Jack Strange's Blog - Posts Tagged "reviews"

This is an amazing review.

Sorry it isn't much of a blog post, but do please check out the review here:

http://amazingstoriesmag.com/2017/01/...

Hi Guys,

My book is in a poll.

I don't mean to be pushy, but...

How about giving my book your vote?

Just follow this link to vote:

https://www.goodreads.com/poll/show/1...

(Ok, I admit, I am pushy - so what?)

Many thanks

Jack Strange

A Case Of Noir by Paul D. Brazill

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


All Killer No Filler is the title of one of my favourite albums. It's also a fitting description for Paul Brazill's book A Case of Noir.

Mr Brazill doesn't write at length. As he says: "I slice off the gristle." (Interview with Toe Six Press).

This guarantees there isn't so much as one wasted word. The result: his books are eminently readable, and you finish them wanting more (which is rather better than wishing there had been less, as is the case with many authors).

He's above all a prose stylist. He works within a tradition which was probably started by Raymond Chandler.

Chandler himself once said: "The most durable thing in writing is style, and style is the single most valuable investment a writer can make with his time."

Paul Brazill seems to have taken this advice to heart, irrespective of whether or not he's familiar with the quote. His style is as beguiling as it is instantly recognisable. Like Chandler, he's a lover of unusual similes and outrageous wisecracks. But he is far from being yet another Chandler imitator. His voice is distinctly his own, as is the world he's created.

His world, by the way, isn't the world of the rich or of the master criminal, it's a world of low-lifes, drunks and ne'er do wells. They're all memorable, even those with walk-on parts. Sometimes you feel his secondary characters are so good they're wasted on the minor roles he gives them, and they should have books of their own.

A Case of Noir follows this pattern, and is similar to a Chandler novel in that it's told in the first person by the wisecracking protagonist Luke Case. But unlike Chandler's lead character Phillip Marlowe, Case is not a Private Eye. He's a journalist with a shady past which, over the course of the novella, gradually but inexorably catches up with him. And where Marlowe follows a moral compass, Case follows only the principle of doing whatever hedonistic deed suits him at the time - with hilarious results.

I suspect that Brazill didn't set out to write a novella. A Case of Noir seems to be stitched together from a number of short stories (a working method similar to that adopted by Chander when he wrote The Big Sleep).

The whole is greater than the sum of the parts - although the parts are so good you’ll savour them individually, as you work your way through them.

I forgot to mention: this book is a whole lot of fun!



View all my reviews

I’ve written a novel intending it to be a bestseller.

It’ll be published on September 18 by a publisher with a great track record of getting novels into the Amazon top 100.

I’d like to email you an advance review copy (that is, a free copy of my new book) when they become available.

Would you be willing to read it, and if (AND ONLY IF) you think it’s good, post a review?

If you'd like an ARC just DM me or comment on this post.

Many thanks to all my readers whether or not you'd be willing to do this.

Kind regards

Jack

PS The novel is a psychological thriller with no graphic violence or explicit sex. (Which makes a change for me).

Calling all fans of Pale Fire by Vladimir Nabokov!!
(1) Please share this post with people you know who are also fans of Pale Fire! (Or just share it anyway - presumably it'll reach the right people if you do!)
(2) The amazing Tartarus Press are publishing a novel in January 2021 inspired by Pale Fire. It's called Ezra Slef and it's a satirical supernatural crime thriller.
(3) I'm looking for a select band of people to read and review the book. The reviews should preferably be on Amazon and Goodreads (but either or either will be okay), and/or on a book blog if you happen to have one.
(4) A free ARC is available to those who agree to read and review the novel. I'm afraid it won't be the limited edition hardback which will retail at circa £35 copy! - But it'll be a good quality product.
http://www.tartaruspress.com/
Please message me publicly or DM me if you'd like to be part of the reviewing team.
Thank you!
Kind regards
Jack