Spoiler Alert
I have to say up front that I did not enjoy or like this book. I am a big fan of Peter Straub and the 'Blue Rose' trilogy (which features Fee Bandolier in 'The Throat') is a fantastic literary achievement, but this book seems both unnecessary and awkward. I'm not really a fan of graphic novels, which probably doesn't help, but I was looking forward to reading it.
The story concerns the pursuit of Fee Bandolier by a New York detective called Bob Steele, who is an alcoholic and not much of a policeman. This is his chance at redemption, apparently. It may be that I'm not used to the format of graphic novels, but I found the whole thing confused and very unclear. I'm not saying that Peter Straub novels are always clear, they aren't and they expect the reader to dot the i's and cross the t's, but this went beyond the sphere of making me think. I did think, a lot, and not much of it was positive. There seemed to be a few murderers on the loose, one of which Bob followed back to Ireland and killed (I think). It seems that the Green Woman herself exerts an influence over these killers, and she seems to have been the figurehead of a ship of mad pirates (although I've never seen a figurehead that provocative).
I thought the character of Fee Bandolier in 'The Throat' was very powerful, even more so as we only ever saw him from a third person perspective in the past (apart from his infrequent appearances as Mike Hogan in the present). However, I felt his power was greatly diminished in this book, not least because the book spends a lot of time with him in the present. His thoughts really aren't that interesting and the whole revisitation of his marriage to the Rhade woman in Vietnam resulting in another murder seemed completely pointless, other than to provide some point of reference for Bandolier's known past (when he was Major Franklin Batchelor). I also have to say that 'casting' Peter Capaldi as Fee Bandolier was a terrible decision by the artist. I don't know about you but I did create a mental image of Fee whilst reading 'The Throat' and Peter Capaldi was not that image. I found it impossible to see Capaldi as Franklin Batchelor; I don't know much about graphic art and design and I'm sure it's hard to 'create' a face, but using Capaldi, a very well-known face, was, at least in my opinion, a very poor decision.
It would be interesting to know how much of this book was written by Peter Straub; I'm guessing not much. The whole 'messing with the reader' metafiction approach is continued from the Blue Rose trilogy, in that Fee is not dead (Tim Underhill made that up to give 'The Throat' a nice warm ending, we are told) and, in fact, he was never Mike Hogan, but was, in fact, Frank Belknap (who in 'The Throat' lives in the house opposite the old Bandolier family home). However, because this book was so uninteresting I have not really given any of that much thought.
The book is beautifully executed, there can be no denying that, but it is really a triumph of style over content. I think the 'Blue Rose' trilogy is a wonderful and complete creation, there was no real need to add to it, although, of course, Peter Straub can do what he likes with his own creations. But I don't think this has enhanced the original stories in any way whatsoever. In fact, it simply does not fit in with the original stories, or short stories, either in tone or style. It was an interesting experiment I suppose, but the fact that Straub has not collaborated on any other graphic novels since (some 12 years ago) might indicate that he did not regard it as a great success.
If you love Straub as I do, then I'm sure you will read it. And you might like it; I hope you do. However, for me it was a cold turkey. It did nothing to enhance the character of Fee Bandolier and ultimately was a significant disappointment. You can't say that about many Peter Straub books.
Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet or computer - no Kindle device required. Learn more.
Read instantly on your browser with Kindle Cloud Reader.
Using your mobile phone camera - scan the code below and download the Kindle app.
Flip to back Flip to front
Follow the Authors
Something went wrong. Please try your request again later.
Popular titles by this author
Page 1 of 1 Start overPage 1 of 1
