Re: RARA-AVIS: black cherry blues

From: a.n.smith ( ansmith@netdoor.com)
Date: 03 Feb 2002


> do the books in a series generally get better later in the
> series, or worse? i'm betting worse. beating a dead horse
> is not inspirational. i've heard parker's stuff gets worse,
> but i've heard that block's best scudder is towards the end.

Block's most recent stuff is not as good as the earlier Scudder. At least to me. Burke's stuff, while it gets better reviews, seems to not be as interesting as the earlier work.

Some series get better or at least maintain their quality. The Walter Mosley Easy Rawlins series feels that way for me, as does Robert Skinner's Wesley Farrell series. Jim Sallis's Lew Griffin books. Oh, and my favorite example--John Harvey's Charlie Resnick series, which has been described as a ten-volume novel, pretty much. He dropped the ball on a couple, and those were early. I was always surprised at how those books carried a different tone every time but still portrayed the characters consistently.

Neil Smith www.plotswithguns.com

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