Lahane's first book, A DRINK BEFORE THE WAR, was god awful; absurd premise, ridiculously violent, comic book deep characters, Bubba for example, and yet it won at least one award. Had I read A DRINK BEFORE THE WAR first, I doubt that, as a reader, I'd bother with Lehane. His subsequent books have been very good. I read David Peace's 1984 and found it so inane I doubt I'll give him a second chance. But previous posts indicate others think he's on a par with Ellroy. To my mind Ellroy is in a class by himself among fiction writers much less crime writers. To say David Peace is a mediocre talent is to pay him a great compliment on my reading of 1984. Obviously, others are less demanding.
Patrick King
--- On Wed, 11/11/09, davezeltserman <Dave.Zeltserman@gmail.com> wrote:
From: davezeltserman <Dave.Zeltserman@gmail.com>
Subject: RARA-AVIS: Re: Burke
To: rara-avis-l@yahoogroups.com
Date: Wednesday, November 11, 2009, 12:56 PM
and talking about Declan Burke:
http://crimealwaysp ays.blogspot. com/2009/ 11/woe-is- me-etc-failing- writer-writes. html
The publishing world has probably never been more brutal for new writers. I know writers who've gotten one-book deals from NY, then no promotion, no support, hence predictably lousy sales numbers, and they're dropped, and now because of their bad numbers they're up against it in finding a new publisher. I have to think if some of the heavyweights of today--Connelly, Lehane, Pelecanos--were starting off in this current climate instead of 10+ years ago, they would've been spat out also by the industry after one or two books.
I wish Declan the best for his future, and I understand fully where he's coming from.
--Dave
--- In rara-avis-l@ yahoogroups. com, "Juri Nummelin" <juri.nummelin@ ...> wrote:
>
> Oops, I didn't notice Declan Burke's HIGH BALL BOOGIE in the list I sent to
> the group.
>
> It would be interesting to see what books would make the list now, with Dave
> Z.'s run of excellent books (just started PARIAH last night and loving it),
> with Megan Abbott stepping on the scene, with Sean Chercover's two novels,
> and so on. (It seems that we are actually getting too many good-to-excellent
> noir novels, since it's no more easy to make the same buzz that surrounded,
> say, THE WHEELMAN or the advent of Hard Case Crime.)
>
> Juri
>
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