It's not just Smith's obvious talents as a writer that make this one an interesting hybrid: by borrowing ideas and images from non-literary genres, seems to expand the repertoire of elements that can be used to discuss really serious literary themes. This Smith guy can really write.Speaking of, 'Only Forward' is one of those books that makes me think that demolishing the boundaries between literature and genre fiction - which I tend to be pretty mindful of, even when I leave my book snob comfort zone - might be the right thing to do after all. While it's true that Smith's prose can get a bit purple by the standards of literary fiction, but the more plot-oriented sections fairly sparkle with acrid British wit and top-shelf, perfectly deadpan funny bits and puns. Not all of this works all the time - there were moments when I grew kind of tired of the cartoon ultraviolence - but so much of it, especially the stuff dealing with human emotions and memory, does. And there are a lot of jokes and obscure British slang terms: 'Only Forward' belongs squarely in the tradition of humorous, off-kilter British science fiction. There are moments that recall spy novel chase scenes and fantasy-novel battles. There are others that describe a theory of a more permanent self and address deep trauma, healing and the slow, inevitable, accretion of experience. There are parts to the novel that recall the heavily pixelated video games that were new when the novel was first published.

It's great fun to see this novel's characters interact with the playfully strange settings that Smith has concocted for them, which often blur the line between lifestyle choice, sense perception, and self.

Fantastic! A virtuoso first novel that begins, ostensibly, as a detective yarn with a sense of humor but that takes the reader to weird, unexpected places.

Only Forward by Michael Marshall Smith