Mark Sullivan (AnonymeInc@webtv.net)
Thu, 9 Dec 1999 12:33:37 -0500 (EST)
I'm about two thirds through Never Street. It's the first
Walker I've read in a while. I really enjoyed it at first,
for its anachronism, its attitude about modernity, etc. These
are all staples of the series and I enjoyed getting back to
Walker. However, it became too self-conscious and began to
wear on me. As Kevin pointed out, Estleman kind of beats you
over the head with film noir parallels.
Never Street seems kind of padded to me, filled out to make a
300+ page count. The earlier books are very tight. As I've
mentioned, I can be a bit anal about reading series in order.
I doubt I would have read past the first Walker, had I not
already gathered the first three. So I gave him another
chance and each book got just enough better to get me to go
on. For me, it really kicked in at about the third book (I
feel much the same way about the Matt Scudder series). From
then on I picked them up religiously as they came out in
paper. There was a long pause before Never Street, though, so
I just hadn't yet gotten around to picking it up. I'm not
sorry I'm reacquainting myself with Walker, I just think it
needs an editor, something I never would have suggested of a
previous Estleman.
Bill, you must read Estleman's Peeper one-shot about a sleazy
PI. It's just great.
Mark
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