Review: Crashed
Jan. 13th, 2016 11:44 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
livingdebRobin recommended some novels based in Thailand by Timothy Hallinan. He'd just bought his own copies, so I started reading. But I accidentally started reading "Crashed" first, which is set in Los Angeles and turns out to be a whole different series (the Junior Bender mysteries).
The set-up is interesting--the protagonist is a thief who other bad guys call when they want the kind of justice they can't get from police.
And the writing is read-aloud quality. And he brings up interesting issues. This is from the first page:
"I think for everyone in the world, there's something you could dangle in front of them, something they would run onto a freeway at rush hour to get. When I meet somebody, I like to try to figure out what that is for that person. You for diamonds, darling, or first editions of Dickens? Jimmy Choo shoes or a Joseph Cornell box? And you, mister, a thick stack of green? A troop of Balinese Girl Scouts? A Maserati with your monogram on it?
"For me, it's a wall safe."
Do I have anything like that? If so, am I willing to admit it to myself?
Later, he's discussing a burglary job:
..."Is the door visible from the street?"
"It's so completely visible," she'd said, "that if you were a kid in one of those '40s musicals and you decided to put on a show, the front door of the Huston house is where you'd put it on."
"Makes the back sound good," I'd said.
"Aswarm with Rottweilers." ...
Burglars, of which I am one, don't like Rottweilers.
I recommend it.
So then I read the second one, Little Elvises. Also good, though I didn't enjoy it quite as much. Then I read the third one, The Fame Thief, which I liked better than #2. There are more, but I don't yet have access to them.
So then I started the books set in Thailand. Yowsa! I hated the first chapter, where one guy is scheming to steal from the other guy. The next chapter was great. But this book has torture in it. Well, what did I expect with the title A Nail Through the Heart?
This book covers some of the same themes as Bangkok 8. Torture. Prostitution. Cultural differences, like how Americans want to fix things and people, but what is in people's pasts is a part of what makes them who they are, and you can't make it disappear. It's a good book, but harder to get through.
Blog Post of the day
Miser Mom's Twisted Resolutions - Yes, this is how to craft a resolution. 'I love making really creative, convoluted resolutions that combine multiple goals in a sort of back-door way. One of my most successful resolutions of years past -- successful in the sense that I'm still happily incorporating them in my regular life -- combined my goal of wanting to get back into shape and also spend more time with friends: the resolution was, "Run gregariously".'
Read more for more great examples. I haven't figured out a way to this technique for myself yet, but I'm keeping it in mind.
Definitions of the Day
The wikipedia article for Kludge has my favorite definition of all time:
"An ill-assorted collection of poorly-matching parts, forming a distressing whole." It's redundant, but I love it.
And it has two other fun definitions as well:
"A clever programming trick intended to solve a particular nasty case in an expedient, if not clear, manner. Often used to repair bugs. Often involves ad-hockery and verges on being a crock." Ad-hockery. Verges. Heh.
"Something that works for the wrong reason."
(Thanks to Empirical Question for sharing that article.)
The set-up is interesting--the protagonist is a thief who other bad guys call when they want the kind of justice they can't get from police.
And the writing is read-aloud quality. And he brings up interesting issues. This is from the first page:
"I think for everyone in the world, there's something you could dangle in front of them, something they would run onto a freeway at rush hour to get. When I meet somebody, I like to try to figure out what that is for that person. You for diamonds, darling, or first editions of Dickens? Jimmy Choo shoes or a Joseph Cornell box? And you, mister, a thick stack of green? A troop of Balinese Girl Scouts? A Maserati with your monogram on it?
"For me, it's a wall safe."
Do I have anything like that? If so, am I willing to admit it to myself?
Later, he's discussing a burglary job:
..."Is the door visible from the street?"
"It's so completely visible," she'd said, "that if you were a kid in one of those '40s musicals and you decided to put on a show, the front door of the Huston house is where you'd put it on."
"Makes the back sound good," I'd said.
"Aswarm with Rottweilers." ...
Burglars, of which I am one, don't like Rottweilers.
I recommend it.
So then I read the second one, Little Elvises. Also good, though I didn't enjoy it quite as much. Then I read the third one, The Fame Thief, which I liked better than #2. There are more, but I don't yet have access to them.
So then I started the books set in Thailand. Yowsa! I hated the first chapter, where one guy is scheming to steal from the other guy. The next chapter was great. But this book has torture in it. Well, what did I expect with the title A Nail Through the Heart?
This book covers some of the same themes as Bangkok 8. Torture. Prostitution. Cultural differences, like how Americans want to fix things and people, but what is in people's pasts is a part of what makes them who they are, and you can't make it disappear. It's a good book, but harder to get through.
Blog Post of the day
Miser Mom's Twisted Resolutions - Yes, this is how to craft a resolution. 'I love making really creative, convoluted resolutions that combine multiple goals in a sort of back-door way. One of my most successful resolutions of years past -- successful in the sense that I'm still happily incorporating them in my regular life -- combined my goal of wanting to get back into shape and also spend more time with friends: the resolution was, "Run gregariously".'
Read more for more great examples. I haven't figured out a way to this technique for myself yet, but I'm keeping it in mind.
Definitions of the Day
The wikipedia article for Kludge has my favorite definition of all time:
"An ill-assorted collection of poorly-matching parts, forming a distressing whole." It's redundant, but I love it.
And it has two other fun definitions as well:
"A clever programming trick intended to solve a particular nasty case in an expedient, if not clear, manner. Often used to repair bugs. Often involves ad-hockery and verges on being a crock." Ad-hockery. Verges. Heh.
"Something that works for the wrong reason."
(Thanks to Empirical Question for sharing that article.)
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
Hi!
on 2016-02-07 02:52 pm (UTC)And "run gregariously"!... Single-note resolutions are for sissies! Use an adverb and expand your goals! :-)
Re: Hi!
on 2016-02-07 06:24 pm (UTC)