I was interested in Mark Sullivan's high praise for Ken Bruen
because my opinion falls on the other side of the scale. I've
only read A WHITE ARREST but it was the most disappointing
novel I read last year. I managed to finish it but just
barely. It was all so very self-aware as if Bruen were an
academic (or slumming "legitimate" author) who analyzed the
elements of a HB novel and then remixed with each element
pushed over the top. Nasty POV characters are in? Then mine
will be the nastiest yet. That's okay as long as the
characters are believable and that doesn't happen here. The
author is winking throughout, including quotes from noir
fiction and film as chapter headings, and having one of his
characters read Ed McBain. Wink, wink. It was painting by the
numbers without a trace of the belief and soul of a Pelecanos
novel.
Richard Moore
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