A Momentary Taste of Being

I last had the pleasure of reviewing Mr. Zeltserman's work with the really creepy and wonderful The Caretaker of Lorne Field .  That book was superb, readable, in all ways truly a fine example of the type of work it was. I'm pleased to say that this book was also rewarding and entertaining, although I must say that it didn't quite hold together as well as Lorne Field.  Mr. Zeltserman has a strong prose style that draws the reader in and holds his or her attention until the book has ended.  His characters are interesting and the plot--a serial killer loose--was sufficiently interesting to hold our attention. In addition we are introduced to a character with a very special and very rare ability--a fascinating ability that I am certain shall play an important role in the books to come.  And it seems fairly clear from this one that there is at least one more book to come.  This is certainly a welcome note for me. I think my biggest quibble with the book is tha...

Jim Thompson is king of the boozy, bleak, late noir.  I thought I had read this one before, but nothing about it seemed familiar even while all of the tropes of the noir genre and particularly of the provocative pulp noir raised their unholy heads in the course of the story.  Lou Ford is a deputy sheriff with a secret--a bunch of secrets.  And he spends the book accumulating more--a lot more.  He is the essence of the smiling sociopath blithely plotting his way to freedom even though he knows, as one of the characters says, "It's always lightest just before the dark."  His smiling persona has leaks--people see past the mask frequently.  As brilliant as he thinks he is, he can't keep what he does hidden and the story reaches exactly the type of noir climax you would expect. Taut, terse, in parts brilliant--written in a cool, clear voice that at once plays on one's nerves and shows the bumpkin leading the yokels.  In short, a powerful noir work fro...

Genre: Dark Fantasy/Noir 1st in series 2010 Eleven years ago, James Stark was lured to the basement of a dark house and sent to Hell, literally.  While still alive, he engaged in arena battles in Hell and gradually became one of Hells greatest champions, sending even major devils to the Hell within the Hell for vanquished spirits and the already dead. Now he's come back to avenge the death of his girlfriend and he's spent some time out of touch so iPhones, and other commonplace items of the present are arcane oddities.  But having trained in Hell, he's ready to fight. The prose is tight, the story well plotted and idea-rich.  James Stark is completely believable as a character and what drives him makes him more sympathetic than one would otherwise be inclined to. The story arc traces a traditional noir thriller, while the window dressing is anything but noir.  We've got hell, heaven, and other realms all packed into a story that is a compelling roller coa...

The Bride Wore Black reviewed--perhaps one of the most magisterial of the noir works of Woolrich.

Always Ringing Twice--a review of James M. Cain's Noir masterpiece

Saving Noir I've been to io9 before, but have been reminded of it recently.

(via Books Inq.) Jim Thompson Was No Genius. . . . . . the reviewer avers, nevertheless, he goes on to describe a sort of genius.  Fascinating.  What's most wonderful about Thompson is that while much of what is written in the article is true, the reader most reads right by it.

Hammett v. Chandler

And gives us a snippet of one of the all-tme great movies and movie shots--the opening of A Touch of Evil ,  in which the opening shot tracks through small town Mexico the hero, heroine, and sundry street folks.  The seeming simplicity of the shot and its technical brilliance makes it memorable and incomparable.  Robert Altman gives us a similar opening shot at the beginning of another superb film, The Player.   That it is not done often is a sign of just how difficult such a shot is to set up and get right.  Go, enjoy, and then see the whole thing (both whole things)--even though Touch of Evil does have the exceedingly unlikely Charlton Heston as a Mexican detective and The Player goes in and out of at least three pitches in the chief character's office (hard to call this guy a protagonist--as you'll see if you watch the film.)