Doug Bassett:
<<I believe this is one of Mario Taboda's favorites.
Picked it up for a few bucks in one of those "Bargain Book"
catalogs and yeah, it's pretty good.>>
Glad you had a chance to read it. It is indeed a favorite of
mine. I like all of Johnson's novels for their raw power,
their unsentimental look at the criminal life and its
protagonists. The stories feel right, much the same way that
Constantine's work feels right. Over many years of reading
crime fiction, I have found that the authors whose appeal
endures for me are those who convey a sense of real people
(this is regardless of how fantastic the plot may be, as in
Willeford).
Since we are talking about recent reads: I just finished
Elmore Leonard's "Be Cool", a Chili Palmer novel which I
found very entertaining but unsatisfactory because the role
of the Russian maffia is never really explained. I cannot
believe Leonard left such a huge gap unfilled in the story,
especially when another 10 pages would have sufficed. I get
the impression that he finished the novel off in a hurry to
meed a deadline. So, very good bread but only half a loaf.
From a master like Leonard, I expect full loaves...
Regards,
mt
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