to Memory. I’m sure I’ve encountered the concept of a Dreamland before in some other book, I just can’t remember which one. The twist here is that Stark and his friend Rafe, whom we meet only quite late in the book, can actually manipulate events in Jeamland, because they can go there when they’re awake.
The second half of the book takes place mainly in Jeamland and not only leads to a confrontation between Stark and Rafe, but also forces Stark to find out some pretty unpleasant things about himself and about his past, with which he has to come to terms in order to survive.
I think, this second part of the book is the reason many people have trouble liking it. This complete turnaround from lighthearted comedy to dark and at times disturbing dreamland storyline does come quite unexpected, but I think it makes this a better book than your average Sci/Fi story. And it makes Stark a much more realistic character, as strange as that sounds.
I will definitely get myself another copy of this book to re-read again and again, because I’m sure this is one of those books where you find something new every time you read it. I also just requested another book by Michael M. Smith on Bookmooch: “Spares”. I think, I may have found a new favorite author, as far as you can tell after only one book.
I’ll leave the last words to an Amazon reviewer, who wrote he a very accurate short characterization of the book:
Only Forward is a treat for lovers of good cinema. It’s as though the Phillip Marlowe-style narrator of Blade Runner held your hand through a speeded-up showing of Donnie Darko and the film that The Beach should have been.
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