This
one holds on to its forth star by the skin of its teeth. The cleanness
of Pronzini's complex plotting is mired under a snarl of coincidences
that form the overarching theme of the book. It doesn't quite have
anywhere to go though and our nameless hero is reluctant to wrestle with
the metaphysics of relentless fate so it ends up simply with our hero
puzzled and deflected by the coincidences. Nameless is certainly off
his game even though he's out from under the shadow of that wracking
cough and the incipient threat it promised during the first batch of
novels in the series. The tangles in the case he's investigating come
unravelled more from the paranoia of the perps than from any real
deduction on his part. Major plusses are the locations. San Fran rising
up though the fog. Bodega Bay, location of Hitchcock's superbly noirish
(screenplay by Evan Hunter) The Birds is easy to call up, even after the
woes of rampant commercialism that Nameless/Pronzini rail against
having supposedly spoilt the isolated remoteness of the place.
In
the end Pronzini has a last attempt to make something of the rash of
coincidences but unless you step over the genre boundary into horror à
la Final Destination or the Omen and add a supernatural element it's got
no real bite. Frankly I was more disturbed by Nameless's seemingly
encyclopaedic knowledge of nautical terms.
Oh Christmas Tree!
-
A couple of days ago, we collected our Christmas tree from Crafty Green
Boyfriend's mother's garden. It's in a pot and will be returned to the
garden aft...
4 hours ago
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