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What Members Thought
"Fear wasn't a jagged split of light cleaving you; fear wasn't a cold fist in your entrails; fear wasn't something you could face and demolish with your arrogance. Fear was the fog, creeping about you, seeping into your pores and flesh and bone. Fear was a girl whispering a word over and again, a small word you refused to hear although the whisper was a scream in your ears, a dreadful scream you could never forget."
Hughes more than deserves a seat at the boys' table with Raymond Chandler and ...more
the atmosphere
the era
the sexism
(and so different from the movie--which is one of my favorite movies ever)
the era
the sexism
(and so different from the movie--which is one of my favorite movies ever)
So very noir that I pictured the whole story in black and white.
Dix Steele (how many pornstar wanna-bes are kicking themselves for not thinking up that name?) is a serial killer, and his best friend, Brum, is a cop. So the mystery isn't one of who did it or who will catch the killer as the reader already knows these things. Instead, Hughes keeps us guessing as to which of the three potential victims offered up will Dix choose next. It just boils down to who does he hate more?
Hughes does a commen ...more
Dix Steele (how many pornstar wanna-bes are kicking themselves for not thinking up that name?) is a serial killer, and his best friend, Brum, is a cop. So the mystery isn't one of who did it or who will catch the killer as the reader already knows these things. Instead, Hughes keeps us guessing as to which of the three potential victims offered up will Dix choose next. It just boils down to who does he hate more?
Hughes does a commen ...more
Review to follow.
A superlative example of how to use what's unsaid to create narrative tension - rock solid and a true lost gem from one of the great women of noir.
...more
Oct 24, 2007
Pam
marked it as to-read
10/24 rec via bookmooch
Jan 13, 2013
Terri
marked it as vaca-home-library
Shelves:
mysteries-american,
calif-los-angeles-fiction
May 24, 2015
Toni
marked it as to-read
Feb 13, 2018
Nadine in NY Jones
marked it as to-read
Feb 22, 2019
Curlysue
marked it as to-read
Sep 13, 2019
Nanosynergy
marked it as to-read
Sep 23, 2019
Kathy Jo
marked it as to-read
Nov 24, 2019
Elizabeth Weltin
marked it as to-read
Jul 27, 2021
Lizzy Siddal (Lizzy’s Literary Life)
rated it
it was amazing
·
review of another edition
Sep 14, 2021
Tania
marked it as to-read
Mar 07, 2022
Keeley
marked it as to-read
