A NEW PROSPECT reviewed by Ephraim Rodriguez at Authonomy.com, Harper-Collins’ website
A NEW PROSPECT is a pure breed of its genre – crime fiction.
To say that the beginnings, middles and ends are strong and definitive is an understatement. They cut with precision, clear and clean.
The voice and style read effortless and consistent.
The dialogue accents the style, comes off as natural.
Much of the main character’s “way of being”, his relationships, both personal, with the town and in relation to the world of the story are dispensed in sober well-humored bits – Wal-Mart morality, Jimmy Stewart’s gun, the Charlie Chan kiss good-bye, the dog vs the nails, Agatha, annoying flies and gnats.
Despite being dispensed with laid-back ease, the pace is a quick draw and the plot doesn’t step out of sync. The reader has confidence that A NEW PROSPECT is plotted well through and through.
What makes A NEW PROSPECT feel different from other crime fiction is that the main character is domesticated. There are faint traces of Hardboiled Noir fiction mixed with the style and quiet humor of a Western. The title, A NEW PROSPECT, even reads like a Western title.
The best way I can think of to explain its originality is that it has an alarmingly warm welcoming down-to-earth friendly pitch that lends itself to the growing and well retrained sense of impending danger that the genre demands.
I’d say more good things about what I’ve read but I’m afraid I’ll ruin one of the strongest features of the book – it’s humility.
The reveiw is shown at:
http://authonomy.com/books/32632/a-new-prospect/#comment_761679
Related Posts
Tags
Share This
