This is a science fiction-mystery-noir-humor story with a hard-boiled detective, I think I missed a category.
The setting is poorly defined and that is part of the reader’s exploration. Conrad Metcalf is a detective, a private inquisitor in a world where (not-private) inquisitors spy on people doling out or removing credits. Drugs are commonplace and. tailored, people use them to create moods, to forget, to enhance experiences, it seems endless and very personalized.
Society has created intelligent animals, educated babies and a few gadgets. These are revealed slowly through the book.
At the beginning, the book felt like a detective noir story, it read like a Raymond Chandler story. Conrad is approached by a man panicked, being framed for a murder and no means of payment and low on credits. During the investigation, he encounters kangaroo muscle, holographic houses and a few others.
The extensive use of drugs made me feel like the whole book is a drug-induced illusion. The author reinforces this by making use of bizarre idioms and metaphors that get increasingly peculiar as the book goes on.
The title is a reference to a gun that plays music whenever it is drawn, something to do with advertising.
The book started off amusing and new but started to get old toward the end. It ended just in time.