BookGround >> Best "Noir"

2/16/08 9:53 PM	Ignore | Quote | Edit | Warn Admin | Vote Down | Vote Up | Delete Post
mattrogers Edited: 16-Feb-08 Member Since: 01/01/2001 Posts: 288	What are some of the better noir fiction titles? I've read a lot of James Ellroy, Elmore Leonard, George Pelecanos and Richard Price. Any other recommendations?

2/18/08 3:48 PM

Ignore | Quote | Edit | Warn Admin | Vote Down | Vote Up | Delete Post

Willybone 74 Edited: 18-Feb-08 Member Since: 01/01/2001 Posts: 30599

If you want noir, you can't ignore Mickey Spillane. His Mike Hammer novels helped define the genre. Andrew Vachss is a more modern noir author. His character, Burke, is an all-around psychotic badass who often takes up the causes of abused children. Burke also surrounds himself with colorful characters like the Zionist, arms dealing junkman and a mute martial arts assassin. I've read a few and they are entertaining. You have ignored this user.

2/23/08 10:03 PM	Ignore | Quote | Edit | Warn Admin | Vote Down | Vote Up | Delete Post
ThugLife 1 Edited: 23-Feb-08 Member Since: 02/18/2004 Posts: 5461	check out the harry bosch series by michael connely. You have ignored this user.

2/27/08 3:03 AM	Ignore | Quote | Edit | Warn Admin | Vote Down | Vote Up | Delete Post
Rodrigo Munduruca Edited: 27-Feb-08 Member Since: 01/01/2001 Posts: 23	You have ignored this user.

3/7/08 10:20 AM

Ignore | Quote | Edit | Warn Admin | Vote Down | Vote Up | Delete Post

FlashGordon2002 Edited: 07-Mar-08 Member Since: 05/23/2002 Posts: 15768

Spillane is a must read. Lawrence Block is pretty good. Moseley is also good. Spillane is more black/white while Block and Moseley deal with a lot of grey areas. Reading Spillane can be a little bit jarring to modern sensibilities since Hammer tends to react to everything that gets in his way by either punching it in the gut, pistol whipping it or slapping the shit out of it. You have ignored this user.

5/21/08 10:43 PM	Ignore | Quote | Edit | Warn Admin | Vote Down | Vote Up | Delete Post
TheStewedOwl Member Since: 6/8/02 Posts: 6888	James M. Cain, Dashiell Hammett, and Raymond Chandler - might as well start at the top.  You have ignored this user.

11/4/08 5:21 AM	Ignore | Quote | Edit | Warn Admin | Vote Down | Vote Up | Delete Post
Tyler Knight Member Since: 4/29/05 Posts: 1161	ThugLife - check out the harry bosch series by michael connely. Yep. Lawrence Block for sure too. Start with "Eight Million Ways To Die". "Murder Book", by Richard Rayner, and John Ridley's (wrote 3 Kings movie) "Love is a Racket". You have ignored this user.

11/9/08 12:28 AM	Ignore | Quote | Edit | Warn Admin | Vote Down | Vote Up | Delete Post
croaker 3 Member Since: 6/17/02 Posts: 915	Start with raymond chandler. Everyone else is an imitation. when I was much younger, Archer was a good way to pass the time You have ignored this user.

2/16/09 5:14 AM	Ignore | Quote | Edit | Warn Admin | Vote Down | Vote Up | Delete Post
Tyler Knight Edited: 02/16/09 5:33 AM Member Since: 4/29/05 Posts: 1636	ttt I need more noir to read . I like Andrew Vachs. Very gritty. You have ignored this user.

2/16/09 5:38 AM	Ignore | Quote | Edit | Warn Admin | Vote Down | Vote Up | Delete Post
Tyler Knight Member Since: 4/29/05 Posts: 1638	ThugLife - check out the harry bosch series by michael connely. Excellent recomendation. I've read Bloodwork (my favotite), Concrete Blonde, Black Ice (excellent). You have ignored this user.

2/17/09 12:50 AM

Ignore | Quote | Edit | Warn Admin | Vote Down | Vote Up | Delete Post

effinggoof 51 Member Since: 1/18/03 Posts: 7280

I have read some really good hard boiled/noir that does true justice to the masters of the genre. Walter Mosley really does a great job of putting the black into the noir. Easy Rawlins hustles his way through the hood while encountering and nailing femme fatales of every shade. Ken Bruen gives noir an Irish twist...and for fuck sakes if any nationality deserves a drunken ex cop turned PI it's the micks. Bruens books reek of whiskey breath and tragedy. Then there is Simon Kernick and his literary creation Detective Sgt Dennis Milne. Milne is a detective who unfortunately moonlights as a hitman for the local mob boss. You have ignored this user.

