The Immortal Game

Rating:
Summary: Compulsively Readable
Review: "The Immortal Game" - chess afficionados willrecognize it as the famous battle between Anderssen and Kieseritzkywith the ingenious endgame, while mystery fans will instantly draw parallels with other crime novels that carried chess themes. This is a more than competent debut by Mark Coggins and he successfully recreates a Chandler-esque flavor throughout the novel. In fact, many fans will no doubt enjoy spotting various little references to Chandler and other hard-boiled greats.

The premise itself is relatively simple: millionaire game developer, Edwin Bishop, has had the latest - and only - copy of his Grand Master-level, computer chess game stolen. He comes across an almost identical game at a trade convention and hires PI August Riordan to track down the stolen program and Tracy McCulloch, his former live-in female companion whom he suspects for the crime. What ensues is a page-turning tour through the Bay Area's more "interesting" locales. Riordan encounters thugs, killers, computer geeks, transvestite entertainers, socialites and a fair share of dominatrices. Highly entertaining and compulsively readable, I zipped through this one in no time at all. Will I pick up Mr. Coggins' next novel (tentatively titled "Vulture Capital")? Most definitely - he's a very good writer with a solid grasp of pacing and dialogue. The characters are well drawn too, especially that of Chris Duckworth, Riordan's sidekick wannabe. There is a lot of material here that can be solidly followed up on in subsequent novels - there is at least one other August Riordan novel in the works.

Now for the quibbles. As an homage to Chandler, Hammett, etc., "The Immortal Game" fulfills every expectation I had of it. However, Mr. Coggins mentioned in his amazon.com interview that the novel carries a major chess theme, and I have no choice but to take issue with that. Sure, the plot of the novel surrounds a stolen piece of chess software and the solution to the mystery does have something to do with The Immortal Game, but that's about as far as it goes. Riordan himself does not know much about chess, although he does learn quite a bit about it by the end of the case. The other major quibble is that Mr. Coggins' description of the stolen piece of software just doesn't seem all that compelling. There is a virtual reality game interface and an artificial intelligence or human emulation engine built into it that allows the computer to perform like a real player, i.e. declining gambits, accepting tactical sacrifices for positional/strategic gains, etc. Well, there are quite a few examples of chess games out there that already do this and have for some time. In fact, the stolen chess game could have been substituted for just about anything else - some other kind of software, jewellery, confidential documents - and the novel would still have been as good.

As things stand, I think I'd say that chess appears more as a device rather than a theme or motif. If you're an avid chess fan, you'll be disappointed by the intermittent role that the game plays in the story - look for Paolo Maurensig's "The Luneberg Variation" or Arturo Perez-Reverte's "The Flanders Panel" instead. I'm sure that most mystery fans will enjoy "The Immortal Game" and those who don't already know much about Anderssen Vs. Kieseritzky might feel inspired enough to do some of their own research afterwards. If the sign of a good book is its ability to open the doors to new worlds and interests, then I'm sure that Mark Coggins has done an admirable job with this fine debut effort.

Rating:
Summary: great mystery; real page turner
Review: A very entertaining story that has all the elements of the mystery genre in a contemporary setting. The finely crafted writing brings you right into the story settings and the twists and turns (along with a wonderfully dry sense of humor) made it a hard book to put down. The hi-tech connection adds a nice touch and is realistically done.

Rating:
Summary: great mystery; real page turner
Review: A very entertaining story that has all the elements of the mystery genre in a contemporary setting. The finely crafted writing brings you right into the story settings and the twists and turns (along with a wonderfully dry sense of humor) made it a hard book to put down. The hi-tech connection adds a nice touch and is realistically done.

Rating:
Summary: fun read; polished writing
Review: August Riordan's smart mouth and take-no-prisoners attitude make this page-turner really fun to read. Coggins deft, tight prose and dialog keep things moving and complement the fast-paced action and plot twists. The '90s update of the hard-boiled private eye makes for many memorable encounters. For me, the backdrops of Silicon Valley high tech and San Francisco subculture offer many familiar and not-so-familiar references, all nonetheless authentic and vivid. Each chapter starts with a provocative photograph (the author is an accomplished photographer as well as writer) tied directly to some aspect of the story in that chapter. In addition to being a great read, the book's high production values, particularly in book design, make it a rare find.

Rating:
Summary: My two favorites - gumshoe and high-tech
Review: Been a while since I had the fun of reading a Raymond Chandler style detective novel, and seeing this updated with a remarkably realistic high-tech angle made it even better for me. I'm looking forward to the next August Riordan story.

