RARA-AVIS: Thomas Perry, Stephen Hunter, Greg Rucka
BaxDeal@aol.com
Thu, 1 Apr 1999 03:09:52 EST
>Some of this list is obviously stupid, and some is
clearly >correct. Who's
Thomas Perry? If I've seen his books, I don't >remember
them,
In another life, Perry was a TV writer/producer. Today he
writes some of the
best action/suspense thrillers on the market. The Butcher's Boy
is a master
assassin who takes on the people who hired him in the book of
the same name.
10 years later, he makes a stunning reappearance in SLEEPING
DOGS. Perry's
more recent series: VANISHING ACT, DANCE FOR THE DEAD, SHADOW
WOMAN and THE
FACE CHANGERS feature a woman named Jane Whitefield who helps
people
disappear. These 4 stories, as well as the 2 Butcher's Boy
books are absolute
page turners.
While the Whitefield series are not necessarily hardboiled due
to the
compassion of the protagonist, the bad guys are BAD FUCKING
GUYS. As for the
Butcher's Boy, well, he's even badder.
Another terrific contemporary thriller writer is Stephen
Hunter. His trilogy
of POINT OF IMPACT, DIRTY WHITE BOYS and BLACK LIGHT read like
movies. No
surprise in that he writes movie reviews for the Baltimore Sun.
A number of
his books have been optioned for pictures.
Not long ago we had a discussion on how books are padded today.
Neither Perry
nor Hunter write skinny novels. But all of the stories I've
mentioned are
tightly plotted and bereft of tangential elements. No favorite
cookie recipes
or musings on the virtues of red or white wine. Just a lot of
richness and
detail. And great action setpieces.
And again I'd like to plug the 2 books in Greg Rucka's Atticus
Kodiak series:
KEEPER and FINDER. Kodiak is a professional bodyguard. Stories
are tight,
suspenseful and rife with versimilitude.
John Lau
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