RARA-AVIS: books to read - Westlake and Crais

From: Mark Blumenthal ( blumenidiot@21stcentury.net)
Date: 07 Jan 2000


Donald Westlake has written more hb than the Parkers. Try reading the books he wrote as Tucker Coe They are about Mitch Tobin who was kicked off the police because he was sleeping with a woman when he was supposed to be on duty. Since his partner was killed covering for him he is wracked by guilt. He is absorbed by building a wall, but he winds up being a detective in 5 books. Kinds of Love, Kinds of Death is the first. An early novel, Killing Time, is clearly influenced by Red Harvest.

I think reading Robert Crais' first Elvis Cole novel, The Monkey's Raincoat, first is best. While he clearly has grown as a writer, this clearly shows his debt to Robert Parker(mainly early). It lays the groundwork for Cole and Joe Pike's relationship. Mark

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