From: "Michael Robison" <
zspider@gte.net>
> I'm getting ready to order some books from Amazon
and
> I've got Jason Starr's TOUGH LUCK on the list.
I've
> never read him and I notice there are several others
available
> by him. Is TOUGH LUCK a good one to start with?
What
> would you recommend starting with? What is his
best?
I'm sure everyone has his own favourite, but I think "Tough
Luck" is the best. I'm re-reading it at the moment. It's
slightly different from the others, edging towards being a
caper novel before deciding to turn in a more noir direction.
Mickey Prada, the protagonist, isn't amoral, as is usual with
Jason Starr, but innocent. The novel reads like a
Leonard/Willeford hybrid, and the plot makes you want to rip
it to pieces just to see how on earth it was constructed so
perfectly.
It doesn't matter what order you read the books, I don't
think. They're all dark and darkly humorous crime novels (not
detective novels) without the irritation (in terms of where
to begin) of series characters. And they all have superb
endings.
From "Tough Luck" (P46):
"Can't we go someplace else?" Mickey said. "How about one of
those Irish pubs up on Second Avenue?"
"Irish pub?" Chris said. "What do you want to do, fuck an old
man?"
Al Guthrie
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This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : 03 Aug 2003 EDT