Derek Raymond's (aka Robin Cook's) Factory books are some of
the
mystery books that I have read and re-read several
times.
IMHO Cook's stories belong to the gloomiest and most noir
works ever
written.
What I find especially convincing in his books is not so much
the
storyline but the atmosphere of general uneasiness, coldness
and
decay he creates and which starts with the weather and the
office
furniture in the Factory and does not stop at the description
of the
seedy parts of London in which the action takes place but
gets hold
of the past and current life of the protagonist.
In comparison with the reflexions of Cooks hero are the views
of
Chandlers Marlowe more those of an optimistic chap out of a
novel
by P.G.Wodehouse.
I don't know if Cooks books (which were mostly published
under
the pen name Derek Raymond) are still read in the UK.
At least two of his works have been translated into German
recently
which is not very common for a newer British author.
Oddly enough they are both from the factory serial (I Was
Dora Suarez,
Dead Man Upright) but one is published under the name Cook
and one
under Raymond.
BTW there are two excellent CD's read by Raymond/Cook on the
market.
On one CD he reads excerpts from "I Was Dora Suarez", the
other one
features a story called "Changeless Susan".
In re Mark Timlin: I think the quality of his stories change
to the
extreme.
When he writes a good book like "Ashes By Now", he is very
good
but when he writes an inferior book he is next to unreadable.
His short
stories as featured in "Sharman and Other Filth" are
perfect.
Wonderful trash in the tradition of the 1930's pulp writers
like Paul
Cain.
Frank
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Frank Glenewinkel
frank.glenewinkel@uni-koeln.de
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