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realexplodingcatI have a show tonight with the band, Silent Muse. Rather than talk about that, let's have another book review.
If you don't know about Dan Simmons, you should. He is an award winning author of some of the best, most genuinely literary horror and science fiction published in the last two decades. While his work is enjoyable on a simple fun level, it has far more depth than the casual reader may expect. If you pay attention, you'll notice his novels and stories are extremely dense with allusion to great literature of the past, which he uses as a thematic foundation for his modern tales of horror and science fiction. Through allusion and tremendous amounts of research, Simmons explores greater depths of society and character than most genre writers dare to try.
Simmons is also known for his genre experiments. Lately, he has turned to writing crime thrillers. Hard As Nails is the third book in a series following the ex-con, ex private eye Joe Kurtz. Simmons began the series with the intention of writing a short book with short chapters and very little literary pretension with a protagonist that is so dark and violent that you want to hate him. The first time we meet Joe Kurtz, in Hardcase, he interrogates a guy with the kitchen sink's garbage disposal and finishes the job by throwing him out of a sixth story window.
Hard As Nails begins with Kurtz being shot in the head. The bullet ricochets off his skull, leaving a non trivial wound and landing Kurtz in the hospital. Following the grand tradition of tough men everywhere, Kurtz takes the macho penchant of ignoring pain to new limits after waking from his coma and escaping from the hospital. The shoot-out occurred in a dark parking garage and Kurtz did not see his assailant. He is determined to find out who tried to kill him. At the same time, he is hired by two rival mafia bosses to find a serial killer who is murdering their favorite drug dealers and users. Simmons weaves these and other plots intricately together and follows them to an explosive conclusion.
Being the third time around, Hard As Nails lacks the brutal impact of the first novel, which was the literary equivalent of a kick in the nuts. However, the series appears to be maturing. We start to see a softer side of Kurtz in this novel and greater development of him as character with a entire life's history behind him. We glimpse his past as an orphan. An old girlfriend, Rigby King, is introduced and plays a major role in this novel. There also hints of future developments (for possible new novels?), as Simmons is clearly reviving an emotional connection with Rigby as well as introducing another major crime boss, Baby Doc, which would be a welcome break from all the time spent on the Farino and Gonzaga families in the last three books.
One aspect of this novel that really shines his Simmons' impeccable ability to capture the feel of a location. Simmons always takes great care to do research for his books, often traveling to locations and taking detailed notes. His skill with setting shines here, treating the city of Buffalo, NY as a character just as important as Kurtz himself. He paints Buffalo as a dying city. The march of progress has left it and its old industries behind. There are pockets of money and life that Simmons describes with real feeling and skill, but he is more concerned with the abandoned and forgotten places where low-lifes, indigents, and criminals live and work. Simmons won't do the Buffalo tourist trade any favors with this novel, but it stands as a fascinating look at a crumbling American city.
Although a fast and fun read, Hard As Nails is not Dan Simmons at his best. But it is a fine example of what Dan Simmons does best--take any genre and fulfill all its expectations with enough skill and literary prowess to make it a cut above most other books in that genre.
If you don't know about Dan Simmons, you should. He is an award winning author of some of the best, most genuinely literary horror and science fiction published in the last two decades. While his work is enjoyable on a simple fun level, it has far more depth than the casual reader may expect. If you pay attention, you'll notice his novels and stories are extremely dense with allusion to great literature of the past, which he uses as a thematic foundation for his modern tales of horror and science fiction. Through allusion and tremendous amounts of research, Simmons explores greater depths of society and character than most genre writers dare to try.
Simmons is also known for his genre experiments. Lately, he has turned to writing crime thrillers. Hard As Nails is the third book in a series following the ex-con, ex private eye Joe Kurtz. Simmons began the series with the intention of writing a short book with short chapters and very little literary pretension with a protagonist that is so dark and violent that you want to hate him. The first time we meet Joe Kurtz, in Hardcase, he interrogates a guy with the kitchen sink's garbage disposal and finishes the job by throwing him out of a sixth story window.
Hard As Nails begins with Kurtz being shot in the head. The bullet ricochets off his skull, leaving a non trivial wound and landing Kurtz in the hospital. Following the grand tradition of tough men everywhere, Kurtz takes the macho penchant of ignoring pain to new limits after waking from his coma and escaping from the hospital. The shoot-out occurred in a dark parking garage and Kurtz did not see his assailant. He is determined to find out who tried to kill him. At the same time, he is hired by two rival mafia bosses to find a serial killer who is murdering their favorite drug dealers and users. Simmons weaves these and other plots intricately together and follows them to an explosive conclusion.
Being the third time around, Hard As Nails lacks the brutal impact of the first novel, which was the literary equivalent of a kick in the nuts. However, the series appears to be maturing. We start to see a softer side of Kurtz in this novel and greater development of him as character with a entire life's history behind him. We glimpse his past as an orphan. An old girlfriend, Rigby King, is introduced and plays a major role in this novel. There also hints of future developments (for possible new novels?), as Simmons is clearly reviving an emotional connection with Rigby as well as introducing another major crime boss, Baby Doc, which would be a welcome break from all the time spent on the Farino and Gonzaga families in the last three books.
One aspect of this novel that really shines his Simmons' impeccable ability to capture the feel of a location. Simmons always takes great care to do research for his books, often traveling to locations and taking detailed notes. His skill with setting shines here, treating the city of Buffalo, NY as a character just as important as Kurtz himself. He paints Buffalo as a dying city. The march of progress has left it and its old industries behind. There are pockets of money and life that Simmons describes with real feeling and skill, but he is more concerned with the abandoned and forgotten places where low-lifes, indigents, and criminals live and work. Simmons won't do the Buffalo tourist trade any favors with this novel, but it stands as a fascinating look at a crumbling American city.
Although a fast and fun read, Hard As Nails is not Dan Simmons at his best. But it is a fine example of what Dan Simmons does best--take any genre and fulfill all its expectations with enough skill and literary prowess to make it a cut above most other books in that genre.
