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A review by dantastic
The Wounded and the Slain by David Goodis
3.0
James and Cora Bevan go to Jamaica in an effort to repair their ailing marriage. Instead, their marriage undergoes more stress than ever when James accidentally kills a man and Cora finds solace in the arms of another. Can they put their marriage back together before Jamaica manages to destroy it forever?
This book sure is a downer. While it's well written, the whole thing is unsettling, much like Lawrence Block's A Diet of Treacle. James's alcoholic benders and Cora's temptation are well done. You feel for Cora but still aren't that enamored with her as a person, not until the end. Once James tries to pull together to save a man who's going to hang in his place, you really get behind him. The ambiguous ending was a very nice touch.
While not a cheerful book, I'd say The Wounded and the Slain is a well-written one, and a fairly powerful one for a book of its kind. While it looks like a crime book from the outside, at its core it's a study in psychological trauma and self-destructive behavior. Not what I normally look for in a Hard Case but still good.
This book sure is a downer. While it's well written, the whole thing is unsettling, much like Lawrence Block's A Diet of Treacle. James's alcoholic benders and Cora's temptation are well done. You feel for Cora but still aren't that enamored with her as a person, not until the end. Once James tries to pull together to save a man who's going to hang in his place, you really get behind him. The ambiguous ending was a very nice touch.
While not a cheerful book, I'd say The Wounded and the Slain is a well-written one, and a fairly powerful one for a book of its kind. While it looks like a crime book from the outside, at its core it's a study in psychological trauma and self-destructive behavior. Not what I normally look for in a Hard Case but still good.