RARA-AVIS: Lionel White - The Killing

From: Randy Krbechek (randyk@psnw.com)
Date: 24 Oct 2009

  • Next message: Debbi Mack: "RARA-AVIS: British film noir series at the National Gallery of Art"

    At 10/23/2009, tomarmstrongmusic wrote:
    >Probably old news to a lot of youse guys on here, but dang, Lionel
    >White's "The Big Caper" is terrific. I just finished it yesterday.
    >It's got just about everything you could ask for in a Gold Medal.

    Friends -

    Saw the high praise for "The Killing," picked up a copy. (Kudos to the publisher for keeping it in print.)

    Came away disappointed. Can see how Kubrick would want to film it, especially the race track scene. My feeling - "You wrote 175 pages just so you could have a cutesy line at the end?"

    On the other hand, I've been devouring Ken Bruen. Yes, he's inconsistent. Yes, Jack Taylor is not completely credible. Yes, he has a (bad) habit of ending the novels with cliffhanger.

    On the other hand, I find them eminently readable, like all the local culture and literary allusions, and dig the two part dialogue - the part that's in the protagonist's head and the part that he really says. All quick reads for me.

    Comment - I like "why dunnit" stories better than "who dunnit."

    Best regards.

    Randy Krbechek Fresno, CA



    This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : 24 Oct 2009 EDT