Max Barry, Machine Man ** 1/2

Barry's most recent book, Lexicon, led me to believe that he was an above-average thriller writer who can make wild scientific plots sound plausible. So I was anxious to read Machine Man, which is about an engineer who starts replacing his body parts with improved mechanical ones.

The first chapter is an excellent start. It introduces our narrator, Dr Charles Neumann, as he wakes in the morning and can't find his phone.

I didn't know how warm it would be today. It might rain, it might be humid, I had no idea. I had a desktop but it took forever to boot, more than a minute. I would have to choose clothes without information on the environmental conditions. It was insane. 

The chapter is funny and clearly outlines Neumann's off-kilter perspective as an engineer above all. (He sees another character wearing earrings and thinks she must favor appearance over efficiency, poor girl.)

Alas, it's downhill after that. The other characters are cartoonish, with names like Cassandra Cautery and Lola Shanks (which retrospectively made me notice the narrator's last name). The action sequences are nowhere near as compelling as the ones in Lexicon were. Most damning, Neumann's personality shifts around according to the dictates of the plot: sometimes he's the odd duck making logical but surprising decisions; other times he's the hapless victim of the ruthless company he works for.