miker was recently lamenting that he had been having a bad
run of books. I've been having a particularly good on.
The Follower by Jason Starr
Starr could well be the new Highsmith. Not that I've read
that much Highsmith (Strangers and the first Ripley), but
Starr is very good at writing sociopaths (or is in
psychopaths?). This one, set among young, just post-college
singles in NY (sometimes bordering on the annoying, but
that's more the characters than Starr's depiction of them),
revolves around one such sociopath tracking down and
insinuating himself into the life of a young woman he knew a
long time ago, clearing his path of all obstacles. Plays out
with the inevitability of a car crash watched in slow
motion.
Mayhem in the Marais by Leo Malet
I really like Malet's Nestor Burma series. This is the fourth
or fifth I've read. They're a lot of fun with their slightly
exaggerated PI mannerisms. Burma's wisecracking and flirting
with his secretary are in the classic mold, but the books'
Frenchness gives them a novelty. Somehow, the rampant sexism
-- partly due to their being written in the
'50s -- that would come off as nasty and bitter, even
judgemental (if they enjoy sex, they must be bad), in a US
book of the time, comes off as good natured and playful from
this Frenchman; he lcearly loves all women. I must say,
though, that, as an American, I found some of the British
slang in this UK printing jarring, kept pulling me out of the
French setting -- I probably would not have blinked if US
slang had been used, whereas it would probably jar a Brit's
idea of Frenchness.
Cripple Creek by James Sallis
The second in his John Turner series. Sallis has a great
style. It's often elliptical, told in montage, with the
reader filling in a lot of things that are not explicitly
said. It's also very interesting what is on and off screen in
his books. That may make it sound cold, dry, maybe even
postmodern, but they're not. They're kind of southern in
their style, often going off on tangents, telling other
stories that give perspective on the main story. And what
great characters. I cannot recommend Sallis enough, this
series, the Lew Griffin series and Drive. I've gotta get his
other few novels I haven't read.
The Big Boom by Domenic Stansberry
Finished this last night. Dante Mancuso is now a PI in San
Francisco, on a missing persons case involving his first
love. Stansberry has an amazing style, very evocative, but
without calling attention to itself. He's especially good at
getting into people's minds and looking at why they do the,
often self-destructive, things they do. And how those things
resonate through other people's lives. I especially liked how
the book acknowledged what could and could not be
accomplished by a PI, how far he could get up the food chain
in fixing responsibility, and no further.
Next is McCarthy's The Road (can't believe I'm reading an
Oprah book), then the Brewer and Goodis Hard Case
reprints.
Mark
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : 16 May 2007 EDT