I just read a review by Luc Sante in the New York Times of
the book "The Triumph of the Thriller," expresses my thoughts
about the book almost exactly. Toward the end of the review,
he comments about the subtitle "How cops and crooks,
etc.":
>After reading it I know more names of thriller
writers
than I could previously recite, and have a small list of
writers I'd like to check out - largely on the basis of their
settings or plot premises - but I am no closer to knowing
"how cops, crooks, and cannibals captured popular
fiction."<
This is exactly on target. The book is Patrick Anderson's
summary of reviews of any number of popular and sometimes
great books without warnings about spoilers--but that makes
no difference. It's a nice overview that expresses one man's
opinion, some of which I agree with and some that I disagree
with. (Anderson is the thriller reviewer for the Wasthingto
Post.)
Perhaps the best thing about the book is that he talks up
Dennis Lahane and George Pelecanos each in his own full
chapter, and recommendsother authors and their works such as
James Lee Burkes "Crusaiders Cross," which I read a couple of
weeks ago and thought was excellent.
It's a decent read, maybe even worthy of reference. I think
he talks up "Silence of the Lambs" and its dismal sequel a
bit too much, implying that both are great literary
novels.
Oh, in case you missed the last couple postings of the url
here is is again:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/18/books/review/Sante.t.html?pagewanted=1
Jack Bludis
http://www.jackbludis.com
Shamus nominee for *Shadow of the Dahlia* Try "Blondes,
Blondes, Blondes" at http://www.ThrillingDetective.com
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