Joe’s Comments (group member since Nov 27, 2018)

Joe’s comments from the Point Blank group.

Simon wrote: "Japan produces some of the most disturbing crime thriller movies of any first world country - see the oeuvre of Seijun Suzuki or Takashi Miike for examples - so I am curious to see what their hard ..."
i really like Korean noir films, there's been some good ones the last 20 years...i'll check-out the "oeuvre of Seijun Suzuki or Takashi Miike" thanks for the tip...

Simon wrote: "I am a huge fan of Ross Macdonald, whom I actually prefer over Raymond Chandler and Dashiell Hammett most of the time, so this should be right up my alley but I guess I'm not missing out on that mu..."

I also am a huge Ross Macdonald fan...along with Phillip K. Dick he's my fave...two years ago I read the whole Lew Archer series in chronological order...every 5th book I would read an Archer. Took me over a year and it was tons 'o fun...I'm now going back and will read the best Archers starting with The Way Some People Die...

Is it too late to list your favorite Crime Fiction reads for 2019? Here's mine...

1. The Big Nowhere by James Ellroy (1994).
2. Out by Natsuo Kirino (1998).
3. Sleep With The Devil by Day Keene (1954).
4. Total Chaos by Jean-Claude Izzo (1995).
5. Twisted City by Jason Starr (2004).

Been reading a whole lotta stuff...was able to read some crime fiction along the way...here's six:

1. The Chatham School Affair (1996) by Thomas H. Cook – This is the best book I've read in quite a while...it's just over 300 pages and I read it in two sittings, I couldn't put it down...Told in flash-back it follows the Cape Cod town of Chatham, 1926, and the uproar over the arrival of the new, mysterious but Hot, art teacher. Told by a 14-year old boy who is both a student of the art teacher and son of the school's Head Master, it's a dark psychological thriller that leads to murder. Part witch-trial, part Scarlett Letter, part Hot For Teacher, a great story...Enough said....the book won the Edgar for Best Novel in 1996 and deserved it...flawlessly written. Last year I read the Frank Clemmons trilogy by Cook, it was overall OK, but it's like Cook became a new writer for Chatham...a completely different style, voice, etc...5 Stars!

2. Following Tommy (2012) by Bob Hartley - Intense, short read, very well written...the characters, mainly two brothers, are very well drawn out, the setting, downtown Chicago, 1962, is fully realized...it's a family story of sorts, as well as a coming of age tale...era is when ethnicities still had their own portion of city surrounding the local church, in this case the Irish area of Chicago...BEFORE...migrants from down south pushed the Irish, Polish, Germans, Ukraines, etc, out of the city, to the suburbs to become wholly "whites", the ethnicity of each group left behind...a companion book to Following Tommy would be Slaughter of the Cities by Dr. E. Michael Jones...I felt the ending of Following Tommy to be rather abrupt, but, it works and sums up the novel...I liked reading it, a lot...4 outta 5 Stars!

3. The Silence of the Rain by Luiz Alfredo Garcia-Roza (2002) -Although not great, I really liked this book...a lot...it sticks with you...Why-? Because Luiz is a really great word-smith...he's very cool how he puts together a sentence, a paragraph, etc., and how he changes pov throughout the book. He's like an artist who writes, an individual...think Ian Fleming or Don DeLillo. The story-line of Rain is a murder & possible insurance fraud in Rio...mild mannered Police Inspector Espinosa investigates, police procedural-wise, a cast of characters in Rio.
Issues with The Silence of the Rain...there is a distance between the reader and most of the characters, you don't feel fully in-touch, maybe that's due to the artsy writing style...and, the over-all plot-line is not much of a mystery...BUT, this book is the first of a trilogy and I liked it enough that I'm going to read the other two, which are, Lost and Found and Southwesterly Winds...The Silence of the Rain is a strong 3.5 stars! -Thanks to Kurt for the recommend!

4. Midnight Plus One (1965) by Gavin Lyall has a cold-war, espionage, mid-'60's feel to it, BUT, the plot is actually quite different...a Brit operative & a young alcoholic American gun-man are hired to drive, and keep alive, a business man who needs to get from Brittany, France, to Lichtenstein for the signage of some documents...and certain factions want them halted! Sooooo, this novel is actually a road trip with danger at every turn...and it's very exciting when they are in fact traveling, but the plot bogs down each time they stop for an extended period, like in Montreux...Midnight also has a Parker feel to it, but I must say Midnight is written much better than any Parker I've read...Also, I enjoyed reading this book because other than Brittany, I have traveled through all these areas, so it was a fun read for me personally...I give it 3.75 stars!

