Blast…I originally wrote Tom H’s thinking his surname started with H a la Hollander, Hardy, Hiddlestone, then realised it was Burke.
Just finished True West by David Whish-Wilson (brother of the Greens senator). This is set in Perth, in the late 80s, around the time there were serious right-wing groups hitting the headlines (Jack Van Gunderen). Lee Southern is on the run from a bikie gang when he’s grabbed in Perth by a right-wing group with eyes of parliamentary representation, startlingly reminiscent of the groups in the eastern states. This does not qualify as Cosy Crime.
From the "Better Late Than Never" files…
I am currently enjoying the work of Sue Grafton for the first time. There are several of her books sitting on my shelves thanks to a generous fellow Blitzer and my only regret is that I wasn’t aware of her output until relatively recently.
Her writing is sharp and funny, the pacing is spot-on and the story-telling top notch.
Interestingly, she started the writing in the late 80s, before mobile phones etc and the detective befriended a family of nonagenarians. So if she progressed the storyline linearly to embrace the use of mobile phones, she’d also have to include the inevitable mortality of the friends.
Equally, her original intention was to think of ways to kill her husband, and her thoughts gave her the idea to write a novel. Her father was a well-known writer.
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Just finished Chris Hammer’s latest, The Seven. Once again CH didn’t disappoint.
Of all the Australian crime fiction writers about at the moment, and some of them are good, IMO he sits at the top of the pile.
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Finished a couple of books recently…one was a bit glib, the other far from my cup of tea.
Killing Men…and How To Get Away With It, by Katy Brent…London influencer accidentally kills a guy who couldn’t take no for an answer, and de ides that’s the go. Not enough depth to drown, even if you were face down in the water. Wannabe Dexter.
The second one was one I’ve had a couple of years, Tank Water by Michael Burge. Guy goes back to a northern NSW town to bury his cousin…,and the guy who took his virginity. Not my cup of tea. I’m not even sure there was sufficient reason in the book for the name of the novel.
I’m having a break from Sue Grafton after reading four in a row and have started on some Dennis Lehane books featuring gumshoes Kenzie and Gennaro.
Must say I’m most impressed with his writing and shall seek out more of his work. I’m aware that he has also written for television, starting with ‘The Wire’ I believe.
Other books have been turned into well known movies - ‘Mystic River’ and ‘Shutter Island’.
I liked his Kenzie Gennaro stuff. They filmed Gone Baby Gone with Morgan Freeman and Casey Affleck. I think Michelle Monaghan played Gennaro.
Hated Shutter Island and haven’t read since. Mystic River was great though.
Just finished a book by Tony Cohen - Half Deaf Completely Mad. He was a record engineer-producer from the 70’s and the book is a snapshot of the sex, drugs and rock & roll lifetime that people in the industry had (and still do have). He passed away in 2017 and did some nice work during his time but I reckon his lifestyle was off the charts.
The music and mayhem behind the seminal sounds of Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Models, The Go-Betweens, Hunters & Collectors, Cold Chisel, The Saints, The Cruel Sea and so many more
Also just finished the Lee/Andrew Child book The Secret and gave it a 3/10. Pity the bookshops in Albury Wodonga ran out of Chris Hammer and had to settle for The Secret.
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I gave up on Lee Child a few years back. The only thing that seems to be moving forward is the body count.
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Smart move - I have read all Reacher books but the last two were very ordinary in my opinion. Going to try Lehane, Hammer and the Connelly’s (what I haven’t read) next!
So it’s not about a test series and getting into fights with the opposite team?
This one’s by someone who knows how to write.
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Lee can write. Andrew can’t.
I reckon you can say that about most Authors who write long series. Wilbur Smith early books were great but as they progressed they became predictable and poor. Tom Clancy was the same.
I guess they were making so much money and becoming famous, that it was all about everything except good writing.
Obviously some exceptions, but today some authors just pump out many books a year.
Seems to me that most of the great authors only a limited number of books in them.
Exception for me was the Masters of Rome Series by Colleen McCullough, but not everyone liked them.
John Grisham and Patricia Cornwell were classic examples.
There’s a guy Amazon keep pushing to me - Blake Pierce - I may have read 1 or 2 when I first got a Kindle but cannot stand that type of stuff, and don’t know how to stop them.
I’ve always stuck with Michael Connelly (Bosch, The Lincoln Lawyer) but he’s kept himself fresh with introducing a new detective, Renee Ballard, as Bosch headed for retirement. Saying that though, I was really disappointed with the latest series of Bosch: Legacy on Prime. Standard American bullshit.
Some authors need something to click them into the mainstream. Robert Crais wrote ho-hum Elvis Cole PI stories until he moved Joe Pyke to the forefront in LA Requiem, ditto with Don Winslow’s Neal Carey novels until he got into the cartel sort of stuff.
Used to read John Sandford’s Lucas Davenport Prey novels, but I thought he was getting too much towards Trump, and that’s a straight red.
Carl Hiaasen is always entertaining, finding novel ways to kill off MAGA types in Florida.
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Tough book to read if you aren’t a real died in the wool Radiohead fan. Too technical and dissecting every album to the nth degree. I do have some albums but they are never on high rotation.
Terry Pratchett is one who kept up the quality through his entire very long career. In fact, probably his weakest books were his earliest, with only a real drop-off right towards the end of his life when his declining health was clearly affecting his work.
The downward trajectory of Tom Clancy’s books was entirely self-inflicted. He was always better at writing the technical and tactical rather than politics or personalities, but as his career stretched on he wrote more of the latter and less of the former, Plus he was constitutionally incapable of either letting Jack Ryan go and writing in a different continuity, or having a book end in something less than an utter triumph for America, so he wrote himself into a massive corner simply by having his USA defeat every possible enemy and he was forced to start inventing ridiculous new ones just to fill up the next book. Debt of Honour was where i finally gave up. Imagine trying to write 1990s-era Japan as a military threat to the USA. Though the whole ‘yay serial killers as long as they kill the right people!’ bit from Without Remorse was a tough read too.
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Warning: Might be a spoiler or 2 ahead
Had I known where Louise Kennedy’s “Trespasses” was taking me, I’d never have started it. Based on real events in Belfast during the 70s, its protagonist is a delightful and quietly rebellious young Catholic teacher who enters an illicit love affair with a charming older married lawyer, and a prod as well, in a world of violence and oppression. She tells her lover well into the book “this isn’t going to end well is it” so the reader cannot claim they weren’t warned. Her pursuit of passion in the face of intolerance leads inevitably to punishing consequences. No punches are pulled, it’s gut wrenching and emotionally and physically brutal. I also found it thoroughly compelling. I’ve read a number of books about Ireland in the last year or so and all have left me shaking my head and thanking my late dad for getting out of the place as soon as he could, same as most of his family actually.
Have you read Milkman, that won the Booker a few years ago? It’s great. I listened to it as an audiobook, and it was brilliantly read by someone called Bride or Bridie I think.