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jakewritesbooks's review against another edition
4.0
This book inspired the title for the seventh episode of this season’s True Detective. When I finally finished Dave Halberstam’s wonderful-but-exhausting The Best and the Brightest, I decided to pick it up since it was the latest Crumley in my stack.
And it might be my favorite. I’ve always liked the Milo books more than the Sughrue ones. There’s really no difference between the two characters; they’re both old, gruff alky war vets who function as ancillaries for the author. But for whatever reason, the three Milo books (I have yet to read the third Sughrue one) tend to be more streamlined and focused plot wise.
This is definitely the clearest Crumley plot I’ve read and though there are still tics that annoy me (good God, I hope this man never talked about women in public), I really enjoyed it. It hit on a personal level to the character that has always been open about his personal baggage. And while the scene does shift to Las Vegas and (inevitably) Montana, this is a Texas novel through and through that gave me glimpses of some of Jim Thompson’s Lone Star social horror.
I’m still thinking about the ending and I refuse to spoil it but it was so, so good, far and away the best ending he’s done. Maybe the clues were there for the twist the whole time, in fact, they probably were and I just didn’t want to believe them. But I was genuinely surprised and felt sad for how it would impact the characters moving forward. The last paragraph of the book haunted me and I felt it a fitting conclusion to Milo’s arc. I don’t know if Crumley knew it was the last Milo book or not but what a way to go.
I would probably put The Last Good Kiss as Crumley’s most realized work, with Return of the Dancing Bear being his best in terms of quality. But this is my favorite one and I’ll be thinking about it for a spell.
And it might be my favorite. I’ve always liked the Milo books more than the Sughrue ones. There’s really no difference between the two characters; they’re both old, gruff alky war vets who function as ancillaries for the author. But for whatever reason, the three Milo books (I have yet to read the third Sughrue one) tend to be more streamlined and focused plot wise.
This is definitely the clearest Crumley plot I’ve read and though there are still tics that annoy me (good God, I hope this man never talked about women in public), I really enjoyed it. It hit on a personal level to the character that has always been open about his personal baggage. And while the scene does shift to Las Vegas and (inevitably) Montana, this is a Texas novel through and through that gave me glimpses of some of Jim Thompson’s Lone Star social horror.
I’m still thinking about the ending and I refuse to spoil it but it was so, so good, far and away the best ending he’s done. Maybe the clues were there for the twist the whole time, in fact, they probably were and I just didn’t want to believe them. But I was genuinely surprised and felt sad for how it would impact the characters moving forward. The last paragraph of the book haunted me and I felt it a fitting conclusion to Milo’s arc. I don’t know if Crumley knew it was the last Milo book or not but what a way to go.
I would probably put The Last Good Kiss as Crumley’s most realized work, with Return of the Dancing Bear being his best in terms of quality. But this is my favorite one and I’ll be thinking about it for a spell.
jakewritesbooks's review against another edition
4.0
This book inspired the title for the seventh episode of this season’s True Detective. When I finally finished Dave Halberstam’s wonderful-but-exhausting The Best and the Brightest, I decided to pick it up since it was the latest Crumley in my stack.
And it might be my favorite. I’ve always liked the Milo books more than the Sughrue ones. There’s really no difference between the two characters; they’re both old, gruff alky war vets who function as ancillaries for the author. But for whatever reason, the three Milo books (I have yet to read the third Sughrue one) tend to be more streamlined and focused plot wise.
This is definitely the clearest Crumley plot I’ve read and though there are still tics that annoy me (good God, I hope this man never talked about women in public), I really enjoyed it. It hit on a personal level to the character that has always been open about his personal baggage. And while the scene does shift to Las Vegas and (inevitably) Montana, this is a Texas novel through and through that gave me glimpses of some of Jim Thompson’s Lone Star social horror.
I’m still thinking about the ending and I refuse to spoil it but it was so, so good, far and away the best ending he’s done. Maybe the clues were there for the twist the whole time, in fact, they probably were and I just didn’t want to believe them. But I was genuinely surprised and felt sad for how it would impact the characters moving forward. The last paragraph of the book haunted me and I felt it a fitting conclusion to Milo’s arc. I don’t know if Crumley knew it was the last Milo book or not but what a way to go.
I would probably put The Last Good Kiss as Crumley’s most realized work, with Return of the Dancing Bear being his best in terms of quality. But this is my favorite one and I’ll be thinking about it for a spell.
And it might be my favorite. I’ve always liked the Milo books more than the Sughrue ones. There’s really no difference between the two characters; they’re both old, gruff alky war vets who function as ancillaries for the author. But for whatever reason, the three Milo books (I have yet to read the third Sughrue one) tend to be more streamlined and focused plot wise.
This is definitely the clearest Crumley plot I’ve read and though there are still tics that annoy me (good God, I hope this man never talked about women in public), I really enjoyed it. It hit on a personal level to the character that has always been open about his personal baggage. And while the scene does shift to Las Vegas and (inevitably) Montana, this is a Texas novel through and through that gave me glimpses of some of Jim Thompson’s Lone Star social horror.
I’m still thinking about the ending and I refuse to spoil it but it was so, so good, far and away the best ending he’s done. Maybe the clues were there for the twist the whole time, in fact, they probably were and I just didn’t want to believe them. But I was genuinely surprised and felt sad for how it would impact the characters moving forward. The last paragraph of the book haunted me and I felt it a fitting conclusion to Milo’s arc. I don’t know if Crumley knew it was the last Milo book or not but what a way to go.
I would probably put The Last Good Kiss as Crumley’s most realized work, with Return of the Dancing Bear being his best in terms of quality. But this is my favorite one and I’ll be thinking about it for a spell.
srousseau's review against another edition
I couldn't get into this one and didn't finish it. Too much sex and drugs by the main character - didn't add to the story for me.
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