Tim wrote:
"But for a handfull of his most recent, Thomas' books just
aren't easy to find. I'd like to see a list of Thomas' best.
Then I can shop around on ebay or bibliofind."
Actually, Tim, I've found just the opposite, except for a
few, they are very easy to find in the used bookstores I
frequent. Most went through several reprintings, but he isn't
that well known outside certain circles, so his books tend to
languish in used stores. I picked up all of mine years ago,
but I've since picked up a number of copies to turn other
people onto him and have always found them pretty easily and
quickly.
I always start with Chinaman's Chance. (I think it was the
first Thomas I read after the Bleeck's, which I read after
seeing the Bronson movie, St. Ives.) It's just a great con
novel with very memorable characters. It's funny as hell, but
not in the humorous caper style of, say, Dortmunder; the
humor is a bit more perverse, bordering on black.
Basically, you can't go wrong with Thomas, though you can go
in several different directions with him. The Mac and Padillo
books are spy books. There are a number of con job books,
several featuring Wu and Durant, who were introduced in
Chinaman's Chance. Most are non-series books, although
characters from other books may pop in and out quickly (did
everyone notice Padillo's small role in Seersucker
Whipsaw?).
All of his books are based on massive research, so no matter
how outrageous the event, it was probably based very closely
on a real one. Many of the books are set behind the scenes of
various elections; one of Thomas's former professions was
political PR. Almost every one of his books has a character
explain his theory behind the JFK assassination.
Great stuff. And add me to the fans of The Eighth
Dwarf.
Mark
-- # To unsubscribe, say "unsubscribe rara-avis" to majordomo@icomm.ca. # The web pages for the list are at http://www.miskatonic.org/rara-avis/ .
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : 04 May 2000 EDT