Re: RARA-AVIS: intro/Dortmunder/Block

From: Ray Skirsky ( rskirsky@qualcomm.com)
Date: 13 Aug 2001


At 03:28 PM 8/13/2001 +0000, you wrote:
>Hi all -
>I got off to a bad start with Block, trying "Burglar in the Rye," which I
>had to abandon due to excessive cuteness. Sometime later, I tried "Hit
>Man," which worked much better for me - though it sort of peters out after
>the first few episodes, which started out as independent short stories. I
>particularly liked "Keller's Therapy," and I'm wondering if this was the
>first appearance of the "bad guy and shrink" motif that seems to be
>everywhere now. I first remember seeing this device in "Grosse Pointe
>Blank," which I think came out in '97, and which - to put it kindly, at
>the very least - seemed *influenced* by the Keller stories. Since then
>you have "Analyze This" and "The sopranos" and now every baddy seems to
>have an analyst on speed dial (nothing against the Sopranos, which uses
>the device very well).

For Block, I'd try "When the Sacred Ginmill Closes." Not especially hard-boiled, but it does have a noir feel to it.

Ray

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