Noir: A Novel

By Robert Coover

With impeccable skill, Robert Coover, one of America's pioneering postmodernists, has turned the classic detective story inside-out. Here Coover is at the top of his form; and Noir is a true page-turner-wry, absurd, and desolate.

You are Philip M. Noir, Private Investigator. A mysterious young widow hires you to find her husband's killer-if he was killed. Then your client is killed and her body disappears-if she was your client. Your search for clues takes you through all levels of the city, from classy lounges to lowlife dives, from jazz bars to a rich sex kitten's bedroom, from yachts to the morgue. "The Case of the Vanishing Black Widow" unfolds over five days aboveground and three or four in smugglers' tunnels, though flashback and anecdote, and expands time into something much larger. You don't always get the joke, though most people think what's happening is pretty funny.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Penguin Group
• Release date: Mar 4, 2010
• ISBN: 9781590204559

Reviews for Noir

[mlbowers-1 · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

I understand that this was intended as an homage and somewhat of a spoof of noir crime novels, but for me it failed on both counts. I wound up just being annoyed. The narrative made no sense, which I could have put up with if it was funny, but it wasn't. Some Coover fans will probably explain that I am just not getting his style. Ok, but I am still not sure how that explains a narrative that doesn't make sense, told out of order. Save yourself some annoyance.

[cathyincanada · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Very Private Dick 1950's era style of writing and storytelling. I got very confused by the flashbacks within the current time that merged into hallucinations, but it was an interesting read.

[billycongo · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I'm definitely a fan of this type of book. It's reminiscent of 'Ghost Town' by the same author and 'The Unconsoled' by Kazuo Ishiguro. It's very playful with the genre, although I don't read mysteries anymore. That genre seems a bit too formulaic. I couldn't stop trying to figure out the ending, and most of my guesses were off the mark. It's a result of the genre that you are trying to figure out who the bad guys are.