In an alternate, present-day London, Joe Spork--clock repairman and son of a legendary gangster--accepts a commission to repair an old automaton. Unknowingly, he sets in motion an impending disaster, which is the culmination of a decades-old battle between a British Intelligence agent and a brutal Southeast Asian dictator.

This is not my typical style of reading. I don't usually go in for humor, but Nick Harkaway is the son of the Grandmaster of Espionage himself, John le Carré, so I wanted to see what the son could do with speculative fiction.

In general, the strengths of this novel are mostly in the dialog. The banter is witty and hilarious. The characters are adequate and serve their purpose, save the protagonist himself, who goes through an unbelievable metamorphosis from anonymous geek to popular hero even though he doesn't possess any of the skills to do so. And, unfortunately, the narrative is verbose and overblown. At times there are some interesting comments, but much of it is pointless digression which doesn't advance the story and only serves as filler. If a character has to use a pen, you'd better believe you'll hear the full history of the pen before the character is finished writing.

The plot and structure are a bit unusual. The villain makes a late entrance and is mostly absent towards the end. Most of his presence is felt in a lengthy flashback in the middle. The world-altering disaster is hardly touched on outside of a few quick comments in the news, making it difficult to get a sense of the scope and urgency. Many of the events just seem like mini urban adventures for the reader to discover this alternate London and meet some colorful characters. And finally, the mixture of the serious and humorous doesn't play well together in this instance, and the very nature of the automaton and its danger is ridiculous.

Also, what kind of idiot designs an impenetrable fortress with train tracks leading right up to the wall?

However, knowing the history of Nick Harkaway's father, John le Carré, and of his con-man grandfather--and that John le Carré used it as the basis for his brilliant novel A Perfect Spy--it is interesting to see the relationship between Joseph Spork, Matthew "Tommy Gun" Spork, and his grandfather Daniel. At least it has something in that regard for readers who are interested in the theme of fathers. There's also a discussion about restricting personal freedoms in the name of public safety that's topical and echoes some of John le Carré's current writing.

It's not a horrible novel, but it isn't very good, either. There's too much frustration if humor isn't your goal or if you have moderate-to-high expectations for what you read. It's rather like spending an evening talking with a smartass. Sure, the smartass is witty and funny, but it gets tiring the longer you stay. Perhaps this novel would have worked better if it had been shorter, but I get the feeling Harkaway likes words...lots of words. I'd recommend this to people who want a more mature, less fantastical version of Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere or a more verbose version of something like Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut, but with less-polished absurdity.