Books like Batman: Nine Lives

Imagine something that looks and feels just like you would it expect it to. Whether a pair of sneakers, or perhaps a watch of some high caliber and no matter how well it matches the platonic ideal you might have of it, something just bugs you about it. No matter how many times its shaken or inspected from every angle, you’re still not able to deduce its authenticity. It has the veneer to a t but something just feels off.Call it a hunch or whatever, this is exactly how I felt about Batman: Nine Lives.Now don’t get me wrong. Not only did I very much enjoy this read and would do anything to not detract you from reading this, I would happily advise the opposite. However, there are some nitpicky flaws that (disappointingly) drag this down the five star I wanted to give, down to a four.And it all deals with that question of authenticity.On the level of appearances, it’s pretty flawless. A superbly written script perfectly matches the décor of the era. From pinstripe suits and their corresponding haberdasheries to the ever-crucial femme fatale, Nine Lives feels perfectly cut from the same cloth that is the cinematographic style known as: Film Noir. Impeccably derived from its source material and well researched at every level my eyes were stunned at every twist and turn.My eyes were always pleased but my mind didn’t quite feel the same.As far as a narrative goes, while generally coherent, innumerable moving parts and all too convenient development betrays occasional gaps in logic that feel shifty at best and *meh at worst. Which is a shame because while a lot of tropes and characters are imaginatively well modulated to fit the story, the internal plot can get quite murky more often than not. Less is certainly more and Nine Lives is a perfect example of this immutable axiom.The style is always hit but the misses of substance are far more convoluted than they should be. In either case, it’s a worthy read despite a panoply of intractable flaws.