It's not every day that one comes across a book that sets itself the goal of mediocrity and embraces it so completely. The prose is unremarkable and unmemorable, the story is the sort of convoluted shallow thinkers think is clever, and the main character is remarkably blank--as though the author has no particular insights into her, no clear idea of who she is. So on-the-nose it hurts: The main makes a dangerous deal with a mysterious--and mysteriously honorable--gangster, and she has a PhD in English Literature, specializing in Christopher fucking Marlowe. Not believable for even a page.
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Burned by Edward Humes
Last trip to the library, I grabbed a handful of nonfiction. This is reported narrative nonfiction about an arson case that at least would...
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A beautiful novel about life as a mobster (in 1940s Tampa) and all the contradictions and complications of it. Lehane clearly has an ear f...
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A beautiful novel of violence, vengeance and pain, set against a backdrop of small-town bigotry. If you see this, or *Razorblade Tears*, t...
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This is early Vachss, all taut and violent, more than a little murky to my mind. It is not good to be a sexual offender in a Vachss novel....

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