Gun Machine
{{short description|2013 novel by Warren Ellis}}
{{EngvarB|date=September 2013}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2020}}
{{infobox book |
| name = Gun Machine
| image = GunMachineHBCover.jpg
| image_size =
| caption = 2013 hardback first edition
| author = Warren Ellis
| cover_artist =
| country = United States
| language = English
| genre = Hardboiled detective, thriller
| publisher = Mulholland Books
| release_date = 1 January 2013
| english_release_date =
| media_type = Print (hardback)
| pages = 308 pages
| isbn =
| dewey =
| congress =
| oclc =
}}
Gun Machine is a hardboiled detective thriller novel written by English author Warren Ellis.{{cite web|title=MTV Geek's Steven Smith On 'Gun Machine': 'Oh Warren, My Warren'|url=http://geek-news.mtv.com/2013/01/18/warren-ellis-gun-machine-2/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130120042757/http://geek-news.mtv.com/2013/01/18/warren-ellis-gun-machine-2/|url-status=dead|archive-date=20 January 2013|publisher=MTV Geek|access-date=19 January 2013}}{{cite news|title=NYT Bestsellers|url=https://www.nytimes.com/best-sellers-books/2013-01-20/hardcover-fiction/list.html|work=The New York Times|access-date=19 January 2013|first=Gregory|last=Cowles}} The novel, Ellis' second, was released on 1 January 2013 through Mulholland Books, and reached The New York Times Best Seller list. It follows Detective John Tallow as he becomes involved in a mystery surrounding several unsolved homicides. Ellis intended the book to serve as a contrast to police procedurals such as CSI, which he dubbed "bedtime stories".{{cite news|title=Warren Ellis trails 'Gun Machine' through NYC's mean streets|url=https://www.latimes.com/features/books/jacketcopy/la-ca-jc-warren-ellis-20130113,0,4846299.story|access-date=19 January 2013|newspaper=Los Angeles Times|date=10 January 2013|first=Douglas|last=Wolk}}
Television rights have been sold to 20th Century Fox TV and Chernin Entertainment.
Plot summary
While answering a public disturbance call on Pearl Street, NYPD Detective John Tallow's partner of twenty years is killed by a depressed apartment tenant. Tallow kills the tenant but the brief exchange of gunfire opens a hole in the wall of an apartment, the inside coated wall to wall with firearms. The firearms are revealed to have each been murder weapons in hundreds of unsolved killings over the last decade, the trophy room of an extremely prolific serial killer. Tallow, assisted by a pair of forensic analysts Bat and Scarly, are given the nearly impossible task of finding the killer behind the murders.
Meanwhile, the book cuts occasionally to the perspective of the former owner of the guns, a man referred to as The Hunter, a high-functioning schizophrenic who perceives New York both in its modern appearance and as it appeared before the arrival of settlers. As Tallow works on the case he begins to understand the 'trophy room' has some greater meaning to The Hunter, discovering that the guns have a connection to the people who they killed, either a reference to the make or use of the gun or even puns. He believes the guns are selected for some higher purpose, that understanding the pattern and the purpose of the construction will help him discover the killer.
Eventually he unravels a conspiracy that ties a banker, the Assistant Chief of Police, and the CEO of a private security company to the mysterious killer, using him as a hitman for their own personal gain. Tallow, Bat, and Scarly ambush The Hunter at Tallow's apartment. Bat is non-fatally shot, and Tallow chases down and captures The Hunter at a police building that the Assistant Chief had given him access to hide in. Following The Hunter's capture the Assistant Chief is charged with the crime while the banker disappears out of country and the private security CEO kills himself with his wife. Tallow speaks with The Hunter, in prison and taking anti-psychotics for his schizophrenia, and confirms his suspicion that the room of guns was a Native American wampum, a kind of symbolic language made with beads. The purpose of the wampum in the killer's deranged mind, once completed, would be to supernaturally eject the White-European settler Americans from New York with all of its modern culture and return New York to its pre-industrial state.
