an on-line journal devoted to crime (fiction)...
April 13, 2008
This week, I have a review of Australian crime writer Michael Robotham who has become a best selling author on the strength of four novels, the latest being Shatter. This guy is selling a lot of books and I started reading him on the strength of a particularly good opening sentence (I do that a lot, actually) and some very good reviews (my local book store has all of his books in stock and well displayed). I am well into his third book at the moment and finding it a bit of a grind for reason's I write about in a full review of his first two books.
In a recent interview, Robotham, said that he doesn't read much crime fiction as he is "frightened of being influenced by other writers" which is funny, considering how derivative his characters are. My feeling, from reading the first two novels, is it seems as if he has read too much crime fiction, and not the best of the breed, either.
quote: John D. Macdonald
I get the feeling that this is the last time
in history when the offbeats like me will have a chance to live free in the nooks and crannies of the huge and rigid structure of an increasingly codified society. Fifty years from now I would be hunted down in the street.
At any rate, I made it through the first two novels and am working on the third, The Night Ferry which seems to be marginally better then the the first two but only because the protagonist, a female this time, is more interesting then those of the first two novels. I still think the book is largely crap, but I bought it so I feel obliged to read it.
crime: news & events
Mo Hayder has a new novel out, Ritual, sadly only in the UK. North Americans' will have to wait until the Fall before they get their hands of this gem. This book marks the return of DI Jack Caffery, the protagonist from her excellent Birdman and The Treatment. The Times of London interview with Hayder here.
Don Winslow's Winter of Frankie Machine is being made into a film starring Robert De Niro and directed by the great Michael Mann who previously directed De Niro in the masterpiece Heat. The release date for this film is 2009 so we will be waiting a bit; however, in the mean time, read all of Winslow's novels. He is a very, very good writer and I am guessing that more of his novels will be turned into films, particularly the excellent, The Death and Life of Bobby Z.
Denise Mina's latest Paddy Meehan novel Slip of the Knife is out and a review is forthcoming, depending if I can get my hands on the hardcover. In the mean, the NYT has this take on the novel.
Other news & stuff:
news:
My review of Street Kings
is up; as is a review of the decidedly non-criminal but quite good The Ruins.
current reviews:
I will be posting links as I find them. If you have a particular crime/mystery site you like, please email me and I will list and link the best ones!
Upcoming Reviews
I am in the process of reading Jack O'Connell's excellent (so far) Box Nine. Next up is Martyn Waites' Bone Machine and local author Kay Stewart and Chris Bullock's A Deadly Little List. When I get around to it, I may write an essay on the
work of Don Winslow.
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