--- In rara-avis-l@yahoogroups.com, "Mark D. Nevins" <nevins_mark@...> wrote:
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I am very fond of THE RED RIGHT HAND and have reread it several times (although not in the last 15 years or so). The opening is my favorite section. It flags a bit as it nears the end but just a bit. The novel jolts me very much like the best of early A.E. van Vogt. It's like grabbing a live electric wire and thrashing about the room. I may not be getting anywhere but I damn sure can't turn it loose.
Thinking about the sensation a little more, I suppose I am a sucker for razzle-dazzle. I love Alfred Bester's THE DEMOLISHED MAN, a great SF/crime blend and have read both the novel and the serial more than once.
In crime fiction, Rogers reminds me some of John Franklin Bardin's wonderful first three novels: THE DEADLY PERCHERON (1946), THE LAST OF PHILIP BANTER (1947) and DEVIL TAKE THE BLUE-TAIL FLY (1948). Penguin published all three in an omnibus paperback edition in the 1970s or 80s.
Oh, one other favorite that slapped me in the same spot nearly as hard as THE RED RIGHT HAND was Stanley Ellin's MIRROR, MIRROR ON THE WALL (1972).
Richard Moore
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> I read THE RED RIGHT HAND late last year, after reading about it a few times here on RARA-AVIS. The book's style is so strange and mannered I almost put it down after about 30 pages. But I kept at it, and while the bizarre voice of the narrator ("unreliable narrator"? "un-unreliable narrator"?) never did work for me, the book in the end is strange and unique little entry into the library of crime fiction. I did not think it was "creepy" or "terrifying," but I did think it was clever and a lot of fun. However, in the final telling I'm still not sure what to make of it, and I would love to hear some thoughts and interpretations from this group.
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> Mark Nevins
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