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On Books -- Good and Bad

I haven't been posting lately -- I've been spending my time reading. Nothing special, just stuff to relax and entertain myself.

A quick observation: there are some really skilled writers out there telling great stories, and some absolutely shitty ones too.

Among the best series I've read in a long time are the John rain books written by Barry Eisler. The basic notion of reading about a professional assasin holds some but limited appeal to me -- but after one book, I was hooked. I've now read the whole series.

These books are extremely well researched and written with an incredible eye for detail. Eisler is a fanatic about getting it right. He also has a wonderful gift -- he's among the few writers I can think of that can successfully write switching from 1st person to 3rd person. Seemlessly. And it adds to the narrative.

On the other hand Dana Stabenow is awful. I just finished Blindfold Game. The plot had great potential but in her hands it falls way short. Her research feels light and useless. The character development is hackneyed (and the characters drawn straight from central casting.) And the writing exhibits a real lack of attention to detail.

Read Eisler, skip Stabenow.




Oh, and when it comes to crime fiction in LA...Crais is good, but Connelly is UNTOUCHABLE.

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