Comments on: Review: Richard Lange's THIS WICKED WORLD

By: David J. Montgomery

David J. Montgomery — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 00:57:47 +0000

I got a message from Richard after my review ran, and he said he’s working on a new short story collection, then a second novel.

So it’ll be very interesting to see where he goes next.

By: Pop Culture Nerd

Pop Culture Nerd — Sat, 22 Aug 2009 20:59:48 +0000

Perhaps we should form a Richard Lange fan club. Corey, I'm glad you wrote your great review because the more support he gets, the better. If he keeps up this kind of quality, I want him writing books for a long time. David, you astutely pointed out how hard it is to write this kind of crime fiction well. Lange makes it seem easy, which is even more impressive.

By: Corey Wilde

Corey Wilde — Sat, 22 Aug 2009 20:44:05 +0000

David, I particularly agree with your point in the paragraph that begins “As good as it is.” Of the many strong characters, Jimmy is the least effective one. As you say, his motivations are not substantial enough to drive the actions he takes. But I can overlook that because I enjoyed the book on so many other levels.

By: David J. Montgomery

David J. Montgomery — Sat, 22 Aug 2009 19:53:51 +0000

If you’re curious to see my review, it’s here:

http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2009-07-25/a-wicked-la-noir/

By: Corey Wilde

Corey Wilde — Sat, 22 Aug 2009 19:52:11 +0000

Excellent review, PCN. If I had read this first, I would just have linked to your review and skipped the work of writing one!

By: popculturenerd

popculturenerd — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 21:33:51 +0000

I’d love to get recommendations of easy Spanish books I can read! Thank you. And you’re a Harry Potter fan, too? I can’t imagine reading those books in any other language. Rowling’s prose is exceptional and I’d fear something might get lost in translation. Are you excited about the Half-Blood Prince movie? I can’t wait!

You’ve got a good list of songs there. Love Shakira! Which Kelly Clarkson songs did you get? There are a bunch on her latest album, All I Ever Wanted, that are really good: “I Do Not Hook Up,” “Long Shot,” “I Want You,” “Cry,” et al. Love ABBA and Beatles, too. They have huge catalogs so it’s a good thing you’ve got that 6GB card!

By: Poncho

Poncho — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 19:15:23 +0000

Believe me… I’ve read/watched Como agua para chocolate, and I cried like a baby the whole book, so I know what you feel. I may be able to recommend a few books in spanish so you can improve yours -I’ll think of a few easy ones to read. The thing about online buying is that sometimes the transportation costs makes the book price go to the stratosphere! But I’ve been found guilty of sneaking a few pesos to my credit card so I can indulge myself with some reading in english (in fact, I’ve read the whole Harry Potter saga in english, LOL!, among others).

About the phone, each day I find how amazing it is! I’ve got about 6 Gb of memory, and I can actually enhance this storage capability with an extra card! The sad thing is that the songs are protected, so I can only listen to them in my computer, and transfer them to the cell when I’m online (license-stuff or something), though I get to keep the songs forever as long as I listen to them in the Nokia music software -or the cellphone…

As today, I’ve dowloaded all of the Killers, Keane, Kings of Leon, Shakira (woohooo!!), Zoe (a mexican band… just amazing, I do recommend it), Daughtry, Kelly Clarkson (gotta love her!), a few BSpears, Rolling Stones, and so much more. I’m right now looking through the Bon Jovi and Aerosmith catalog so I can “legalize” my library. I think next week I’ll be filling my “oldies-but-goodies” (ABBA, Mammas & Papas <-for my mom!, and Beatles, of course!)

By: popculturenerd

popculturenerd — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 15:56:49 +0000

Yay for free year of music! (We won't talk about how much the phone cost.) Besides the AI stuff, what have you downloaded so far? Does the phone allow you to buy a card for extra storage? Regarding the books, I do think you should indulge in some online buying because your English is excellent. You don't need those crappy translations! I wish I could read some authors in their native language, like Carlos Ruiz Zafon's The Shadow of the Wind, one of my favorite books of all time. I did manage to muddle through Laura Esquivel's Like Water for Chocolate in Spanish (this book/movie may be before your time) but that was only a small volume and took me a long time.

By: Poncho

Poncho — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 20:42:35 +0000

I’m not so much into neo-noir myself -I would’t consider myself a happy-prancing-pony lover, though!- but I do enjoy the occasional dark(ish) stuff in my reading.

What makes me a little sad about your book reviews is that a lot of them (books) don’t even get here to Mexico (at least not in time to seize my fanboy compulsion), and a bunch of them get lost in translation, and when I do get to read them they’re crap! I think I’ll have to endulge myself in some Amazon-frenzy in order to get most of them, don’t you think?

(By the way, I kind’a solved my problem with music downloads! I’ve got a new cellphone which came with a whole year of free music. I still have to find a lot of songs, but I got the AI singles for “free” -I mean free in the sense that I payed almost 400 dollars for the cell, but…)

By: popculturenerd

popculturenerd — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 20:15:31 +0000

You’re right. It’s hard not to spoil so I’ll try to tread carefully. And I’d like to say I empathized, not sympathized or condoned.

As mentioned, I felt for Spiller’s desire to win custody of his daughter from the mother who sounds dreadful, not that he would make a better parent. His wanting to protect his daughter, however successful in execution, made him interesting.

Olivia made me so mad sometimes, I wanted to shake her senseless and call her rude names, but once her past was revealed, I was surprised at how sorry I felt for her.

Taggert’s desire to get out of the coal mines and have a better life—the future he wanted for him and Olivia—made him just a little more human and less pure-evil guy, not that it justifies anything he does.

Again, no condoning, no sympathy, but some understanding of these people made them more compelling. I wrote to Lange telling him this and he responded: “I really wanted people to feel for all the characters in the book, even the villains — not necessarily sympathize with them, but at least have some empathy for them — and you’re the first reader to let me know I succeeded in some way. So, you made my day.”