First, this weekend I read K.C. Constantine's second Mario
Balzic novel,
_The Man Who Liked to Look at Himself_. I liked it a lot and
would read
another novel by Constantine before I read another by Mosley.
Having
said that, I would also agree with the earlier comment that
Constantine
is not hardboiled. This observation, then, begs that
ubiquitous
question, what is hardboiled. The Constantine might be more
hardboiled
if there were broad corruption, more violence, and a more
difficult
moral economy, I think.
Second, I just finished DBD. I was prepared to think that
Mosley has
been overpraised, but I liked his book a lot. I think,
however, that
the first half is better than the second half (the set-up,
rather than
the Easy plays detective part). My view of the plotting is
marred by
having seen the film. A few things I didn't like: the dueling
voices in
Easy's head; the romance. The best thing is the
dialogue.
On romance: who can tell me more about Harold Masur's books?
I also
just read _Bury Me Deep_--some plotting, gangsters, rich
people, a
wise-cracking lawyer/detective--good stuff, but a dewy-eyed
love plot
attached. (I was hoping that the girlfriend would turn out to
be the
killer--just for a loopy bit of plotting, but it didn't
happen.) Still,
the Masur book was good.
My informed opinion for graduate students: drop out after you
get the
Masters; stop the madness.
Doug
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