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Re: RARA-AVIS:UK hardboiled
>AKA Derek Raymond, who's already been mentioned. I had great hopes for
>Raymond (Cook) when I first heard about him; I bought the four books in
>his "Factory" series at import prices (as well as non-series books _The
>Crust on its Uppers_ and _A State of Denmark_), and then read _He Died
>With His Eyes Open_ and could barely get through it. His writing style
>was stilted, and was littered with bizarre rhyming slang (I had to use
>the glossary in _The Crust on its Uppers_ to make any sense of it. I
>suspect that he made up alot of it.) The plot was pathetically thin.
I couldn't disagree more! A 'New Statesman' reviewer called the Factory
series 'Hellishly bleak and moving', and that about sums it up for me.
These books had a big impact on me -- I thought they showed an
extraordinary depth of humanity, reminiscent in some ways of Chandler,
intensified by the very dark depiction of London. I'd say Cook/Raymond
is probably the best British noir writer (and there are very few decent
ones).
I don't remember much rhyming slang (other than 'ring-a-ding' for Bell's
whiskey), but I agree you shouldn't read 'He Died With His Eyes Open'
for the tense plot: it's not a thriller (though try some of the later
ones in the series). There's some interesting detection and analysis,
but Cook/Raymond is more interested in understanding what has happened
to the victim and the motivations for the murder, than in catching the
killer.
I'm tempted to say that you need to know London to have much liking for
the Factory books, but it turns out that Cook/Raymond's biggest audience
is in France. Two of his books are available only in French, and two
very excellent French films were made of the the fist two in the series
'He Died with his Eyes Open' and 'The Devil's Home on Leave' ('On ne
Meurt que 2 Fois' and 'Les Mois d'Avril sont Meurtiers'). It's
interesting that, like Cook/Raymond, none of the great French noir
writers have had any impact in the US -- in fact, hardly any have even
been translated.
Apparently the Factory series is in production at the BBC, so we'll see
if this makes any difference. I just hope they cast the right people.
Cheers,
Mike
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