5. The Devil's Country (2017) by Harry Hunsicker – Arlo Baines, former Texas Ranger, Mr. Trouble-Follows-Me, arrives into a West Texas town just in time to fight the baddies and the wack-o religious cult outside of town...Fun modern western..we.ll written, moves right along...a fun read...3 Stars!

6. The Rain (1989) by Keith Peterson (aka Andrew Klavan) – Andrew Klavan was a very successful author...now...he's made a name for himself as a very successful political analyst/humorist and has produced nearly a 1,000 shows...maybe you've seen his show or ads. Anyways, in the late '80's he wrote a four book series featuring grizzled tough-guy reporter John Wells...I've really enjoyed reading the first two...the third book, The Rain won the Edgar for the Best Paperback Original is good, not great, not bad (and not as good as the first two books in the series)...but, I know why it won the Edgar, Klavan picked up his game as a word-smith..the writing is fuller, expanded, and more dramatic...BUT...the plot of The Rain is very thin, and there are elements of Chandler snitched (think Moose Malone). As well, the plot line is rather boring...so...I'll give it 2.75 stars.

I've really enjoyed reading Justin & Kurt's crime fiction world tour. Thanks guys...your picks & especially your podcasts have been excellent. My faves were Total Chaos by Jean-Claude Izzo (1995) and Out by Natsuo Kirino (1997), they'll both stick with me for a long time. Unfortunately, I found An Easy Thing by Paco Ignacio Taibo II to be a miss. As soon as I finished reading I looked up a few reviews and found I'm in the minority so maybe I'm off base. On the positive I found that as I read, Detective Hector Belascoarán Shayne emulated the film private eye of the '70's, which I liked...he matched up with Paul Newman's Harper/Archer from The Drowning Pool (Ross Macdonald)...Taibo even quoted from Drowning Pool twice in Chapter 7. Detective Shayne also gave off the nonchalant attitude of Elliott Goulds Phillip Marlow in The Long Goodbye, and you could get a vibe of Gene Hackman's Night Moves. But, as a novel I found An Easy Thing's plot to be all over the place mainly due to juggling three cases...that had nothing to do with one another. At one point around p.94 each consecutive sentence dealt with a different case...just too goofy. There were drops into socialist rants that I could have done without...BUT...the biggest negative item from An Easy Thing was Detective Shayne, 31 years-old bedding 17-year-old Elena, the daughter of his client, actress Ferrier (sp-?). Taibo may be from another culture or time ('70's), but this portion of the book was wrong, it was statutory rape and should have been edited by the publisher. There's a difference between this scene and the rape scene in Out...mainly, although the rape in Out was a brutal crime, it was adults with evil getting crushed in the end...in An Easy Thing it was an adult and a teenager, with the teenager coming off slutty and Detective Shayne getting a piece of tail...just wrong. Soooo, I could go on with more of the negative but An Easy Thing was a miss for me...I'll pass on giving a score this time...I'll be interested in your podcast review...-BUT, really looking forward to Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep by Phillip K. Dick and your accompanying podcast. Thanks...

I finished Blood of the Wicked by Leighton Gage a few days ago...in evaluating this novel I think one needs to take in consideration that it is a first novel by Gage, and, he wrote it in his mid-sixties. ..pretty good work considering those factors...Having said that I found the plot & story-line to be fairly strong (yes, quite a bit of good guys vs bad guys stuff), the settings & local very believable, and the political background setting up the conflict well laid out. What I found weak was the characters...there are a too many leading characters...I felt Detective Silva to be very thin with no substance, and many of the secondary characters could have been eliminated or bound together and you wouldn't even miss them...Also the violence was over the top...But, due to the fairly strong plot & settings I enjoyed the read...mostly...:-) I'll give it 3.25 stars, on the high side, considering it was Mr. Gage's first novel...

