Doug Basset comments about the patches of bad writing
in
_The Dammned_. Few JDM books are free from such descents into
hack territory. In his best books it doesn't matter, but when
it becomes too noticeable, I find it irritating. Were _The
Damned_ not such a suspenseful story, I would have given
up.
Given the huge volume of words he produced, JMD must have
worked very fast, with little time for polishing. What
astonishes me is the variety of characters and topics he
touches on, as well as the expressiveness of his best stuff.
In this, as in his proclivity to fall into rancid stuff, he
resembles John O'Hara more than any other crime writer I
know. Like O'Hara, JDM needs a sympathetic reader, an
accomplice.
Best regards,
MrT
=====
"The skill of man is unequal to the formation of a new man
from old materials, but the battered tenement may, with care,
be long sustained by props" -- From Becklard's
Physiology.
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