<<Speaking of Westlake, what's the take on The Ax? I
just finished it
and enjoyed it--its breeziness is unsettling. It is also dark
and hard
(its protagonist a white-collar Lou Ford, perhaps), but
doesn't feel
particularly so. I also found its simplicity (plot-wise)
oddly
compelling (or maybe it's not so simple).>>
I found this book oddly disturbing, perhaps because of its
ferocious
concentration. The spirit of Fredric Brown must have been
hovering in
Westlake's vicinity while he was writing this.
<<In other hard-boiled reading, I found Bart Spicer's
_The Long Green_ a
littleflat. A word of advice on other Carney Wilde books
would be
great. ArthurLyons' _The Killing Floor_ was pretty good I
thought.
Strong action, thoughyou didn't want to think too hard about
the pieces
(though Chandler had that problem too, of course). Any
recommendations
about other Jacob Asch books?>>
Spicer was a bit of a writing machine. I am a minor fan of
his, though I
don't think he was as good as his greatest contemporaries
like Charles
Williams, John D. MacDonald, Marcolm Braly, or Peter Rabe.
Rabe is a
writer you would probably enjoy (I'm guessing, of course).
While being a
thoroughly commercial writer, he was also an artist.
I have been a fan of Arthur Lyons's for many years. My two
favorites are
_Dead Ringer_ and _Castles Burning_.
Regards,
mt
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