Well...I've been traveling, my wife & I hit the road for some visits...I haven't read much noir lately, but I just started Night Secrets by Thomas Cook this afternoon....so, what the heck, here's what I have read lately...check it out, or not:
1. Red Thread (2019) by Diana West...West was born and raised in Hollywood, CA, but you'd never know it. She hates, I mean HATES commies. Red Thread is a collection of her recent magazine & on-line articles on Communism sweeping the west...Diana West is an intellectual and Jewish, so it makes you wonder how she feels about the 'J' question when comes to Trotsky-ites, Bolsheviks, etc, unfortunately she never goes there...but, she takes a deep-dive on creeps like CIA director John Brennan. For those who want some insight...4.0 outa 5.0
2. American Betrayal (2013) by Diana West...West's history of commies infiltrating the U.S. Government from the '30's through scum-bag G.H.W. Bush 1990-ish. Excellent book and well written (entertaining)...learned a lot about FDR, Stalin, McCarthy, through Daddy Bush. Diana West got HAMMERED by the intellectual jet-set when this book was published, so much so that she released a book called The Rebuttal: Defending 'American Betrayal' from the Book-Burners...the chick's got cajones...4.75 outa 5.0!
3. Pale Horse (2017) by Jimmy Blackmon...spend a year in the Afghan War with the 101st Airborne Division helicopter group. Well written and very exciting....you really get the feel of copter combat. There is a fair amount of soldier blow-hard rah-rah-rah, but the action over-rides that...3.75 outa 5.0.
4. A Lie To Big Too Fail (2019) by Lisa Pease. The be-all, end-all, last word on the RFK assassination June, 1968 in L.A. Lot's of space given to CIA MK-Ultra mind control, and, she lays out Shirhans path from getting injured by the horse to recovery/rehab stays in the hospital to the day & night of the assassination. Very cool book...but, needed more on the identity of the-girl-in-the-polka-dotted-dress because she is a major part of the case. 4.5 outa 5.0.
5. Valis (1978) by Philip K. Dick. I'm gonna read the Valis trilogy...Valis is book one and presents PKD's Exegesis along with the novel of Phil and his double Horselover Fat. At one point of the story there is five Phil's talking....Phil, Horselover Fat, Phil from the past, and two Phil's from the future! LOL Pretty heavy sci-fi....the next two books are The Divine Invasion (1980), and The Transmigration of Timothy Archer (1982). 3.5 outta 5.0
6. Inside the CIA (1991) by Ronald Kessler. Kessler is only a fair writer, he's on par with Big-Foot & UFO authors...here he gives an overview of the CIA as an organization....each Directorate, etc...a little history and a look at the past Directors (Colby, Casey, Bush), especially Webster. One odd/funny thing about the book...Kessler gives the CIA a favorable view, until, the epilogue where he just hammers the organization! What's Up With That??? I learned a few items, a quick read...2.0 outa 5.0.
Noir next time, I promise!

yeah, branded to kill is a riot...my fave japanese film-noir is high and low (1963) , d: Akira Kurosawa...it's excellent and a must see...-i just finished up season 2 of nighthunter (netflix)....it's ok, but i liked it...i'll be cautious with a recommend...

Trying to get caught up....been on the road and reading non-fiction. -I read Out by Natsuo Kirinp last summer and I really liked it....in fact now that I've had a few months to let the read soak in, I think it was great and may be my #1 for the year. The book was packed tight and though 400pgs long it read like 800...all characters were fully fleshed out, especially the four main women. The main plot really pulled you in and all the sub-plots kept the read active. Did any one notice that the work-place parking lot and the walk to the front door of the food packing plant was somehow a character of it's own -? -Out was kind of a tough read, especially compared to My Sister, but well worth it. I highly recommend...Out! (he-he)

I spend summers reading non-fiction, just something I always do...as such I'd like to recommend American Betrayal by Diana West, especially if you live in the States...BUT... I did read two noir-ish novels over the summer...

1. Bad Bastards by Paul Heatle...fun quick read...murder & mayhem in the Bad Bastards MC family...similar to Jason Starr but not as good...that doesn't mean I didn't like it though because I did like it, lots!...3.0 outa 5!
2. The Force by Don Winslow.....NYC (Harlem) Dirty Cop story...ehhhhhhhh...tough one for me rate....I liked it but I didn't like it...it was well written but I felt like I had read it all before...it was gripping but also over-dramatic...I didn't like any of the characters except “Nasty Ass” and he was minor at best...gotta vote the downside...1.75 outta 5.0....sorry Winslow fans...

>Girard wrote: "Joe...Sleep with the Devi...Day Keene...available for 99 cents...Kindle...

Thanks Girard...my copy is the Kindle three-for-one...but I see it's gone up in price to $5.99, as has all the Kindle titles I've noticed latley...Day Keene is a Great noir-suspense writer...I couldn't put Sleep with the Devil down, a page turner...

Lewis wrote: "I've just joined the group, but I'm a massive fan of noir, crime fiction, detective stories...

