----- Original Message ----- From: "James Reasoner" <
james53@flash.net>
> LAMENT FOR A VIRGIN, Lionel White
> GM s949, 1960
> I remember reading a comment by someone (Ed Gorman,
maybe) about how
Lionel
> White wasn't much of a prose stylist but was a heck
of a plotter and
> storyteller. That's a pretty good description of
this book. The writing
is
> about as plain and straight-ahead as it can get, but
it moves very fast.
> The plot has a few twists and turns, none of them
completely unexpected
but
> still satisfying, and the narrator-hero is smart
enough and tough enough
to
> survive when he has to be. This is a minor Gold
Medal but still solidly
> entertaining and worth reading.
I'm pretty sure it was Donald Westlake, and I'm also pretty
sure his comment on White's prose style was slightly more
damning. I can't remember the source, but Westlake went on to
cite the kidnappers who used "The Snatchers" as a template as
evidence of White's plotting power.
Al
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