RE: RARA-AVIS: Re: Shadow Men by Jonathon King

From: Aldo T. Calcagno ( acalcagno@simi.k12.ca.us)
Date: 26 Apr 2004


I enjoyed both of these books. Kings next book will be a Max Freeman novel.

Congrats to Pelecanos for winning for the second time in a row a Los Angeles Times Book Prize. Hard Revolution may be a three-pete.

Aldo

-----Original Message----- From: owner-rara-avis@icomm.ca [mailto: owner-rara-avis@icomm.ca] On Behalf Of Kevin Burton Smith Sent: Monday, April 26, 2004 11:43 AM To: rara-avis@icomm.ca Subject: RARA-AVIS: Re: Shadow Men by Jonathon King

Craig wrote:

>Following a huge April snowstorm that closed pretty much everything, I
>spent the weekend holed up with a bunch of new books, including _White
>Devils_ by Paul McAuley, _Midnight Mass_ by F. Paul Wilson, and the
>newest Max Freeman novel, _Shadow Men_ by Jonathon King.
>
>I can remember reading King's debut, _The Blue Edge of Midnight_ and
>thinking it had best debut Edgar written all over it. So I was excited

>when his second book came out. Unfortunately, I wasn't quite as
>impressed by this second novel, _A Visible Darkness_. In moving the
>action away from the Everglades, where his character, Max Freeman, an
>ex-policeman turned private detective lived in virtual
>isolation, a lot of the magic of the debut was lost.
>Apparently, King learned from this because book three is
>a real keeper.

Hmmm... I was certainly less impressed than you were. My review of SHADOW MEN for JANUARY MAGAZINE is up now at http://www.januarymagazine.com/crfiction/shadowmen.html

Essentially, although I enjoyed the book and will certainly read the next one, I found the characters and the plot a little too underdeveloped this go-round.

And just up this morning, I think, is my review of HARD REVOLUTION by our old pal George. After reading several early (and generally negative) reviews of this one, I was all geared up to be disappointed, but I was very pleasantly surprised -- this one pays off on a lot of promises Pelecanos has made through the years, distilling many of his favourite themes and plot devices into what I think is possibly his richest, ballsiest book yet. My review's posted at http://www.januarymagazine.com/crfiction/hardrevolution.html

Mind you, maybe I swayed by the free CD full of primo soul tunes that came with it.

-- 

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