I nearly abandoned this when it opened with detectives at a murder scene, a prelude I realized I've come to associate with formulaic slop. And I wasn't sure I would still enjoy noir as much as I once did. It doesn't take long for the wildly imaginative dimensions of the story to burst forth from the outrageously explosive plot. The alternate history is both utopian and dystopian in noir proportions, full of interesting observations, implications, and jazzy interludes.