jdcorley's Reviews (191)

It's a bit of an indictment of the "enthusiast" nature of the video game press that there has been very little in depth critical development of the form.  Even today, in depth discussions fall into small press hidey-holes, academic round files and, worst of all, long-form Youtube exegeses.  This work is a firm but simplistic step into a field that should, at this point, be well-developed, but often seems to be late to the party, wanting to be taken seriously, but tantrumming whenever anyone tries to treat it like real art with something to say.  For someone curious about where video game criticism is in comparison to other artistic criticism, you'll be satisfied enough, but find it very basic.  But it can't be overstated that this book  (and this game) was all that anyone wanted to talk about at the time it came out.  It is clear that enthusiasts also thirst for deeper thinking.  I wish we could get past first steps like these.

Three absolute home runs from Stout make this collection one of his masterpieces. It leans a little more to the classical mystery - even the story of rival gangsters and shootouts in the street is solved in a classical mystery way. Everything adds up and plays fair, Wolfe is extra irascible and grumpy and Archie's sly descriptions of attractive mid century ladies have never been better. 

A little bit lesser set of Oates-iana, her circuitous delve into the Lovecraftian lacks the force needed to believe in the alien. And although she tries it often, the point of view of the killer doesn't quite fit her deeply introspective tone. Still, Oates is a horror fan at heart, and we all should cheer every time she comes home to us.

The horror elements of this book are certainly second-rate, derivative, call it whatever you want, they don't add up to much except a few gross-outs and jump scares that seem made for a B-movie rather than a novel.  However, the central relationships, between two bullied kids, and then, as the book turns, the bullies themselves, are well turned, and the environment, both manmade and natural, feels real and well-occupied.  We run around and around it with our leads and never get lost.  I would be interested in a book that's just about people in these environments! The horror elements do very little here.

The "academic Bluebeard" is a consistent go-to for Oates, but her observation of the strains of poverty and isolation are also marvelous. Somewhat less so when she takes on the point of view of the killer in these lovely little short stories.

A little more ambitious than Whiskey River, it attempts to be a more sprawling and Dickensian view of one segment of Detroit crime in the sixties. However, it lacks the singular charms of the protagonists of the first Detroit novel, and so you find yourself spinning through the book instead of pinballing through it. Don't get me wrong, it's good, but it lacks the snap of the truly propulsive Estleman.

The best Wolfe's are those where he is engaged in an impossible task and, having gotten nowhere, just starts trying things. This is one of those - Archie bouncing among a half dozen cute ladies and Wolfe growling at a series of sore headed 20th century executives. It just doesn't get better.

It's always a bit of a gamble when Stout sets our heroes Archie and Nero to venture into the realm of the truly classic mystery - a big house full of the wealthy and powerful, people hiding behind curtains, disguising themselves as each other, getting strangled in the parlor - but this one pulls it off by the neat trick of having Wolfe both leave the brownstone unexpectedly (to Archie) and return to the brownstone unexpectedly (to everyone else.)  Also, quite unusually for a Wolfe mystery, it's all more or less played fair - Wolfe has to obtain particularized proof of a specific fact that is only strongly implied by the text, but we don't. It's just a hint, and if you think it through the reader can solve it. But with such a big tangled cast and a series of bizarre events it will be a pleasure just to try.

More of a romp than a mystery, this unusual look into Wolfe's past and how it ropes him into a murder and pre-ww2 spy adventure is not to be missed.

Unlike the rancid first entry in the series, this novel has the gore, action, and bizarre sex scenes without the casually horrific hatred of women. In fact, the main sexual interest of our hero is quite a match for him. The title is right - the book depicts Southern California as a maniacal, awful place soaking in porn and sexual assault, which lets us tag along for the brutality Hunter dishes out without worrying too much about it. We even would have accepted a little more.of a conscience, I suspect. But we will never know.