The Electric Mayhem: December ‘08 mystery/crime fiction

The Electric Mayhem: December ‘08 mystery/crime fiction

In the past I’ve tried to write a full review for almost all of the books that I read. This became difficult as my time shrank but also because some books seemed to only warrant brief thoughts and to stretch them out to a fuller review can be a strained exercise.

In an effort to maintain a good level of book coverage I am going to start a monthly (at least) review column. Initially, the books covered will be from my backlog but once I’m caught up I hope to cover all of the books that I’ve read in the month prior to publication. For those books that demand of me more then a brief write up I’ll reserve the right to expand coverage.

As always I’d appreciate any feedback either on the books covered (just like reviews) or on the column itself.

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The Mammoth Book of Crime Comics

With the rise in popularity of crime comics in recent years it would be easy to think the marriage of crime and comics was a recent one but in fact it’s a relationship that goes back decades as this collection shows. Commercial and critical successes some of the best crime fiction coming out right now, regardless of medium, is in the comics field and some of the best crime fiction writers are in comics. With all of this activity it would be easy to think that we are only now entering into an era of crime comics.

Some of the stories are a little prose heavy and light on art; others are heavy on the atmosphere and light on the story but all in all this is a great book for any collection and one that couldn’t have come at a better time.

This collection is a must own for fans of either comics or crime fiction. For those who have ever wondered what an Ed McBain story would look like using Sin City’s palette or for those who thought that a crime story written by Neil Gaiman or Alan Moore would be cool then this one is for you. Actually, regardless of who you are this one is for you.

Small Crimes by Dave Zeltserman

I liked Small Crimes but it’s not the masterpiece that others have been proclaiming it as. It’s a problematic book with an over-reliance on coincidence to advance the plot and scenes that are supposed to be rife with tension seem to lack it and are just…flat.

There also is a plot point — a did-he-or-didn’t-he act from the past — that is left unresolved for much of the book until the end when the protag in a blasé, what was the point moment, casually states whether he did or didn’t. There was greater tension to be had by NOT resolving the matter and leaving the reader to wonder then by inserting it at the end in order to tie up, what some 0would consider, a loose end. Note to authors and readers everywhere: It’s ok sometimes to leave sub-plots open, it’s a device that has merit and should be considered more often.

Now I’ll be the first to admit that some of my complaints are a matter of taste, specifically flat scenes and the resolution of sub-plots, and I can reconcile the two in my mind when I present a books faults but I do think that the over-reliance on coincidence is something set in stone and damn near indisputable and is what ultimately knocked the book down a few notches in my book.

Toros and Torsos by Craig McDonald

Toros and Torsos is the second Hank Lassiter book released after last years Head Games. The events here take place chronologically before those in Head Games. In Toros & Torsos the friendship of Lassiter and Ernest Hemingway is pushed front and center. In fact Hemingway almost threatens to dominate the story here, which is probably apropos given the gregarious nature of personality. What’s really interesting about McDonald’s characterization of Hemingway though is the life that he breaths into the character. He feels much more human here then his legend over the years. It’s an engaging portrait and McDonald’s affection for his subject is apparent on every page.

As before Lassiter though is the draw here. His personality is engaging and the scenes with him just crackle. He is quickly becoming a modern classic and one of the great characters of the genre. Part of my response to Lassiter is a visceral one in that he reminds me, in part, of my grand father who was a no bullshit tough guy with a big heart who served in the navy. As gender roles continue to change and evolve its interesting to read such an accurately portrayed man of his times, without the filter of modern sensibilities, warts and all, and come away loving him.

Orson Welles is back and it’s interesting to see these three dominant personalities interact with one another. It’s to McDonald’s credit that he is able to control them as much as does, especially in the case of Welles and Hemingway, because it would be easy to just fall back on the written history of these men’s lives and recycle old anecdotes. Again McDonald shows great talent in being able to humanize these characters without taking away from who they were and what we know of them.

After reading two of them I’m fully prepared to say that I love the Hank Lassiter books and with his life spanning much of the century and his adventures bringing him into contact with so many prominent historical figures Hank Lassiter is practically something of a pulp fiction Forrest Gump.

Greasing the Piñata by Tim Maleeny

Anyone who has read my reviews knows that I really liked Tim Maleeny’s first two Cape Weathers books. They were a lot of fun to read and I enjoyed the stories and characters. I won’t go so far as to say that Greasing the Piñata is a dud but it is the weakest book so far. The characters felt like they were just going through the motions and the sense of fun that so grabbed me for the first two just wasn’t there in the third. I fear that they are becoming a bit stale and predictable in their roles and actions. I think they need to be shaken up a bit somehow. If they were real I would say that they needed to be taken out of their comfort zones some so that predictable life patterns don’t get cemented.

The other observation that I take away from this is that I think it suffers from what I call news paper clipping syndrome. Sometimes you read a book and it feels like the author had collected a bunch of stories from the newspaper and decided to string them together to make a story.

All is not lost though — some of the scenes really do crackle with tension and action plus there is more of everyone’s favorite lesbian assassin who could totally kick your ass.

I’m still a fan of the series and even if this one wasn’t a favorite Greasing the Piñata has done nothing to dissuade me from reading further in the series.

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(The Electric Mayhem is Brian Lindenmuth’s whenever, whatever column.)

About Brian

Brian loves both kinds of books -- fiction and non-fiction. He is an all around book john and reviewing roustabout. His semi-regular columns at BSC include BSC Radar Screen, The Electric Mayhem, Conversations with the Bookless and Short Thoughts on Short Fiction. He blogs at Observations From the Balcony.