Re: RARA-AVIS: Language and storytelling

From: cptpipes2000 ( cptpipes@hotmail.com)
Date: 25 Nov 2007


Mario said:
> I think that for suspense, Michael Connelly has to rank very high, and
> not just among his contemporaries. Here's a guy who, from his first
> book, seems to have all the technical tricks under his belt, including
> how to create unbearable suspense. I don't rank him as high in other
> aspects (characterization, for example), but for suspense, he's just
> plain great. I am not saying that suspense is the most important
> ingredient for a great hardboiled or noir novel, but it's a necessary
> ingredient... or else ZZZZZZZZ.

MrT: The more I think about the body of work that includes the Bosch novels, the more I realize just how good Connelly's characterizations have been. Bosch, in particular, has been portrayed much fuller and deeper than, say, Nathan Zuckerman, who seems to be the gold standard amongst the literary types. (Yes, I have read all from both series).

I say this especially today because I finished Blonde Faith by Mosley this afternoon. The book does such a wonderful job of reminding us of previous installments in the series and I was struck by just how powerful the Easy Rawlins series can be, especially the books from Bad Boy Brawley Brown on (and how cool is it to see a series improve as it goes along?). I'm so pleased to be a reader in an era where the likes of Connelly and Mosley are contemporary. Not to mention the many other greats of this era.

p.s. to Lau: Winslow is terrific. The Power of the Dog is the best book I've read in the past few years and The Winter of Frankie Machine is not far behind.



This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : 25 Nov 2007 EST