Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, July 22, 1990 TAG: 9007260006
SECTION: HORIZON PAGE: B-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MIKE MAYO BOOK PAGE EDITOR
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
THE LION AT THE DOOR. By Newton Thornburg. Morrow. $18.95.
STARDUST. By Robert B. Parker. Putnam. $18.95.
These are good times for crime-fiction fans. The field is broad and fine work is being done in many different areas. These three novels range from excellent to good, and the season is young. New works by Tony Hillerman, Sue Grafton, Joseph Hansen and Carolyn Hart will be reviewed here soon.
"Blossom" is Andrew Vachss' fifth novel and it's one of his best. He continues his exploration of the causes and brutal effects of child abuse. His protagonist Burke is a hard case who works inside and outside the legal system with cases that involve young people. This time, he leaves his New York setting and goes to Indiana to help an old friend and fellow ex-con whose nephew has been accused of a series of sniper attacks.
The real point and strength of the novel is Vachss' examination of forces - social, familial, psychological - that create a human monster. His point is neither to titillate nor to provide the reader with a handy, despicable villain. He's trying to break the chain of abuse that creates generation after generation of horror. As he has said before: Today's victim is tomorrow's predator. Also, in "Blossom" he tries to show how normal sexual development can be misinterpreted and twisted.
But to leave it at that makes the novel sound like a one-note polemic, and that's not the case. Vachss spins out an engrossing tale filled with well-drawn characters and vivid scenes. Added to that are his usual terse descriptions ("One of those sugar-substitute girl singers came over the jukebox. Some sad song. No juice.") and inventive hardware.
Vachss describes himself as a lawyer who writes novels. Like Burke, he handles only cases involving children. As a novelist, he is displaying more confidence and versatility than he's shown before. Judged by any standards, "Blossom" is good fiction with a purpose.
Newton Thornburg is one of today's most underrated writers. "Cutter and Bone," "To Die in California" and "Dreamland" are solid, well-written books that deserve more attention than they've received. His newest, "The Lion at the Door,"is an unpredictable, James M. Cain kind of story of lust, murder, love and chance.
It begins when Tom Kohl is riding with his cousin Ken when Ken accidentally kills a pedestrian and drives away. Kohl is a refugee from the Midwest farm crisis who has found himself adrift and out of place among the young professionals of Seattle. It's a sense of family loyalty that leads him to help Ken cover up the crime by getting rid of the vehicle. It's bad luck that Bobbi, a sexy out-of-work waitress, happens to see him ditch the car. Or is it luck?
Diane, Ken's significant other, thinks both men are crazy and doesn't want to be involved. When Bobbi shows up on her front porch, her mood doesn't improve. Then they learn that the man Ken killed was the brother of Seattle's top gangster.
Though it sounds contrived, Thornburg's plot is solidly based on realistic characters. Kohl is a believable, likable protagonist. He's a man who's used to working with his hands, a man who's uncomfortable with his own lies and the growing web of complexity. For Kohl, the shifting, unstable personal relationships that develop and disintegrate are as frightening as the larger crime.
Thornburg writes with a clean, no-nonsense prose. "A Lion at the Door" is not just good crime fiction, it's good fiction.
"Stardust" is one of Robert B. Parker's better recent efforts, though that's hardly a ringing endorsement. Parker has become crime fiction's answer to minimalism. His Spenser novels are short, lacking a strong sense of place or complex characters, and his prose has become slapdash. This new one is no exception, but it does have an engaging plot that provides a few surprises.
Spenser is hired by a TV series shooting in Boston to find out who is making threatening overtures to its star, Jill Joyce. She embodies all the cliches you've ever read or seen about vain actresses, to the point that for most of the novel, she's less than believable. At the same time, the details of the TV show ring true and toward the middle of the story, Parker introduces three wonderful dogs that steal the whole show.
For the moment, Parker has gotten over his annoying habit of having secondary characters tell Spencer how brave and smart and wonderful he is every few pages. But he is still capable of writing embarrassingly clumsy sentences. Note:
"He knew when to go with the flow and if I'd take the matter of Jill Joyce's harassment off his back he'd agree to hiring Geraldo Rivera as a bodyguard if I said so. He knew that. I knew that. And he knew that I knew that."
Ouch.
by CNB