Chris wrote:
"When you take it a bit beyond the characters being true to
themselves and into discussing the action of the book itself,
which makes me wonder you or others think of so many of
Bruen's books. The Taylor books sure, but especially the
Brant series are often, if not resolved, then ended with
events ranging from the completely random to the viscously
absurd.
"And I love that about them. You pay attention not to round
up a series of clues, but because anything might
happen."
I've been thinking about this very idea since recently
finishing Calibre. I thought t was great, but I can't imagine
anyone reading it in isolation and being satisfied. I don't
think of it as a complete book, but as an installment in a
much longer, continuing story, kind of like a single episode
of The Wire. Whenever I recommend the Brant books, I tell the
person they must read all of the White Trilogy before forming
an opinion. Even I, who had been a Bruen fan for a while when
they first came out, was disappointed when I finished The
White Arrest. It wasn't until I read all three and got to
know the characters, the rhythms and threads of their ongoing
lives, that I really started seeing how good they were. And,
like you, I like the seeming randomness of the solutions, and
how they might remain unsolved for the characters (though I'm
glad Bruen gives the reader resolution -- for instance, Brant
has never found out who killed his dog, Meyer Meyer, but the
reader knows).
Mark
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