The Unauthorised Biography of Ezra Maas by Daniel Jame is now on my list, thanks Lewis!

Paul wrote: "Just finished This Storm...'Perfidia'. This Storm is the second book...

Hello Paul, I've read most of Ellroy...yes, I agree, you need to read the LA Quartet & American Underworld & Perfidia first...but, I'll admit that's asking alot! :-) If one could get by with The Big Nowhere > Bloods A Rover > and Perfidia that would almost work...I've got a signed 1st edition This Storm James signed for me at a recent book signing, gonna read it in Sept it's looking like...enjoyed your review, Joe

Justin wrote: "Joe wrote: "The last seven I've read:">
I haven't read My Sister Is A Serial Killer yet

Hey Justin, Kurt & yourself have picked some great reads! I've enjoyed all of them...I'm stuck in non-fiction land till Labor Day...9/11 and all that...I'll listen to your podcasts though...Thanks again for your picks & podcasts!

The last seven I've read:

1. No Country For Old Men by Cormac McCarthy (2006); The first half of No Country was frigging fantastic...the second half didn't work for me, BUT, I'm very glad I read it! I will read another by McCarthy in the future...2.5 outta 5.0.

2. Mao II by Don DeLillo (1992); Great read! This was DeLillo's book before his biggie Under World...DeLillo was on a hot streak at this time...he is an acquired taste, fancy writing, drifty, meanings just outta grasp, but mega-cool & sometimes funny as shit (kinda like James Ellory)! Mao II is about a writer (think J.D. Salinger) who has lost his Mo-Jo and along with some hangers-on, drifts from upstate New York to NYC and on to Beirut during it's civil war...very, very cool novel and relatively short at around 250 pgs....4.5 outta 5.0....my fave book of the year so far...until I read #7 below that is!

3. There Fell A Shadow by Keith Peterson (Andrew Klavan) (1988); Book 2 of the John Wells mystery series...murder & mayhem up & down a frigid NYC. John Wells is a reporter, who knows how to fight! Pretty good action packed noir-thriller.....3.25 outta 5.0!

4. Nightfall by David Goodis (1947); Thought I'd push-on reading some Goodis...classic noir! A guy traveling through Colorado heading east comes upon a car wreck...and a stash of cash! Guy makes it to NYC and gets his ass kicked after being set-up by a femme fatale...and on it goes...4.0 outta 5.0!

5. Flesh and Blood by Thomas H. Cook (1989); Book 2 of the Frank Clemons mystery series...good read, more murder & mayhem in NYC...Homicide cop Clemons follows his mega-rich girl-friend from Atlanta up north and becomes a P.I. to take up his free time...he is soon investigating the murder of a clothes designer and ties stretch back to the 1930's. Pretty good tough-guy stuff! 3.25 outta 5.0!

6. My Sister, the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite (2018); Great fun read! An plain looking older sister who is a nurse keeps pulling her beautiful little sister out of messes...like bumping off her boyfriends! Tongue-in-cheek humor through-out...well written first novel...also a good look at Lagos, Nigeria...only draw-back is it's kinda 'chick-flick'. No biggie, fun read...4.0 outta 5.0!!!

7. Out by Natsuo Kirino (1997); Killer, Killer Japanese noir-crime fiction! Murder in the lower class burbs leads four female work-mates on a very, very dark journey...Very intense...many characters but each fully fleshed out...Very well written; each chapter takes the pov of that focused character (only in the third person)...I started to question the ending, but I realized this was a Japanese novel, and it ends as such (I won't spoil)...One Point: This book is 400 pgs long, but reads as if it was twice as long! It's very, very dense...it took me eight days to read in-between work & activities....Thanks to J & K for picking Out by Natsuo Kirino...4.75 outta 5.0! My fave book of the year so far...

Abel wrote: "I just reread this. One part that stuck out...when Anton Chigurh shoots Carson Wells...

yes, the passage is as you described...wells returns to his hotel from helping moss find the satchel of money...chigurh is waiting for him, has some deep discussion, then bumps wells off...it was about this point on i thought the book lost it (see my comment above)...but i'm very glad i read it, i enjoyed the read even though i thought the 2nd half didn't hold up...

I checked out Heatley...Bad Bastards looks pretty good.....give me a month or so and I'll give it a read...thanks for the tip...

