Colin, you are so right about Derek Raymond and his books.
_He Died With His Eyes Open_ is stunning and, as you say,
compassionate. He's got a comprehending heart for all of
humanity, and even the most tangential character has a
defining and individuating phrase or sentence. I liked the
book so much that instead of next reading another new-to-me
British author I opened _The Crust on Its Uppers._ Unless
somebody gives me a pep talk, I'm going to put it aside at
page 21. It's written 20 years earlier. It's full of rhyming
slang, past what even the glossary could help, which gets
tedious fast.
Joy, now faced with the enviable task of picking the next
Britnoir author to try
>Colin said:
> Derek Raymond. He is sadly out of print in the UK
(apart from a couple of
> atypical titles from Serpeant's Tail - The Crust On
Its Uppers, which is
an
> early novel written under his own name of Robin Cook
and comes nowhere
near
> his later heights. And, A State of Denmark, which
although I think is a
> strong work probably shouldn't be classed under HB -
it's a dystopian
> political piece.)
>
> However. Should you be able to get hold of any of
his Factory series, you
> should.
> Dead Man Upright, He Died With His Eyes Open (my
favourite), The Devil is
> Home on Leave, How the Dead Live, and most famously;
I Was Dora Suarez. He
> wrote other titles that are similar, Not Till The
Red Fog Rises, is the
only
> one I have read.
>
> I know I have carped on and on about Raymond but I
think he is my
favourite
> author, and the most compassionate writer I have
ever read. I Was Dora
Suarez
> has won the most attention of his work, I think
largely because it is so
very
> disturbing. As I say above I think, HDWHEO, is
better. The "hero" of the
> Factory series is the nameless Sgt in the Department
of Unexplained
Deaths,
> based at Poland Street police station in Soho - The
Factory. I find his
work
> moving in the extreme. They are by no means
procedurals - probably
extremely
> innacurate. Raymond's autobiograpical musings - The
Hidden Files, are very
> illuminating and can tell you more about his work -
which he calls the
Black
> Novel, than I ever could. I rate him with Chandler
and Hammett and Ellroy.
>
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