Well, I just finished the last three books of Charles
Williams--The Wrong Venus, And the Deep Blue Sea and Man on a
Leash. I finally made it through all 22 of his books and I
must say it was a pleasure. Not a bad book in the lot. With
that said I must his last three novels have more in common
with each other than the rest of his books.
All three books have to do with international espionage, they
have extremely intricate plots and they are not as well
written and edited as his previous 19 books, but nonetheless
they are good reads. Man on Leash was particularly
interesting in that it was way ahead of its time with its
inclusion of sophisticated electronics and explosives.
Williams anticipates movies such as the Die Hard series,
Firewall, etc. by 30 years. All three books are pretty far
out and really push the limits of plausibility, but, because
Williams wrote so well and was so knowledgeable about what he
wrote, you go along with it. But I also had the feeling while
reading these books that he was probably drunk when he wrote
some of the passages in these books.
All Williams' books are well worth reading with maybe the
exception of The Wrong Venus, which I had trouble following
at times. Although it's a crime novel, it is a comedy, but
the humor is not as interesting or as funny as his Sagamore
books (which I think are worthy of Mark Twain). It's not bad,
but not up to the caliber of his other books.
I hope I can find another Gold Medal author who was as
talented and as consistent as Williams. I think Harry
Whittington comes close and some of Gil Brewer's best are
every bit as good as the best of Williams and have a similar
feel. Any suggestions?
Jeff
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