Adaptations
=Television series=
Ellis stated in 2012 that rights for Gun Machine had been purchased by the 20th Century Fox TV and Chernin Entertainment, with the intent of turning it into a television series.{{cite web|title=Review: Warren Ellis' Gun Machine|date=30 October 2012 |url=http://www.bleedingcool.com/2012/10/30/review-warren-ellis-gun-machine/|publisher=Bleeding Cool|access-date=19 January 2013}} He also confirmed that he would serve as executive producer for the potential series along with Dario Scardapane, Peter Chernin and Katherine Pope.{{cite web|title=Fox Buys Thriller From Chernin's Company Based on Upcoming Warren Ellis Novel|date=8 August 2012 |url=https://deadline.com/2012/08/fox-buys-thriller-from-chernins-company-based-on-upcoming-warren-ellis-novel-315535/|publisher=Deadline|access-date=19 January 2013}} In April 2014, Microsoft announced that Xbox Entertainment Studios acquired the television rights as part of its Xbox Originals exclusive television programming initiative; Ellis would be executive producer along with Brett Conrad, who signed on to write the pilot.{{cite web|title=Xbox Originals: Coming Soon to a Screen Near You|date=28 April 2014 |url=http://news.xbox.com/2014/04/ent-xbox-originals-unveil|access-date=6 May 2014}}
=Trailers=
Trailers for Gun Machine, one of which was narrated by Wil Wheaton, were released shortly after the book's street date.{{cite web|title=EXCLUSIVE: Wil Wheaton Narrates The Trailer For Warren Ellis' 'Gun Machine'|url=http://geek-news.mtv.com/2013/01/03/exclusive-warren-ellis-gun-machine-trailer/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130106004418/http://geek-news.mtv.com/2013/01/03/exclusive-warren-ellis-gun-machine-trailer|url-status=dead|archive-date=6 January 2013|publisher=MTV Geek|access-date=19 January 2013}} The trailers were well received, with io9 calling the second trailer "creeptastic".{{cite web|title=Do not operate heavy machinery while watching this creeptastic trailer for Warren Ellis' Gun Machine|work=io9 |date=18 January 2013 |url=http://io9.com/5976995/do-not-operate-heavy-machinery-while-watching-this-creeptastic-trailer-for-warren-ellis-gun-machine|access-date=19 January 2013 |last1=Anders |first1=Charlie Jane }}
Reception
Critical reception for Gun Machine has been mostly positive,{{cite web|title=What Kind of Crime Novel? Every Kind!: Gun Machine| work=The L Magazine | date=16 January 2013 |url=http://www.thelmagazine.com/newyork/what-kind-of-crime-novel-every-kind-gun-machine/Content?oid=2289969|access-date=19 January 2013}} with The A.V. Club giving the book a "B" rating.{{cite web|title=Review: Gun Machine|date=31 December 2012 |url=https://www.avclub.com/warren-ellis-gun-machine-1798175343|publisher=The A.V. Club|access-date=19 January 2013}} The New York Times gave a mixed review, calling it a "pleasingly quirky crime thriller" while stating that the ending felt "a little unsatisfying" due to how neatly everything was wrapped up.{{cite news|title=Big City, Crazy Killer, Loner Cop|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/03/books/gun-machine-by-warren-ellis.html?_r=1&|work=The New York Times|access-date=19 January 2013|first=Charles|last=McGrath|date=2 January 2013}} Common praise for the book centred on the depictions of the characters,{{cite news|title=Review: Gun Machine|url=http://books.usatoday.com/book/%E2%80%98gun-machine-targets-nyc-crime-with-grit-action/r849632|work=USA Today|access-date=19 January 2013|first1=Brian|last1=Truitt}}{{cite web|title=Gun Machine by Warren Ellis, Book review|url=http://timeoutchicago.com/arts-culture/books/15952326/gun-machine-by-warren-ellis-book-review|publisher=Time Out Chicago|access-date=19 January 2013}} which The Independent dubbed "wonderfully fleshed out".{{cite news|title=IoS book review: Gun Machine, By Warren Ellis|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/reviews/ios-book-review-gun-machine-by-warren-ellis-8439620.html|work=The Independent|access-date=19 January 2013|location=London|first=Laura|last=Sneddon|date=6 January 2013}}
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- [http://www.warrenellis.com/ Official author website]
Category:American thriller novels
Category:Fictional portrayals of the New York City Police Department
Category:Novels set in Manhattan