Tigerman by Nick Harkaway

Tigerman – A Novel
Nick Harkaway

Vintage Press

British army Sergeant Lester Ferris has seen his share of action–perhaps too much during a recent posting to Afghanistan. Close to military retirement but still fit, he’s posted to a relic of the British Empire located in the Indian Ocean, an island called Mancreu.

“. . . an amazing blend of pulp fiction and film noir, spy caper and high adventure story . . .”

Due to a mistake on the part of a chemical company, the island’s active volcano harbors the potential to alter life on Earth beyond recognition. While the UN wrangles and debates, the island is left in a legal limbo and its people face evacuation before it’s sterilized down to the bedrock. Lester is there to show the flag and keep the peace as best he can, but he’s also under strict orders not to do anything significant. Meanwhile, there’s a Black Fleet anchored in the bay, where anything and everything deniable to governments around the world takes place–courtesy of Mancreu’s strange legal status. 

Lester’s paternal friendship with a local teenage boy takes on deeper significance when Mancreu’s society begins to fragment under the stress of its predicament. The boy lives in a world of comic books and Internet gaming. When people begin to die, his fictional world bleeds into reality and Lester is faced with having to break orders to get involved. But who is responsible for the deaths? Is it the Black Fleet, or a mysterious island bogeyman named Bad Jack? With everything to play for, can Lester find the hero inside himself and save the island before it’s too late?

Nick Harkaway has produced a winner in Tigerman. It’s an amazing blend of pulp fiction and film noir, spy caper and high adventure story, all wrapped in a driving plot that draws the reader in.

Reviewer: Cindy A. Matthews