Book Review: The Second Shooter, by Nick Mamatas
A weird trip through Oakland, Berkeley and American conspiracy theories.
Solaris, 2021, 400 pages
A perception-twisting scifi thriller by a critically acclaimed author.
Sometimes, the truth is weirder than the conspiracy theories.
“There was video of the second shooter. There was video.”
In the first reports of every mass shooting, there’s always mention of a second shooter-two sets of gunshots, a figure seen fleeing the scene-and they always seem to evaporate as events are pieced together.
Commissioned by a fringe publisher to investigate the phenomenon, journalist Mike Karras finds himself tailed by drones, attacked by a talk radio host, badgered by his all-knowing (and maybe all-powerful) editor, and teaming up with an immigrant family of conspiracy buffs.
Together, they uncover something larger and stranger than anyone could imagine-a technomystical plot to ‘murder America.’
Time for Karras to meet his deadline.
Nick Mamatas (memorably called "a true Chaotic Neutral" by fellow writer Catherynne Valente) is a crafty writer, in every sense of the word. He leads writing workshops, he writes in a lit style (I am again using that word in multiple senses), you always sense he's writing a bit tongue-in-cheek and low-key making fun of readers who don't quite Get It.
I didn't quite get this one. The Second Shooter is a strange book, set in Mamatas's stomping grounds of the East Bay. Mike Karras is a journalist working for a shoestring publisher, investigating the phenomenon of "second shooters." After every incident - an assassination, a school shooting, a shopping mall terrorist attack - there are reports of a second shooter, someone the police never caught. Karras thinks there is something to this, and he's writing a book about it.
Following leads fed to him by shooting survivors, by a crazy Alex Jones-like talk radio host, by "fans" and fellow conspiracy theorists, chased by feds and drones, Karras spends some time living rough in Oakland, California, chasing a nice Ethiopian Christian girl who survived a shooting at her church, who seems both fond and contemptuous of him, while trying to uncover... the Truth.
I really was not sure where the story was going or what it was even about. Mamatas inserts sly observations throughout, poking at the obsessions of paranoid right wingers and sanctimonious leftists, but I remained unsure what the point was. Is it about America's gun culture? About conspiracy theories? About the psychology of mass shooters? About social media derangement? About people trying to make sense of the senseless? At times the story had a bit of Robert Anton Wilson/Robert Shea Illuminati vibe.
The ending is where it gets really strange and earns the "sci-fi" label, but I cannot say I was left satisfied, or any less perplexed.
The Second Shooter is a departure from Mamatas's previous books; he usually dabbles in Lovecraftian horror, and I have to admit I preferred them. This one was just kind of weird, and seemed more like something born in a weed-fueled brainstorming session, perhaps inspired by some of the weird Japanese SF that he edits at Haikasoru. It just never quite cohered and it felt like the sort of book that might become a cult classic for a particular niche audience, but it wasn't for me.
Also by Nick Mamatas: My reviews of Starve Better, Move Under Ground, I Am Providence, and Wonder and Glory Forever: Awe-Inspiring Lovecraftian Fiction.
My complete list of book reviews.
Solaris, 2021, 400 pages
A perception-twisting scifi thriller by a critically acclaimed author.
Sometimes, the truth is weirder than the conspiracy theories.
“There was video of the second shooter. There was video.”
In the first reports of every mass shooting, there’s always mention of a second shooter-two sets of gunshots, a figure seen fleeing the scene-and they always seem to evaporate as events are pieced together.
Commissioned by a fringe publisher to investigate the phenomenon, journalist Mike Karras finds himself tailed by drones, attacked by a talk radio host, badgered by his all-knowing (and maybe all-powerful) editor, and teaming up with an immigrant family of conspiracy buffs.
Together, they uncover something larger and stranger than anyone could imagine-a technomystical plot to ‘murder America.’
Time for Karras to meet his deadline.
Nick Mamatas (memorably called "a true Chaotic Neutral" by fellow writer Catherynne Valente) is a crafty writer, in every sense of the word. He leads writing workshops, he writes in a lit style (I am again using that word in multiple senses), you always sense he's writing a bit tongue-in-cheek and low-key making fun of readers who don't quite Get It.
I didn't quite get this one. The Second Shooter is a strange book, set in Mamatas's stomping grounds of the East Bay. Mike Karras is a journalist working for a shoestring publisher, investigating the phenomenon of "second shooters." After every incident - an assassination, a school shooting, a shopping mall terrorist attack - there are reports of a second shooter, someone the police never caught. Karras thinks there is something to this, and he's writing a book about it.
Following leads fed to him by shooting survivors, by a crazy Alex Jones-like talk radio host, by "fans" and fellow conspiracy theorists, chased by feds and drones, Karras spends some time living rough in Oakland, California, chasing a nice Ethiopian Christian girl who survived a shooting at her church, who seems both fond and contemptuous of him, while trying to uncover... the Truth.
I really was not sure where the story was going or what it was even about. Mamatas inserts sly observations throughout, poking at the obsessions of paranoid right wingers and sanctimonious leftists, but I remained unsure what the point was. Is it about America's gun culture? About conspiracy theories? About the psychology of mass shooters? About social media derangement? About people trying to make sense of the senseless? At times the story had a bit of Robert Anton Wilson/Robert Shea Illuminati vibe.
The ending is where it gets really strange and earns the "sci-fi" label, but I cannot say I was left satisfied, or any less perplexed.
The Second Shooter is a departure from Mamatas's previous books; he usually dabbles in Lovecraftian horror, and I have to admit I preferred them. This one was just kind of weird, and seemed more like something born in a weed-fueled brainstorming session, perhaps inspired by some of the weird Japanese SF that he edits at Haikasoru. It just never quite cohered and it felt like the sort of book that might become a cult classic for a particular niche audience, but it wasn't for me.
Also by Nick Mamatas: My reviews of Starve Better, Move Under Ground, I Am Providence, and Wonder and Glory Forever: Awe-Inspiring Lovecraftian Fiction.
My complete list of book reviews.