American Noir: The Pocket Essential Guide to US Crime Fiction, Film & TV

by Barry Forshaw

The word "Noir" is used here in its loosest every major living American writer is considered (including the giants Harlan Coben, Patricia Cornwell, James Lee Burke, James Ellroy and Sara Paretsky, as well as non-crime writers such as Stephen King who stray into the genre), often through a concentration on one or two key books. Many exciting new talents are highlighted, and Barry Forshaw’s knowledge of—and personal acquaintance with—many of the writers grants valuable insights into this massively popular field. But the crime genre is as much about films and TV as it is about books, and this book is a celebration of the former as well as the latter. American television crime drama in particular is enjoying a new golden age, and all of the important current series are covered here, as well as key important recent films.

224 pages, Paperback

Published September 1, 2017

About the author

Barry Forshaw is a writer, broadcaster and journalist whose books include British Crime Writing: An Encyclopedia, The Rough Guide to Crime Fiction, Brit Noir, British Gothic Cinema, Nordic Noir, Sex and Film, Euro Noir, Death in a Cold Climate: Scandinavian Crime Fiction and BFI Classics: War of the Worlds along with books on Italian cinema, film noir and the first UK biography of Stieg Larsson, The Man Who Left Too Soon. He has written on books and films for many newspapers and magazines; he also edits Crime Time, and is one of the talking heads for the ITV Crime Thriller author profiles. He records documentaries on crime fiction and film for a variety of BBC producers for both TV and radio, along with much work for foreign broadcasters. He has been Vice Chair of the Crime Writers' Association. As well as his specialist area of books (in most genres), he writes on film (booklets for special edition DVDs) and all aspects of the arts (popular and serious). He is winner of the Keating Award for Non-Fiction for British Crime Writing: An Encyclopedia (Greenwood)
In a previous career he was an illustrator, working for both The Natural History Museum and Jackie.

Reviews

[Craig Sisterson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Barry Forshaw is renowned within the British crime writing community and beyond as a leading aficionado of the genre, and his 'pocket essential guide' series gives interested readers a good overview of various aspects of crime writing.

AMERICAN NOIR is like a Lonely Planet or Rough Guide for crime-loving readers, an easy-to-read curation of books and authors to consider when you're planning your reading journey. It's more informally written than an encyclopaedia, and includes opinions rather than just facts to provide some added guidance for readers. These books aren't designed to be formal literary criticism either - more of a readers guide. So if you're looking for academic criticism or strict rankings of various authors and titles, you won't find that here.

Instead, this is a book by someone who loves crime fiction - and understands the genre deeply - offering some guidance to others passionate about the genre. Reading through this, I got plenty of ideas of authors and books I should try - from ones that will be like my current favourites to others that will stretch by crime reading into new directions. This is a fun, easy read that will get your mind whirring about the breadth and depth of the genre.

[Chris Lilly · Rating 2 out of 5]

No commitment to any critical standard, so the appalling Dan Brown comes across as being of as much interest as Denis Lehane. This isn't true; Lehane can write, Dan Brown can't. If a list of authors and titles with a few lines of description has any value, it's as a guide to works and authors you haven't previously come across. If I have no confidence in Barry Forshaw's judgement, the book is useless. It certainly isn't fun to read.

[Tracyk · Rating 4 out of 5]

Of all the mystery reference books I have read by Barry Forshaw, this is my least favorite. There are some decent overviews of some very well-known authors, and the TV and movie coverage is good, but the other books he authored provided better coverage in my opinion. Most of his mystery reference books focus on contemporary, living crime writers.

[Ming Terk · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just a survey of the books written. This time in the USA. It is well written but it is just a short review of the books written about that theme. The reviews can be too effusive. Not very realistic. Everything seems excellent. Good, if you are just looking for book recommendations. But anything more, you have to read the book itself to decide.