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A review by thekarpuk
L.A. Noire: The Collected Stories by Megan Abbott, Joyce Carol Oates, Lawrence Block, Joe R. Lansdale, Andrew Vachss, Duane Swierczynski, Francine Prose, Jonathan Santlofer
3.0
I've come to feel that Noir has more of a cool factor than it really deserves. People, especially authors, have a tendency to drop the term all too readily.
But when you get down to it, the snappy patter and stylized writing style is all that really separates in from the crime fiction your mother reads when she's bored.
The only stories that truly stuck out for me were the ones that attempted to show a slice of life from the era. It's more interesting to me to read about the struggles of an actress or the difficulties of a beat cop dealing with spousal abuse than to read the typical noir formula of the guy in over his head with criminals.
With some of these stories the style feels more like an affectation than a sincere effort. The hard-boiled style is just a Halloween costume they can throw over their writing for a while as a lark.
But I still liked it better than the game's story. Honestly, it's so frustrating to control a character so vastly dumber about figuring out serial murderers and arsonists than the average player. If it wasn't for the ability to drive around old-time Los Angeles I wouldn't have even bothered.
So yeah, I got this book for free, so at least the price was right.
But when you get down to it, the snappy patter and stylized writing style is all that really separates in from the crime fiction your mother reads when she's bored.
The only stories that truly stuck out for me were the ones that attempted to show a slice of life from the era. It's more interesting to me to read about the struggles of an actress or the difficulties of a beat cop dealing with spousal abuse than to read the typical noir formula of the guy in over his head with criminals.
With some of these stories the style feels more like an affectation than a sincere effort. The hard-boiled style is just a Halloween costume they can throw over their writing for a while as a lark.
But I still liked it better than the game's story. Honestly, it's so frustrating to control a character so vastly dumber about figuring out serial murderers and arsonists than the average player. If it wasn't for the ability to drive around old-time Los Angeles I wouldn't have even bothered.
So yeah, I got this book for free, so at least the price was right.