RARA-AVIS: Re: Shadow Men by Jonathon King

From: Kevin Burton Smith ( kvnsmith@thrillingdetective.com)
Date: 26 Apr 2004


Craig wrote:

>Following a huge April snowstorm that closed pretty much
>everything, I spent the weekend holed up with a bunch of
>new books, including _White Devils_ by Paul McAuley,
>_Midnight Mass_ by F. Paul Wilson, and the newest Max
>Freeman novel, _Shadow Men_ by Jonathon King.
>
>I can remember reading King's debut, _The Blue Edge of
>Midnight_ and thinking it had best debut Edgar written all
>over it. So I was excited when his second book came out.
>Unfortunately, I wasn't quite as impressed by this second
>novel, _A Visible Darkness_. In moving the action away
>from the Everglades, where his character, Max Freeman, an
>ex-policeman turned private detective lived in virtual
>isolation, a lot of the magic of the debut was lost.
>Apparently, King learned from this because book three is
>a real keeper.

Hmmm... I was certainly less impressed than you were. My review of SHADOW MEN for JANUARY MAGAZINE is up now at http://www.januarymagazine.com/crfiction/shadowmen.html

Essentially, although I enjoyed the book and will certainly read the next one, I found the characters and the plot a little too underdeveloped this go-round.

And just up this morning, I think, is my review of HARD REVOLUTION by our old pal George. After reading several early (and generally negative) reviews of this one, I was all geared up to be disappointed, but I was very pleasantly surprised -- this one pays off on a lot of promises Pelecanos has made through the years, distilling many of his favourite themes and plot devices into what I think is possibly his richest, ballsiest book yet. My review's posted at http://www.januarymagazine.com/crfiction/hardrevolution.html

Mind you, maybe I swayed by the free CD full of primo soul tunes that came with it.

-- 

Kevin Burton Smith Nothing on? Try The Thrilling Detective Web Site/CrimeSeen TV/Movie Poll http://www.thrillingdetective.com
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