I unhesitatingly recommend Loren Estleman's ANY MAN'S DEATH,
part of a (short-lived?) series about a professional killer
named Macklin. The plot is not particularly original --
members of the Detroit Mob get involved in a power play when
the prospect of legalized gambling is raised -- but it's told
very well, in a very bouncy, surefooted style. The changing
pov's keep it all moving, and the book moves to a nicely
grim, even somewhat surprisingly ending. I much prefer this
to the workmanlike, but in my opinion rather dull Amos Walker
books.
͠just finished Dennis Lehane's DARKNESS, TAKE MY HAND. Lehane
puzzles me. He's a very gifted author: his female pi is one
of the few convincing ones I've read, his characterizations
are solid, he has a nice sense of place, he seems to have a
very grim, authentically hardboiled take on life, and he
handles action scenes/violent scenes very well. (I even like
Lehane's take on the by-now cliched character "the
detective's psycho helper". Bubba seems to me to be more of a
real person than others I've read.)
But the same problem that dogged the other Lehane I've read,
GONE,BABY,GONE dog this one. Basically, they both read to me
like a cross between a good hardboiled story and a crappy
mainstream thriller. DARKNESS (like GONE) is too long, with
too many dumb subplots, and with a climax that gets dopier
and dopier as it goes on. Both novels read like they've been
spun out longer than they should've been, or like they've
been written with one eye to the movies.
I'd like to see Lehane try a full-on hardboiled tale
sometime. But he's worth a look.
doug
===== Doug Bassett
dj_bassett@yahoo.com
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