From: "Terrill Lankford" <
lankford2000@earthlink.net>
> Scott Phillips' Charlie Arglist from THE ICE
HARVEST. Actually if I could
> nominate an ensemble of hard boiled characters this
book would come close
to
> topping the list.
I thought this book was a bit overrated, for the most part.
While the characters were indeed quite intriguing and the
ending had a terrific macabre touch, I felt the book
meandered quite a bit into directionless and meaningless
travelings by its main character and lacked a true narrative
plot thrust. While even some of the finest noir works display
this type of character-intense plotting (Goodis comes to
mind), they usually have a substantial plotting framework as
well; THE ICE HARVEST lacked this framework, I felt.
Having said that, I (believe it or not) did enjoy the book
and look forward to his new novel that is I believe due out
sometime this year (according to the blurb on the chapter
tease in the tpb version of THE ICE HARVEST).
But not as much as Jason Starr's new one, due out later this
year from Vintage. Now *that's* narrative thrust and plotting
framework (with no sacrifice in character development,
either)!
Ron Clinton
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