James Lee Burke's Half of Paradise
One of the things I decided to start doing again on this site is reviewing books and films. You can find some of my older reviews around the site but the newer ones will be posted here. The first I want to review is James Lee Burke's Half of Paradise published by Hyperion Publishing in 1965.Let me first say that I normally love Burke's works, especially his Robicheaux mysteries. The back cover of this paperback lured me in by saying "Robicheaux fans, start at the beginning; the first novel ever written by best-selling author James Lee Burke." I say lured because with the possible exception of a female character who may have had the last name Robicheaux, I don't remember because by the time she was introduced I knew I had been suckered by the publisher's PR people (who probably didn't read the book anyway).
But I did suffer through it. I say suffer because there appears to be no plot whatsoever unless two guys dying and the other back in prison is the plot. For the most part it was totally disjointed and lacked connectivity. Nothing was ever explained. It was almost as bad as the slasher trash Dean Kootz writes except there was no blood and gore to titalate and excite bored borderline psychotic readers.
This book should never be compared with Faulkner's As I Lay Dying as one person suggested to me when I was considering reading it. It is not a good character study because non of the characters grows. They are the same when they die or go back to prison as they were when the book begins its meandering.
The only value I found in reading this book was in learning just how far Burke has come. He as truly developed into a great mystery writer.
posted by Paul @ 8:29 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home