--- In rara-avis-l@yahoogroups.com, Mark Sullivan <DJ-Anonyme@...> wrote:
>
>
> I read Nightmare Alley after many raves here from the late, lamented
miker (who also led me to Thieves Like Us). Blew me away, too. Keep
meaning to check out the movie.
>
>
>
> But I don't think I'd place it as my best noir novel. Don't know if
I'd stick with this if I really thought about it, but the title that
popped into my head was Pop. 1280 by Thompson.
>
I would have to name dozens of novels... but a few favorites are The
Hot Spot by Charles Williams, Strangers on a Train by Patricia
Highsmith, The Girl with the Long Green Heart by Lawrence Block, The
Ax by Westlake and several of Jason Starr's novels (hard to pick one).
This to be added to classics by Cain, Nathanael West, Thompson,
Goodis, Woolrich, etc. I have also become very fond of the noirs of
Charlie Huston.
A real sleeper is Gault's _Death Out of Focus_, not a typical Gault
novel or a typical noir. A onyric work (but not bordering on camp,
like Townsley Rogers's masterpiece). If you think of Gault as the
ultimate non-neurotic writer, read this one...
Best,
mrt
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