Interesting. I haven't liked Crais much, because I've found
the characters flip and shallowly drawn, and the plots kind
of cookbookish. I did like LA Requiem, though, because Cole
stopped being unrelentingly glib, Pike was fleshed out more
and what was at stake (Pike's life) was compelling. I also
enjoy Cole's love for the city. That said, I still think
Crais' characterizations of women are even weaker than his
are of men. I have yet to see what Cole sees in Lucy, for
example, or in LA Requiem, why Dolan was so intent on Cole.
Dolan's character didn't make much sense at all --
practically stalking Cole, and choosing a guy she barely knew
over the LAPD at every turn despite a long career with the
police. Huh?
I haven't read Demolition Angel, but I'd be happily surprised
if Crais manages to make her a 3-dimensional human who
doesn't sound like a man who happens to have female secondary
sex characteristics.
ts
---
billha@ionet.net wrote:
> I used the opportunity of our monthly title to
read
> through as much of the series (Crais' Cole novels)
as
> I could--and it's been quite enjoyable.
>
> As I've mentioned before, I find Crais' female
characters
> especially interesting, sometimes quite strong. In
LA
> Requiem,
> the dead cop's wife, her daughter, Dolan, and, to a
lesser
> extent, Lucy
> all have individual voices and perspectives that
play into the
> plot.
> Pike is made more human through his involvement with
the
> women, also.
> Crais seems to have been building toward his most
recent (?)
> novel, Demolition
> Angel, which features a woman on the Bomb Squad. How
well
> does
> Crais carry it off in that novel?
>
> LA Req. also deepens Crais' exploration of Los
Angeles,
> answering a
> criticism I had of the early Cole novels. That
exploration
> really begins
> in Sunset Express, and Cole's final "song" of love
for L.A. in
> Requiem
> is quite earned, it seems to me. (HB novels work
best when
> they "earn" their
> lyricism--as well as their adjectives.)
>
> Be interested in comments on DAngel.
>
> Bill Hagen
>
billha@ionet.net
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