Point Blank discussion

Well, so this week we get, 'A Flash of Green' in a bit shit shocker!

Also Kurt reads Frank Bill - I didn't enjoy Donnybrook myself, but maybe I read the wrong book.

Crimes of Southern Indiana was by far the better book and I don’t think Frank Bill’s writing style is for everyone. When I did the review I think the 2 sort of blended together.

Excellent episode on Flash of Green! I agree with all you had to say...yes, needed a HUGE Edit...in Chap 2, I thought MacDonald was trying to write like Hemingway when it went on endlessly about Jimmy thinking about Kat...there are some excellent John MacDonald stand-alones though including The Crossroads, Deadly Welcome, and especially The End of the Night. All three of these are tight noirs of around 180 pages... There is a worse MacDonald book, The Beach Girls...horrible, absolutely the worst...about a bunch of drunks hanging out at the end of a pier getting bombed nightly. -Other mentions: I had a 20 year Don DiLillo phase...read Underworld when it came out. Tough read & dark but I liked it. White Noise is excellent & more accessible, funny too...about a college Professor who teaches Hitler studies! Libra is good too...about Lee Harvey Oswald. Thanks for the Marseille Trilogy recommend, it's now on my list...I lived in Istres, France, in '95, just north of Marseille. One correction if I heard right (and not a biggie), James Arness, Marshall Dillion on Gunsmoke, played The Thing in the original movie, not James Garner of Rockford Files...I read Devil In a Blue Dress years ago and barely remember it so I'll give it a re-read...once again, Excellent Podcast!

Thanks for the response, Joe! I picked up The End of the Night and look forward to it. I will put The Beach Girls on my black list. I loved White Noise. Our opinion of Devil in a Blue Dress is much more favorable than it is for Flash, though we also take issue with a couple things. We record Episode 16 this weekend.

Joe wrote: "Excellent episode on Flash of Green! I agree with all you had to say...yes, needed a HUGE Edit...in Chap 2, I thought MacDonald was trying to write like Hemingway when it went on endlessly about Ji..."

Ha, I was joking about the lead (James Garner) in Rockford Files being the thing in The Thing. An attempt at dry humor.