Just finished No Country for Old Men by Cormac MacCarthy....hmmmmmm.....well....the first half of this book is nearly the best crime fiction I've ever read. Tight, suspenseful, logical intricate plot-line, cool characters (Llewellyn Moss), fancy writing with the musings of Sheriff Bell to open each chapter, an evil, bad, bad man in Chigurh....but, then, the second half of the book just lost it for me...A number of unneeded characters like Wells, his boss in the Houston high-rise, the red-head hippie hitch-hiker girl from Port Author (where Janis Joplin was from), the faceless Mexican drive-by hit-men who kept popping up in their muscle cars...point-less shootings like the one in the middle of the street when Llewellyn got shot...Then the three long-long-winded dialogs between Llewellyn & the girl (actually twice, once in restaurant and then in the Motel), between Carla & Chigurh just before Chigurh killed her, and between Sheriff Moss and his Uncle near the end. These dialogs went nowhere and added nothing to the story...Sheriff Bell's musings on where both he & America has gone wrong...Sorry, this book went sour for me in the second half. If it had continued like the first half and finished up as the crime fiction thriller it started as it would have been a classic...glad I read it though. 2.5 outta 5.0.

The last five I've read:

The Synthetic Man by Theodore Sturgeon (1950), also known as The Dreaming Jewels...I'm making a push to read and give to the local library all my dust covered basement books I never read...The Synthetic Man is a classic but dated Sci-Fi...it's about a carny with a shape-schifter...ok for the young adult...2.0 outa 5.0.

The Lincoln Conspiracy by David Balsinger & Charles E. Sellier (1974)...This is by the guys who write Big-Foot & UFO books, having said that it's kick-ass & a highly entertaining read! I thought it was Great! Takes the pov that Secretary of War Stanton pulled the strings that had John Wilkes Booth shoot Lincoln and had Secretary of State Seward attacked the same night (they take the view that the Seward attack was bullshit & a distraction allowing Booth more time to escape)...Recommended! 4.5 outta 5.0.

The Poet by Michael Connelly (1996)...hmmmm, this book was a best-seller and won a few awards when it came out...the first 400 pgs are well crafted, but, in my opinion the final 100 pgs & the ending was a let down...half the book takes place in Denver where I live so that was fun...3.0 outta 5.0.

Twisted City by Jason Starr (2004)...Killer Neo-Noir!!!! A magazine writer is obsessing over his dead sister and all goes from bad to horrible like all good noir should...I read it in two evenings...A MUST READ! 5.0 outta 5.0.

Thirst by Russian author Andrei Gelasimov and translated by Marian Schwartz (2011)...a pretty good book but not great...noirish...a young Russian soldier returns from the Chechen War disfigured with his face half-blown off...he is reduced to a small pension, drinking vodka, and hanging with the single Mom in the apt next door...then two old Army buddies show-up and they all take off for Moscow to search for another missing Army friend...a short read and I'm glad I read it, just not quite as good as I hoped...3.5 outta 5.0.

Excellent podcast...great summation of THAHT story-line by Justin to start it off, this book is a little slippery with all the diverging sub-plots...I agree that both scores of 3.0 & 3.75 work. It's kind of a kitchen sink novel, but it is “interesting”. I enjoyed reading THAHT, glad you put it on your list...also liked the insights of Hemingway's use of Iceberg writing, very interesting...but, just a flash thought, I think you'll find the use of analogies more common in crime fiction. One that I really liked was “The gun coughed apologetically.” in the last chapter of Black Money by Ross Macdonald (that's just an add-in, not really making a point)...The Men From The Boys by Ed Lacey sounds pretty good, it's now on my list...yeah, great podcast...-I'm about half-way through with No Country For Old Men. So far so good, it's excellent...Oh yeah...5 Round Burst > Man in Havana by Graham Greene...I have read many of Greene's books but not Havana. It's now on my list...The Heart of the Matter is a good one, life of a soldier in the desert out-back of Africa...The Power and the Glory is pretty good too. About life of a priest on the run in Mexico during a christian purge...Greene wrote a few noirish “entertainments”, A Gun For Sale, The Ministry of Fear, The Confidential Agent are all good reads...Anthony Burgess (A Clock Work Orange) wrote a great book of reviews called 99 Novels: The Best in English since 1939...it covers what he thinks are the best novels from 1939 to 1984...he includes essays Graham Greene, Hemingway, Ian Fleming (Goldfinger), Norman Mailer (The Naked and the Dead), Joseph Heller (Catch 22)and many other action/adventure authors...along with Orwell & Huxley, etc...99 Novels is a good reference or bath-room reader book...