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[books 2008] Crime novels
Jul. 9th, 2008 06:11 pm34. Red Harvest by Dashiell Hammett
Thought I'd expand my horizons with the American hard-boiled sub-genre.
I really enjoyed the first part of this book; in which the nameless Continental Op solves the murder of the man who hired him to come out to Personville (better known as Poisonville). However, it goes downhill from there - the Op vows to clean up the town, which is run by various corrupt characters, but all that happens is that he gets them to bump each other off and it's most unsatisfying. Early on a character who is a union agitator appears and discussion about how badly the mine workers are treated by the mine owners. I thought there might be some political comment in there but nothing comes of it. Plenty of comment about the stupidity of Prohibition, though.
There's some good & witty writing in there, but there's also some incomprehensible dialogue and less than seamless prose. I haven't been put off trying further of his works, but I'm not exactly rushing out to read more any time soon.
35. The Lighthouse by PD James
All the usual ingredients of a PD James novel - murder in an isolated community full of characters who are all loners or otherwise social misfits.
Even though James has set it in the present (published 2005) and touches on terrorism and Dalgleish even gets SARS, it still feels like a period piece.
Which isn't to say I didn't love it - read the whole thing on my way over to Canada.
Thought I'd expand my horizons with the American hard-boiled sub-genre.
I really enjoyed the first part of this book; in which the nameless Continental Op solves the murder of the man who hired him to come out to Personville (better known as Poisonville). However, it goes downhill from there - the Op vows to clean up the town, which is run by various corrupt characters, but all that happens is that he gets them to bump each other off and it's most unsatisfying. Early on a character who is a union agitator appears and discussion about how badly the mine workers are treated by the mine owners. I thought there might be some political comment in there but nothing comes of it. Plenty of comment about the stupidity of Prohibition, though.
There's some good & witty writing in there, but there's also some incomprehensible dialogue and less than seamless prose. I haven't been put off trying further of his works, but I'm not exactly rushing out to read more any time soon.
35. The Lighthouse by PD James
All the usual ingredients of a PD James novel - murder in an isolated community full of characters who are all loners or otherwise social misfits.
Even though James has set it in the present (published 2005) and touches on terrorism and Dalgleish even gets SARS, it still feels like a period piece.
Which isn't to say I didn't love it - read the whole thing on my way over to Canada.
