Re: RARA-AVIS: John Franklin Bardin

From: r-and-jclinton ( r-and-jclinton@msn.com)
Date: 09 Feb 2002


Rene asked:

> I found a copy of "The John Franklin
> Bardin Omnibus", which contains "Devil Take the Blue-Tail Fly", "The
> Deadly Percheron" & "The Last of Philip Banter", at a little stand
> selling 2nd hand books. I've been wanting to read these books, which
> have quite a rep in certain circles, for a long time. My impression is
> that this guy inhabits territory somewhere between Fredric Brown &
> Cornell Woolrich, not your standard HB, more psychological suspense
Anyone out there read these books & have any comments (sans spoilers,
> please)?

Your impression is quite correct, Rene. I've recommended this omnibus to a number of folks and have rarely gotten a negative feedback. The somewhat surreal plotting/storylines and offkilter dark reality of the novels meshes impressively - almost amazingly so - with the ordinary, often desperate characters that populate these strange, extra-ordinary novels. Brown and Woolrich? Yeah, I can see that...

By the way, saw Gorman's response r.e. Black Lizard...too damn bad.

Ron Clinton

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