Well, it's February so I picked up a Bleek novel, and I'm
glad I did. I hadn't read any Ross Thomas before, having
always associated him with political thriller (a genre that's
not among my favorites), but this Bleek novel (and I believe
the others as well) is really a PI story. Bleek's hero
Phillip St. Ives doesn't call himself a PI, but that's what
he is, one that specializes in acting as a go-between for
people interested in recovering stolen art, kidnapped family
members, etc.
The character, who narrates, reminds me of Lew Archer-they're
both erudite, have a superior attitude towards most of those
they encounter and an ironic sense of humor that accompanies
it, and they seem to share certain liberal views about
society and politics. The plot, without giving much away, is
also rather circular in the way that someone (I'm sorry I
forgot who) mentioned McDonald's plots are. St. Ives is a
good character, and while he fits the mold of the classic,
lone PI he's also certainly human and generally likable. He
fails in his attempts to bed the good-looking dame (who may
or may not be treacherous) and he fails to judge the motives
of others. He also has some friends or at least acquaintances
that he plays poker with.
(Possible spoilers in the next paragraph) One thing that
really struck, at first, with this book was the apparent
optimism or perhaps naivete about the individual's ability to
deal with the problems of the world or even chose the right
side. I read Westlake/Stark's THE BLACK ICE SCORE a couple
weeks ago (which was published in 1968, the year before this
novel) and which has a similar set-up. IN that novel, Parker
uncharacteristically (although admittedly because his
girlfriend prompts him to) gets involved in a political
set-up, helping plan a robbery for a group of Africans who
want to steal back diamonds that their country's leader had
bought with money taken from the country. It's clear in
Stark's novel that Parker is siding with the "right" people
in this brewing African conflict. In the BRASS GO-BETWEEN,
the set-up seems similar, with St. Ives deciding to help one
faction in an African civil war recover a valuable art object
that also has great symbolic importance. Having also recently
seen HOTEL RWANDA (a great movie BTW) I thought that optimism
in siding with one faction in a civil war was a good thing,
considering how contemporary cynicism about Africa has led
the West to ignore such conflicts. However, the end of BRASS
GO-BETWEEN makes it clear that cynicism was the correct
response all along, and in not being cynical enough St. Ives
screws himself over (he doesn't get his money) and fails in
his attempt to help the starving children of this fictitious
African nation. While the cynicism is probably more in
keeping with the hard-boiled tradition than the optimism I
saw in THE BLACK ICE SCORE I'm not sure, at another level, if
isn't the source of other problems in the world.
(Current reading Willeford's THE BLACK MASS OF BROTHER
SPRINGER--this is the last of Willeford's novels for me to
read, since I won't bother with the Western, and it's eluded
me for a while. So I put out the $18 for the new pb reprint
from WitSend. As expected, it's great.)
Max
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This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : 06 Feb 2005 EST