My first seven audio crime books
Audiobooks are a cool medium: They don't compel engagement the way a real printed book does; one drifts in and out or does other things, the reading fading into background music. So here's a fragmented discussion of my first batch of audiobooks, appropriate to their fragmented medium:
1) Gun Street Girl and Rain Dogs, by Adrian McKinty. The author is a friend. He's also one of the very best of all crime writers, far beyond silly discussions about whether crime fiction can be serious literature. His probing, funny, beautifully written novels are unafraid to use traditional crime fiction forms, including the locked-room mystery. Whichever crime writer you're reading, McKinty is better.
2) Grinder and Darwin's Nightmare, by Mike Knowles. Some of the most exciting and intelligent action stories you're likely to read, exciting because they're intelligent and intelligent because they're exciting. Readers who like Richard Stark's Parkerd novels or "Ghost Dog: Way of the Samurai" might like these.
3) One or the Other and Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere, by John McFetridge. No one better and more seamlessly combines character, story, and history, in this case that of Montreal and Toronto in the 1970s and '80s.
4) Montalbano's First Case, by Andrea Camilleri. Among the delights of this short-story collection is one harrowing meta-fiction that at once demonstrates Camilleri's ability to write hyper-violence and shows why he chose not to do so.
1) Gun Street Girl and Rain Dogs, by Adrian McKinty. The author is a friend. He's also one of the very best of all crime writers, far beyond silly discussions about whether crime fiction can be serious literature. His probing, funny, beautifully written novels are unafraid to use traditional crime fiction forms, including the locked-room mystery. Whichever crime writer you're reading, McKinty is better.
2) Grinder and Darwin's Nightmare, by Mike Knowles. Some of the most exciting and intelligent action stories you're likely to read, exciting because they're intelligent and intelligent because they're exciting. Readers who like Richard Stark's Parkerd novels or "Ghost Dog: Way of the Samurai" might like these.
3) One or the Other and Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere, by John McFetridge. No one better and more seamlessly combines character, story, and history, in this case that of Montreal and Toronto in the 1970s and '80s.
4) Montalbano's First Case, by Andrea Camilleri. Among the delights of this short-story collection is one harrowing meta-fiction that at once demonstrates Camilleri's ability to write hyper-violence and shows why he chose not to do so.
© Peter Rozovsky 2017
Labels: Adrian McKinty, Andrea Camilleri, audio books, audiobooks, John McFetridge, Mike Knowles, Salvo Montalbano
posted by Peter Rozovsky at 2:27 AM
6 Comments:
Peter, I plan to read Adrian McKinty's novels; I have read some fine reviews online. I have never listened to audio books. I seem to have some sort of mind block against this medium. I want to try it, though.
I began listening to them because I wanted to rest my eyes as I recovered from cataract surgery. Perhaps you could turn to the medium when your commuter trains are too crowded for regular reading.
That's a good idea. Maybe, I'll start with short stories.
Now I'm super intrigued by the Montalbano collection....
Art: Most of the stories in the collection are enjoyable in the Montalbano. The story to which I alluded lets Camilleri have some serious fun in a way that he does not in the Montalbano novels. Here's a clue about the story: Camilleri is a distant relative of Pirandello.
Oh, nice! The Pirandello comparison seals the deal here. :-)
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