So I’m really into noir, and I would really love to have a discussion about it. Specifically, I don’t mean detective stories. I prefer stuff that is told from the perspective of the criminal. Bad people getting worse, essentially. Authors that come to mind are Jim Thompson, James M. Cain, Jake Hinkson, Will Christopher Baer, Craig Clevenger and Patricia Highsmith. If you are at all into this stuff, let me know. Let’s chat.
The King is Richard Stark aka Donald Westlake. Stark is the pen name. His character is Parker, an amoral thief who goes to war with the Mafia after being ripped off by one of his partners.
The novels are excellent, as is the graphic novel adaptation
Thanks for the recommendation. I have heard of the Parker books, but I haven’t read any of them. I’ll add the first one to my list.
The books go in order, but can be enjoyed as stand alones.
Enjoy.
Stephen King is a big fan. The Parker novels were one of the inspirations for The Dark Half.
Westlake used several pen names over the years. He once did a comic essay where all the ‘authors’ got together for a round table discussion.
Maybe you’d like Torpedo 1936. It’s a comic about a gangster.
I wouldn’t say I’m a fan, but I appreciate noir - more so in films than books. But I would highly recommend Cahokia Jazz by Francis Spufford; that book just drips with alternate history noir. Not from the perspective of a criminal, per se, but definitely a somewhat mysterious/shady protagonist. It is just one hell of a book, so I had to recommend it.
Saving your post as a reading list since I’ve only read some Raymond Chandler
Same here. I love me some suffering
Chandler’s prose is fantastic. His books are very enjoyable for me. However, I would classify him as a hardboiled author, rather than noir (I know the distinction is contested, but I need some shorthand to describe my preferences). From Wikipedia:
Author and academic Megan Abbott described the two thus:
Hardboiled is distinct from noir, though they're often used interchangeably. The common argument is that hardboiled novels are an extension of the wild west and pioneer narratives of the 19th century. The wilderness becomes the city, and the hero is usually a somewhat fallen character, a detective or a cop. At the end, everything is a mess, people have died, but the hero has done the right thing or close to it, and order has, to a certain extent, been restored. Noir is different. In noir, everyone is fallen, and right and wrong are not clearly defined and maybe not even attainable.
I was crazy about Craig Clevenger when Contortionist’s Handbook came out, i think i read it twice in a row, and liked Dermaphoria, which got me into Baer through Kiss Me Judas.
Handbook was revolutionary for me, i completely fell into the story and that primed me for dermaphoria, which i remember as more abstract at points, which made it easier to be absorbed by some of his prose.
I remember after Clevenger I was like “more books like this please” and they were really hard to track down or specifically identify, so it took me a while to find Judas.
I see Clevenger finally released a recent third novel in 2023 that i have to read now, so thank you for this memory jog!
You’re welcome. I hope you enjoy the new Clevenger. I have it on my e-reader, lined up for after I finish the new Jake Hinkson.
I actually read Baer first. I devoured the whole trilogy and tried to find similar stuff. I read somewhere online that he shares a fanbase with Clevenger, so I read Dermaphoria. I had a few false starts, because the first chapter is very abstract and confusing (by design, of course). But once I got properly into it, I couldn’t get enough. It’s a real shame that the film adaptation is so bad. I watched it with my mom, and I kept pausing to explain that the book does this part much better.
Oh, had no idea they made a movie. Desiree, 2014, on my watchlist. Not a great name, certainly not as good as Dermaphoria. It’s been so long since the book for me though, maybe the film will be fun. Fingers twirled.
Yea, I totally agree about the book. Once you figure out what the hell is happening, it’s incredibly engrossing.
I’ll look into your other authors as well, I haven’t delved into that genre in a long time. Any recommendations on where to start in them considering how highly I regard Clevenger?
That’s a difficult question; I think Clevenger is easily the most out-there author in the list. However, I think you might have a good time with Jim Thompson, especially the books A Hell Of A Woman and After Dark, My Sweet. Both of them get pretty experimental and abstract right at the end. They are also just really fun reads in general.
Awesome, thanks very much for the recommendations. I am already hooooked on Mother Howl, like bags under my eyes for starting the novel before bedtime hooked. All the familiar ordered madness I’ve been missing for so long is back!
Wonderful; I’m glad you enjoy it so much. I’m looking forward to it immensely, but I’m also really enjoying my current book. It’s a weird feeling, loving the current one but also wanting to move on to the next one.
