Re: RARA-AVIS: Re: Hard-boiled music

From: Mark Blumenthal ( blumenidiot@21stcentury.net)
Date: 18 Apr 2000


Brian Lalor:
>
> Hmmm... A friend just loaned me "Fade Away" and "Drop Shot" and I can't
say I thought of them as hard boiled at the time, but on further reflection I suppose they are, especially where Win is concerned. I love books that make me laugh out loud, which is exactly what Coben does with Myron Bolitar.
> ----------

I've read the Bolitar books but always regarded them as guilty pleasures. I like sports, and Bolitar's territory ranges from Philadelphia to NYC a an area I lived in for almost fifteen years. Plus he was the top draft pick of the Boston Celtics, my favorite NBA team. Coben is clearly is very influenced by Crais. Myron and Win are clearly East Coast imitations of Elvis Cole and Joe Pike. If you go farther Crais is indebted to Robert Parker's Spenser and Hawk. Parker acknowledges his debt to Chandler. Marlowe had to walk the mean streets by himself without a buddy to hold his hand. Maybe the trend to twosomes with only one of them fit to serve as the front man is indicitive of our time. It's too complicated and confusing for only one man to function in well in. Mark

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