Lester Ferris, sergeant of the British Army, is a good man in need of a rest. He's spent a lot of his life being shot at, and Afghanistan was the last stop on his road to exhaustion. He has no family, he's nearly forty and burned out and about to be retired. The island of Mancreu is the ideal place for Lester to serve out his time. It's a former British colony in legal limbo, soon to be destroyed because of its very special version of toxic pollution - a down-at-heel, mildly larcenous backwater. Of course, that also makes Mancreu perfect for shady business, hence the Black Fleet of illicit ships lurking in the bay: listening stations, offshore hospitals, money laundering operations, drug factories and deniable torture centres. None of which should be a problem, because Lester's brief is to sit tight and turn a blind eye. But Lester Ferris has made a friend: a brilliant, Internet-addled street kid with a comicbook fixation who will need a home when the island dies - who might, Lester hopes, become an adopted son. Now, as Mancreu's small society tumbles into violence, the boy needs Lester to be more than just an observer. In the name of paternal love, Lester Ferris will do almost anything. And he's a soldier with a knack for bad places: "almost anything" could be a very great deal - even becoming some sort of hero. But this is Mancreu, and everything here is upside down. Just exactly what sort of hero will the boy need?
Industry Reviews
Astonishing ... Graham Greene would have treasured this book ... Nick Harkaway has all the writerly skills to pull it off. His Tigerman lives because of his wit and daring intelligence, and his empathy. Words quiver whenever he writes. * Scotsman *
Nick Harkaway's novels inhabit a remarkably imaginative territory. He is J.G. Ballard's geeky younger brother, pumped up on steam-punk and pop culture, interested in the effects of modern life on our psyches; he is J.G. Farrell's grandson, poking at the ruins of civilization and seeing what comes out ...Harkaway writes with a precision that belies the fantastical nature of his plots ...Nick Harkaway manipulates and subverts conventions and archetypes. He has created something with all the hallmarks of the craftsmanship that he extols, making Tigerman a sly commentary on authorship and genre; and perhaps more importantly, a fantasia both swashbuckling and glorious. * Times Literary Supplement *
Nick Harkaway's best novel yet, full of irrepressible adventure, practical vigilantism, an island murder mystery and some terrifyingly credible ideas including the seismic mash-up of chemical waste and unknown bacteria and the chilling no-man's land of the international of waters of the Fleet where anything goes. It's busting with heart and verve. I loved it utterly. -- Lauren Beukes
Harkaway occupies that enviable territory where books of a speculative nature intersect with the mainstream, as evidenced by his previous novels The Gone-Away World and Angelmaker. Tigerman, his third, is his best yet, a funny, moving and thought-provoking tale ... it's brilliant. * Independent on Sunday *
Extraordinary...The action sequences in Tigerman are some of Harkaway's best. As ever, the writing is economical but lively, revelling in modern idiom...[Has] the cinematic scope and dynamism one has come to expect from Harkaway...The ending of Tigerman is pitch-perfect, thrilling and dramatic. * Literary Review *
