Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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3 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A truly wonderful character is born, 18 Mar 2001
By A Customer
These are the first two titles featuring Lew Griffin, a black private eye/lecturer/writer in New Orleans.Full of atmosphere,the books put one in mind of James Lee Burke on one of his best days.Gritty and philosophical at the same time,the writing will keep you turning the pages in sheer pleasure.Particularly recommended to readers of Robicheaux,with whom Griffin shares many character traits.
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1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Melancholy, 10 Jan 2004
By A Customer
This is the best of the Lew Griffin series despite its unexpected structure, namely four unrelated events spanning 26 years in the main character's life. It is the best because of the emotional response it achieves while depicting the life of a black man in New Orleans. The reader can not but help feel for the people portrayed, which enables some understanding for their predicaments, because eachis rendered with truth. The dialogue is also very good although the descriptions of the city and the region surrounding it are sketchy to say the least. A bonus is the absence of too many literary references that clutter the later works. Likewise the melancholy of the main character, Lew Griffin, is kept in check in this work - something James Sallis is unable or unwilling to do in subsequent books in the series.Be prepared to sympathise with Lew Griffin and those he tries to help even if you are unable to empathise, which I suggest you will. His books are not an emotionally easy read.
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1 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Well written, very interesting and beautiully characterised., 9 Nov 2001
Sallis seems to write almost without trying in "Long Legged Fly". Characters just pop up from Griffin's past, present and future. Of course, this would not work if it weren't for the fact that Sallis rounds each one beautifully, leaving you utterly familiar with them after only a few pages. The story skips along with several sub-plots, all emanating from previous events, and sending Griffin further into the dark rabbit-hole that is his own existence. Griffin himself (or the persona Sallis uses which adopts the name Lew Griffin) lives a double life- On the one hand he is as courageous as they come, able to scare witless several targets with the sight of his fist, yet on the other hand a total coward, backing away from the people he loves, yet pulling them into the horrific miasma of his career and fears. I give this novel four stars because, yes, Sallis scripted "Long Legged Fly" with everything a story needs. Well, almost everything. One overwhelming aspect of the book is the abundance of sheer coincedence. Lew Griffin seems to devote his time as a private detective searching for missing persons, and how many does he find? Some of Sallis' characters appear all to often and know far too much about how to contact people in order to help sucha detective! A thoroughly enjoyable, realsistic read- if somewhat harsh. After all, the truth hurts.
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by James Sallis
by James Sallis
by James Sallis
by James Sallis
by James Sallis
