Some of my new reads:
DOOM FOX by Iceberg Slim Slim's style pulled me through the
book in boogie time: quick, rythmic, colourfully descriptive.
It's the story of a frustrated boxer, his beautiful wife and
the men she ruins. The characters are hustlers, pimps,
whores, gamblers, preachers and others who make their ways
through the black ghetto. Slim skillfully applies the
language and observation skills he learned as a pimp to his
second career as a master storyteller.
JUST FOR COMFORT by Ralph Osborne Another great stylist. The
reader is plunked into the middle of this story of a highly
dysfunctional family and must work our way out with Frank,
the father, as guide. Frank has returned to a small prairie
city
(Regina, Sask.) to save his son from marital bedlam by
killing off the bride. It's hardboil without the PI's code,
or much of any code at all. Very funny stuff. Osborne has
seen life up close, working street-outreach programs,
managing a bistro and Rochdale College, Toronto's infamous
60's experiment in drugs, sex and education. He shows how
life is assembled from the gradual accumulation of everyday
foolishness.
A FIRING OFFENSE by George P. Pelecanos Rara Avis put me on
to this writer. Mark Sullivan and Kevin recommended this book
to start. It's a Nick Stefanos story. Washington and
environs, and Nick's place in the Greek community are capably
handled, but the real treat was Pelecanos insight into the
frantic monotony of the corporate workplace, specifically the
sales floor of a chain retailing home electronics. Any
organization that has so lost it's sense of purpose cannot
avoid corruption.
The ending was a disappointment, introducing new characters
and elevating another I didn't care enough about to make
climax meaningful, and the denoument went on way too long.
But even if these problems aren't solved in more recent work,
I look forward to reading more Pelecanos for his insights
into characters and settings alone.
IGUANA LOVE by Vicki Hendricks Hendricks was part of the Tart
Noir panel at Bouchercon which seemed to bounce between
exuberance for exploring noirish subjects and worry over
critics who think decent women shouldn't write about "those
things." Exuberance won out, fortunately, but Hendricks' book
has a touch of the same reticence. It's the story of a girl
gone bad, with all the Tart Noir enthusiasm Hendricks can
muster with her skill at writing hot sex. But if the
journey's all fun, there's concern about the destination, and
the bills that come in like statements from a credit card.
There's a direct line to this book from Margaret Atwood's
"The Edible Woman", that I'd happily see extended.
LOST SANITY by Brad Kelln I've always felt that serial-killer
stories are blends between psychological thrillers, police
procedurals and horror stories that usually show
self-important public officials descending into monstrous
hyperbole. Fortunately Kelln hasn't quite the skill to do
that, but he does begin with an interesting premise: a serial
rapist who spreads his madness to anyone who's alone in a
room with him for the play-time of a hit single. This
includes the doctors, nurses, cops or anyone else who stops
to see what makes this guy tick. The book has its moments,
but not many of them were mine.
I've posted longer reviews at http://www.murderoutthere.com
if anyone really wants to tell me how wrong I am.
Kerry
-- <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<LOOKING FOR FUN>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
The evil that men do lives after them at http://www.murderoutthere.com
Literary events in Ontario's Golden Horseshoe and around the world at http://www.lit-electric.com
<<<<<<<<<<<IN ALL THE WRONG PLACES>>>>>>>>>>>>
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