Michael Marshall Smith enjoys a cat-and-mouse story about a psychopathic killer and the renegade cop determined to bring him down
Illustration: Clifford Harper/Agraphia.co.uk
Stephen King is one of the few writers so well known that even people who don't read have heard of him. As a result, he is judged by different rules.
When evaluating a new King, you have to come at it from at least two angles. The first and most important is simply whether it's a good book. There are no free passes, even after decades of super-bestsellerdom. Next, there's the question of whether it's a good Stephen King book, because he puts each novel in front of bazillions of readers who return for his distinctively unstoppable storytelling engine, his particular and hugely dependable voice. Their expectations can be a mixed blessing, and there have been very good King novels (The Tommyknockers springs to mind) whose initial reception was muted because he dared to step outside his normal range.
The Tommyknockers was published a long time ago, however, and after the Dark Tower fantasy series and non‑fiction such as the magisterial On Writing, King isn't as trapped in the horror ghetto as he once was. Therefore, there is a third level of potential scrutiny – that of assessing the book within whichever genre it inhabits. From the shoutout to James M Cain on the dedication page to the George Pelecanos quote on the back, it is clear that Mr Mercedes is firmly positioned in suspense-thriller territory and the non-supernatural world – somewhere King evidently feels increasingly at home.
More
When evaluating a new King, you have to come at it from at least two angles. The first and most important is simply whether it's a good book. There are no free passes, even after decades of super-bestsellerdom. Next, there's the question of whether it's a good Stephen King book, because he puts each novel in front of bazillions of readers who return for his distinctively unstoppable storytelling engine, his particular and hugely dependable voice. Their expectations can be a mixed blessing, and there have been very good King novels (The Tommyknockers springs to mind) whose initial reception was muted because he dared to step outside his normal range.The Tommyknockers was published a long time ago, however, and after the Dark Tower fantasy series and non‑fiction such as the magisterial On Writing, King isn't as trapped in the horror ghetto as he once was. Therefore, there is a third level of potential scrutiny – that of assessing the book within whichever genre it inhabits. From the shoutout to James M Cain on the dedication page to the George Pelecanos quote on the back, it is clear that Mr Mercedes is firmly positioned in suspense-thriller territory and the non-supernatural world – somewhere King evidently feels increasingly at home.
More
No comments:
Post a Comment