Recent Reads: Parker and Starr

Blogger access has been spotty the past few days, so I've used the time to finish a couple of reads before month's end.

My favorite prose draws me into a story such that I don't notice the time or the page count; I just want to watch one thing lead to the next. Once upon a time, I roared through the first fifteen Spenser novels like this.

Flash-forward to last Saturday. My copy of the latest Spenser paperback, BAD BUSINESS, arrived and I finished it by Sunday. My displeasure with Parker's now-robotic book production is well documented here and elsewhere. He still writes clearly, but I speed through his work now because I've seen all his tricks before and have little patience for them.

Contrast this with TWISTED CITY, my first time reading Jason Starr. Starr's prose was completely in character with a flawed, trying-to-keep-his-head-above-water narrator. Readers may catch on to where a novel is going, but it's more important that the writer keep a steady hand at the controls. Even in the digression chapters, it seemed Starr was aware of the story he wanted to tell, the characters he wanted to present. This is the kind of confidence every writer strives for.