I recently reread MIAMI BLUES and NEW HOPE FOR THE DEAD, with
SIDESWIPE and THE WAY WE DIE NOW on tap.
It struck me, this time around, that Moseley works because
he's the Willeford psycho as hero. Certainly he has as flat
an affect as any of the guys he's chasing: there's a great
bit in NEW HOPE where Moseley confronts a guy who murdered
his wife for a roulette system, and the two sound almost
interchangable.
Although Freddy Frenger's rather pitiful, forlorn attempt to
create "normality" in the middle of whacko craziness makes
MIAMI interesting, I found that I liked NEW HOPE better. It's
a straight up police procedural -- I believe the only one of
the four, the others are I think more "thrillers" in
conception -- and I'm not usually crazy about the genre,
which tends to be a little gauzy and unfocused for my tastes.
(I'm not all that interested in police procedure, and the
usual "work many cases" aspect usually means for me a general
lack of story interest.) NEW HOPE, though, works because
Moseley is such a weirdo. There is real entertainment in
seeing him give the big "sex talk" to his daughters, or
advise his partner on pregnancy, or trying to score.
doug
===== Doug Bassett
dj_bassett@yahoo.com
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