Rating:
Summary: Disappointing
Review: I didn't think this was a particularly great book. The storyline/mystery was pretty basic, with no interesting twists or turns. I didn't buy the motives for any of the characters; particularly August Riordan --no reason really for him to keep on the case after he was canned. Some might see the dialogue as "classic detective" or "witty" but I found it really contrived, cliched, and tedious given the fact that ALL the characters talk the same way. The book's only saving grace is that it's cute and small, and if you're from the Bay Area it's kind of fun to read about some of the places mentioned in the book. Really a disappointing read, though.

Rating:
Summary: THIS IS A GREAT BOOK!
Review: I live in Texas and did not have access to this book, but was lucky enough to get it from a friend in California. I'm very glad I got it because this is one of the most entertaining mysteries I've ever read. The lead character, August Riordan, is possibly the most enjoyable character that I've had the good fortune to 'meet'. I finished this book way too quickly and hope that the author, Mark Coggins, writes fast. I look forward to more August Riordan mysteries and hope you get a copy of this book and read it. You will not be disappointed (my personal guarantee). The Immortal Game is a book that deserves a WIDE audience and I hope this review helps just a little.

Rating:
Summary: Great Mystery Novel with a Fun Chess Twist
Review: If you love Raymond Chandler's novels, you'll love this book. It is stylishly written, with a good plot and fun characters. It is particularly enjoyable to see how the San Francisco Bay Area is woven into the fabric of the story.

I should add that for me personally the chess theme was a guaranteed hook; I used to play chess professionally and I wrote the Complete Idiot's Guide to Chess. But while the chess aspect of the story is fun, this is really a mystery thriller written as an homage to Raymond Chandler. Read this book because you love a well-written hard-boiled mystery, not because you love chess. (Although loving chess will add to your pleasure!)

A bonus to this book is that there are many inside winks to people who are knowledgeable about Raymond Chandler or the San Francisco Bay Area. Also, each chapter is framed by a photo of some place in the Bay Area, and some of these photos are quite nice.

Rating:
Summary: A New Detective Joins San Francisco's Best
Review: Mark Coggins is a writer to look forward to. He evokes a San Francisco reminiscent of Raymond Chandler. Despite being set in a modern day, Silicon Valley-contemporary environment, Coggins manages to cast a fustiness over the sunny San Francisco cityscape he depicts in word and photograph. His frequently sexually contorted characters stand up well. In the case of his main character, private detective August Riordan, and his part time sidekick (also part time transvestite), Chris Duckworth, you hope to see them again in a future novel. The technology theft of a chess game and the subsequent trail of murders in interesting circumstances and locations is challenging enough to keep us guessing and reading.

Mark Coggins has done his own photography for the book. Each chapter starts with a photo related to the action or locale of the chapter's action, adding greatly to the sense of place, and to the texture of the story.

The Immortal Game is a gritty story. It is one of those books can't put down, hate to finish, and are left wondering what the main charaters are doing today.

Rating:
Summary: First-Rate Detective Story
Review: Mark Coggins's "Immortal Game" is a fast-paced, easy-to-read detective novel. The protagonist is August Riordan, a sarcastic private detective who moonlights as a string base player for local jazz ensembles. Riordan is commissioned by a software entrepeneur, Edwin Bishop, to track down and retrieve a virtual reality chess program which Bishop believes was stolen by his former mistress. Riordan bumbles the case, is fired and proceeds to stumble upon clue after clue in true Columbo-like fashion.

There is a lot in this novel to hold the reader's interest. There are jokes, puns and allusions to classic detective fiction. There are intriguing portrayals of San Francisco culture and equally-intriguing, strategically-placed photographs of San Francisco architecture, neighborhoods, and landmarks throughout the novel.

The excerpts on the back cover of the book bill it as a chess mystery. If you are looking for a good chess novel, don't give up on this book. The chess symbolism and chess theme wasn't obvious to me for the first two-thirds of the book. At some point in the final third, I realized that I needed to look up the Anderssen-Kieseritzky match, the 'Immortal Game' of the title. The plot and final resolution of the mystery does somewhat mirror the moves in this famous game. This made this novel all the more engaging. You can find this game, as well as a move-by-move analysis, in Martin Beheim's "Chess with the Masters".

If you enjoyed this novel, you might enjoy another work of chess fiction concerning the Andersson-Kieseritzky game, Poul Anderson's short story, "The Immortal Game."

This book contains one or two fairly explicit descriptions of a sado-masochistic relationship. Some readers may find these passages distasteful. Otherwise, this is an enjoyable, carefully-crafted mystery.