7/17/09 7:35 AM	Ignore | Quote | Edit | Warn Admin | Vote Down | Vote Up | Delete Post
Tyler Knight Member Since: 4/29/05 Posts: 2639	Shit, how can I forget about Jim Thompson. Chock full of psycho's, con artists, and sleazoids. And those are the protagonists. You have ignored this user.

8/3/09 10:32 PM	Ignore | Quote | Edit | Warn Admin | Vote Down | Vote Up | Delete Post
HarryLime Member Since: 3/15/02 Posts: 5563	It begins and ends with James M Cain -- "Double Indemnity" "The Postman Always Rings Twice" Hammet is great too -- "Red Harvest" "The Maltese Falcon" (obviously) You have ignored this user.

8/4/09 3:05 PM	Ignore | Quote | Edit | Warn Admin | Vote Down | Vote Up | Delete Post
Tyler Knight Member Since: 4/29/05 Posts: 2772	Lawrence Block has passsages that stay with me. Sometimes a decade after reading them.   Like in "8 Million Ways to Die", he describes taking an incapacitated, would be mugger's leg, and propping it up against a wall...stomping on it and hearing the snap. In the LA Times last Sunday, I read a glowing review about Thomas Pynchon's  "Inherent Vice". Picking that up soon. You have ignored this user.

8/12/09 4:07 PM	Ignore | Quote | Edit | Warn Admin | Vote Down | Vote Up | Delete Post
Willybone 74 Member Since: 1/1/01 Posts: 36458	I read Maltese Falcon on vacation. Quick read, but lots of fun. (after the cops try to intimidate him) Spade: "It's been a long while since I burst into tears just because policemen don't like me!" Now, I want to find more of Hammett's work. You have ignored this user.

8/11/10 3:10 AM	Ignore | Quote | Edit | Warn Admin | Vote Down | Vote Up | Delete Post
Tyler Knight Member Since: 4/29/05 Posts: 3656	This, while cyberpunk, has one of the best modern noir voices you'll find. It's fucking outstanding: This will put hair on your balls: This is just amazing writing: This will make you play records backwards and carve pentagrams in your linoleum floor: This will make you say "Fuck mankind": You have ignored this user.

8/11/10 3:12 AM	Ignore | Quote | Edit | Warn Admin | Vote Down | Vote Up | Delete Post
Tyler Knight Member Since: 4/29/05 Posts: 3657	Hard to find, but worth the search: You have ignored this user.

8/11/10 10:48 PM	Ignore | Quote | Edit | Warn Admin | Vote Down | Vote Up | Delete Post
TheHawker Member Since: 7/4/05 Posts: 31377	Amazon.com has it in stock. You have ignored this user.

8/12/10 1:10 AM	Ignore | Quote | Edit | Warn Admin | Vote Down | Vote Up | Delete Post
Tyler Knight Member Since: 4/29/05 Posts: 3658	Cat Shannon - I think the Richard Stark/Donald Westlake thing was throwing me off. Thanks...ordered!  Yeah, he has many pen names--like a half dozen that he used over his career. I got mine from an independent bookstore. You have ignored this user.

9/11/10 8:42 PM	Ignore | Quote | Edit | Warn Admin | Vote Down | Vote Up | Delete Post
NbleSavage 1 Member Since: 1/1/01 Posts: 9360	ttt You have ignored this user.

9/2/11 9:09 AM	Ignore | Quote | Edit | Warn Admin | Vote Down | Vote Up | Delete Post
rsbeer Member Since: 10/14/03 Posts: 30	James Crumley's novels,especially his earlier ones, are well worth reading. The Wrong Case The Last Good Kiss Dancing Bear etc You have ignored this user.

9/5/11 7:28 AM	Ignore | Quote | Edit | Warn Admin | Vote Down | Vote Up | Delete Post
NbleSavage 1 Member Since: 1/1/01 Posts: 9600	ttt You have ignored this user.

9/6/11 1:02 AM	Ignore | Quote | Edit | Warn Admin | Vote Down | Vote Up | Delete Post
Ali 375 Member Since: 1/1/01 Posts: 8549	Tyler Knight's "This will make you..." one-liners are some of the best-written book reviews ever. I want to read all of those now. You have ignored this user.

10/2/11 6:14 PM	Ignore | Quote | Edit | Warn Admin | Vote Down | Vote Up | Delete Post
unfilter 197 Member Since: 11/9/10 Posts: 233	croaker - Start with raymond chandler. Everyone else is an imitation. You have ignored this user.

11/13/11 7:06 PM	Ignore | Quote | Edit | Warn Admin | Vote Down | Vote Up | Delete Post
DoctorOctagonUK 59 Member Since: 1/25/03 Posts: 50	+2 for Walter Mosley You have ignored this user.

Reply Post