The narrative shifts focus among several of the main characters, particularly Jack, the former cop and returned veteran, and Wilma, his wife, who died before Jack’s return. noir stories from the era of World War II and the postwar period, with familiar tropes including a detective who is a former cop, a returning veteran, and former POW, plus corrupt cops, lots of alcohol and alcoholics, an insane asylum, a brothel, and the crimes of a privileged elite (of both the moneyed class and the movie business). It also feels of a piece with his previous work, a few of his favorite themes appearing in his expedition into the detective genre: the use of a state hospital setting, the appearance of real people in his fictional text, the focus on the working-class end of both society at large and the film business in particular, and even a ukulele as a story component.ĭead Extra starts in the vein of the classic L.A. His new novel, Dead Extra, is his eighth book, and it marks his first full foray into hard-boiled crime fiction, though he has worked with elements of noir before. He’s a publisher, a contributor to alternative press magazines on punk and skateboard culture, and a Pynchon scholar (his book Occupy Pynchon deals with the later novels, in terms of a political-social context that emphasizes movements toward participatory democracy). SEAN CARSWELL HAS HAD an interesting, varied career.
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