Craig wrote:
>Following a huge April snowstorm that closed pretty
much
>everything, I spent the weekend holed up with a bunch
of
>new books, including _White Devils_ by Paul
McAuley,
>_Midnight Mass_ by F. Paul Wilson, and the newest
Max
>Freeman novel, _Shadow Men_ by Jonathon
King.
>
>I can remember reading King's debut, _The Blue Edge
of
>Midnight_ and thinking it had best debut Edgar
written all
>over it. So I was excited when his second book came
out.
>Unfortunately, I wasn't quite as impressed by this
second
>novel, _A Visible Darkness_. In moving the action
away
>from the Everglades, where his character, Max
Freeman, an
>ex-policeman turned private detective lived in
virtual
>isolation, a lot of the magic of the debut was
lost.
>Apparently, King learned from this because book three
is
>a real keeper.
Hmmm... I was certainly less impressed than you were. My
review of SHADOW MEN for JANUARY MAGAZINE is up now at
http://www.januarymagazine.com/crfiction/shadowmen.html
Essentially, although I enjoyed the book and will certainly
read the next one, I found the characters and the plot a
little too underdeveloped this go-round.
And just up this morning, I think, is my review of HARD
REVOLUTION by our old pal George. After reading several early
(and generally negative) reviews of this one, I was all
geared up to be disappointed, but I was very pleasantly
surprised -- this one pays off on a lot of promises Pelecanos
has made through the years, distilling many of his favourite
themes and plot devices into what I think is possibly his
richest, ballsiest book yet. My review's posted at
http://www.januarymagazine.com/crfiction/hardrevolution.html
Mind you, maybe I swayed by the free CD full of primo soul
tunes that came with it.
--
Kevin Burton Smith Nothing on? Try The Thrilling Detective Web Site/CrimeSeen TV/Movie Poll http://www.thrillingdetective.com
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