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Rage and outrage in Dublin noir |
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Wednesday, 15 May 2013 |
The Rage, by Gene Kerrigan
(CWA
Gold Dagger 2012)
The noir novel is a product of media
culture. It is thus fitting, that in Ireland as elsewhere, some of its first
and most celebrated practitioners are, or were, journalists. Although Irish noir appeared only much later than
say its counterparts in the US, France or Italy, in an era already dominated by
multimedia, it is worth noting that it retains such a link with the printed
press. Colin Bateman, one of the genre's pioneers with his 1994 Divorcing Jack, was a journalist in Northern
Ireland, working for the County Down
Spectator. His subsequent novel, Belfast
Confidential, examines the life and scandals of a local newspaper. His recurring
character, Dan Starkey, is a journalist in Belfast, and seems to be an alter ego of the author. In Dublin, John
Connolly, now the most internationally successful Irish noir author wrote his first novel All the Dead Things (1999) while working as a journalist for the Irish Times.
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Last Updated ( Wednesday, 15 May 2013 )
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La France tranquille de Olivier Bordaçarre |
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Written by Alain Bandry
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Tuesday, 14 May 2013 |
La France tranquille de Olivier Bordaçarre (Fayard noir. 18 €)
Nogent-les Chartreux, dans la
Beauce, entre ville et campagne. Petite vie tranquille et tristounette. C'est
le 1er septembre. Ce samedi soir, on dort sur ses deux oreilles.
Pour combien de temps ? « On
s'était rincé l'œil au divertissement télévisuel du samedi soir à
quatre-vingt-dix-huit pour cent de matière grasse - les miraculeux deux pour
cent de matière grise résiduels étant l'œuvre de l'ultime fragment d'humanité
des « stars » invitées : chanteurs has-been tartinant les
écrans plats de leur bêtise et improbables mannequins, la peau plus tendue qu'une
baudruche, échouant à faire croire à leur retour sur scène. Le présentateur
vedette s'était une fois de plus déshonoré à coups de galéjades
d'avant-guerre : le vichysme des chiens de garde est immortel. Mais le
somnifère cathodique avait fait son effet et la ville en écrasait ferme
derrière le triple vitrage. »
Le ton est donné !
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Last Updated ( Tuesday, 14 May 2013 )
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The Millennium Trilogy, Stieg Larsson |
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Written by Kate Coxon
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Monday, 13 May 2013 |
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo; The Girl who played with Fire; The
Girl who kicked the Hornets' Nest
Recent crime fiction sales figures released by The Bookseller (May 29th
2010) show that Stieg Larsson's Millennium trilogy occupies the first four
places in the crime fiction charts (with places 3 and 4 shared between the
novel and the tie-in film version of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo). Part
thriller, part mystery, and part serial-killer saga, the trilogy offers an
informed, unnerving and at times harrowing view of the worlds of Swedish journalism
and business. Although the novels have received a mixed critical reception, the
sales figures point to an astonishing commercial success.
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Last Updated ( Tuesday, 14 May 2013 )
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Christine Lehmann - Das Buch als Waffe |
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Written by Elfriede Müller
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Friday, 29 April 2011 |
Christine Lehmann: Malefizkrott.
Adriane
Kriminalroman 1185. Hamburg 2011. 318 Seiten. 11 Euro
Malefizkrott
ist der erste von inzwischen neun Lisa Nerz Romanen,
den ich gelesen habe und dabei bin ich
auf eine Hommage an das Buch an sich gestoßen. Die als provokant gelobte queere
Serienheldin ist eine ordentliche schwäbische Handwerkerin, die, weil sie alles
genau wissen will, sich nicht davon abhalten lässt, hinter die Kulissen zu
schauen, auch und gerade wenn es sich beim Buchmarkt nicht gerade um ihr
Fachgebiet handelt. Dadurch wird Malefizkrott
zu einem Bildungsroman über den Verkauf, das Schreiben und die Herstellung
von Büchern, über die Veränderung einer Branche, in der nur die überleben
können, die auch bereit sind Esoterik und Socken zu verkaufen.
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Last Updated ( Monday, 09 May 2011 )
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Ian Rankin - The Hero is Tired |
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Monday, 13 December 2010 |
The Hero is Tired
An interview by Corinne Naidet,
helped by
Marie-Anne Lucas for the translation
Ian Rankin's character John Rebus only has a
few days left before him. He does not suffer from an incurable disease, nor is
he likely to be murdered by one of his many enemies, but in Exit Music
(Editions du masque, 2010), he is about to retire. Ten days before the fateful
date, Rebus and his team are faced with a new investigation : a Russian poet
who opposed his country's government has be found beaten to death in a car
park. Is it a political crime, an act of revenge, or a villainous murder?
Still very rebellious, Rebus turns his
hierarchy against him and is therefore suspended against all expectations. But
they should have known that this cop was tenacious : with the help of his dear
colleague Shioban Clarke, he is going to do his utmost to reveal the truth. All
the more so because his personal enemy Ger Cafferty has just been attacked and
is struggling between life and death.
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Last Updated ( Saturday, 29 January 2011 )
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