Last year Forge Books published a behemoth of an anthology edited by the late Ed McBain called TRANSGRESSIONS. Ten novellas by a batch of superstar mystery and suspense authors. Nearly 800 pages. Now Forge has split the anthology up into four paperbacks of a more manageable size, and the first one has just been released.
I'm not much of a Jeffery Deaver fan. I read THE BONE COLLECTOR and liked it pretty well, tried to read the next one in that series and never finished it, haven't read anything else by him. In "Forever", he introduces a new character, mathematical genius Talbot Simms who works as a statistician for the sheriff's department of a wealthy New York county. Tal, as he's called, has to leave the office where he spends most of his time and actually investigate a series of odd suicides in this story. But are they really suicides, or very clever murders? I think most readers will be able to guess the answer to that question. The characters, especially Tal, are very likable, the pace is breezy, and the plot is so goofy and over-the-top that I didn't believe it for a second. Despite that last comment, I found the story entertaining and liked the ending quite a bit.
I am a Lawrence Block fan and have been reading his work for longer than I like to think about. Not so fond, though, of his stories about Keller the hitman. I read the first collection of them and never felt compelled to read more. "Keller's Adjustment" is okay, certainly well-written as always. Block puts words together about as well as anybody in the business. But I just don't care for the character, so I'm probably not a very good judge of this story.
I like the novella length, probably because the longer ones, the ones that approach 40,000 words, are about the same length as the old Ace Doubles and the shorter Gold Medals. If you do it right, you can pack a lot of story into that many words. I plan to read the rest of the stories from the TRANSGRESSIONS anthology to see how the other authors succeed at the task.
6 comments:
So by splitting the hardcover into four paperbacks, Tor has figured out how to charge more for the paperback editions than the hardcover, right?
Well, uh, now that you mention it, yeah. The hardback was $27.95. The paperbacks retail for $7.99 each.
I happened to read "Keller's Adjustment" last night in Block's latest, Hit Parade. I enjoyed it - but I also think it works better as an episode in a larger story, which it is in Parade.
Thanks, Vince. Based on that, I'll probably give HIT PARADE a try.
I've always enjoyed Larry Block's novels and his advice to writers. I met him a few years back when he was in Auckland on one of his seemingly endless tours. He promotes his work keenly and well. You are right about that 40,000 word length and how much can be packed into it. As a reader, I still much prefer it to the bloated items most publishers seem to believe we want today. The shorter length suits the hardboiled thriller and the western particularly. I'm sure it's why I persist in writing as Chap O'Keefe for the Black Horse Western series. That line is a real hold-out!
Agreed, Keith. As both a writer and a reader, I like shorter books.
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