I enjoyed his PI series, despite historical inaccuracies and
occasional histrionics. Mystic River to me was a not very
good example of a coming-of-age literary novel, and I haven't
read anything of his since.
I'll read a new Patrick and Angie,
but it seems he's having too much success with his more
mainstream books to bother writing one.
Joy
Amy wrote:
> I like Lehane. After reading through this thread I
started getting the
> feeling that I should be ashamed of liking him, but
finally realized
> that was silly of me. Lehane tells a good
character-driven story with
> tight plots, preposterous or not; he wouldn't be the
first crime
> fiction writer to stretch the limits of a reader's
suspension of
> disbelief or "cheat" with Shutter Island as Dave
said. I've reread
> Shutter Island twice and with each reading I found
that the cheating
> wasn't actually cheating...there were clues all
along to what was
> going on, I just didn't pick them up in the first
reading. Sometimes
> subtlety is refreshing. I see Cornell Woolrich as
cheating more than
> Lehane.
>
> "Too long, too many unnnecessary details on
"secondary-secondary"
> characters,
> and a very average story."
>
> Sometimes I'm in the mood for something long, a
novel, and details
> that others may find unnecessary I find build the
story. When I want
> something short and sweet I'll pick up a
Thompson.
>
> Why do we peons like him? Maybe because he offers
something that is a
> little rare: a damn good story with well developed
characters. Not to
> mention his spot-on dialog to which few can compare,
then or now. I
> don't feel like I've wasted time and brain cells
reading him like I
> have with a few other contemporary crime writers.
There's just a
> certain substance to his books, even the "second
tier" ones.
>
> I'm not a writer or a scholar or a literary critic,
but I also don't
> have a limited knowledge of genre lit or lit in
general; I'm a reader
> of everything from classics to philosophy to
hardboiled (and almost
> everything in between with the exception of
romance). I feel that what
> Lehane does, he does very well. He's managed to
cross the genre line
> and appeal to an audience that isn't exclusively
crime readers while
> still remaining a crime writer.
>
> And now, the final note of my little hissy fit
;)
> To me, his Patrick and Angela series is one of the
best contemporary
> PI series.
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