Review: Once Upon A Time
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 07 31, 2012
I had not read the author's comments until after reading the book. Happy to see that he confirms my conclusion that it was a series of short stories loosely linked together. The potential reader should understand that there is a reason for the lack of tight plotting. You may or may not find the loose structure acceptable.The author did set out to recreate the style dominant three score years ago. He does a pretty good job of it. Like the attempt of contemporary jazz musicians trying to play in the style of Louis Armstrong's Hot Five or Hot Seven, his professional competence allows for a replica but without the authenticity of the original. Primarily, I would guess, this is due to the fact that, to the original creators, what they wrote (or played) was deeply felt, something new which came from them and their sense of expressing a particular mood, current, sense of being, of their own time; today, what they play is a reproduction of something whose fundamental roots no longer exist.I found the book interesting, though never quite real, always a bit forced to fit the older model. How younger readers might take to it, I cannot know. However, if you have tried and like Mike Hammer, you are likely to find Dark Quarrel a good start for what should be better, more tightly written, later books in the series.