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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Great Thriller, Warts and All,
This review is from: Manhattan Nocturne (Hardcover)
Colin Harrison is an enigma. He writes some of the best thrillers out there, but he has a real tendency to frustrate me as a reader even while I'm marveling over the brilliance of his work. Harrison is an absolutely spectacular writer, and his gifts are especially well suited to his particular niche: the thriller in which the ordinary man finds himself in dangerous and threatening situations. One of the things I like about Harrison's thrillers (with the exception of his most recent and most disappointing book, "Afterburn,") is that his heroes tend to find themselves dragged down into desperate struggles because of their own human frailty than because of some madman terrorist bent on revenge or a serial killer in the process of "becoming."In "Manhattan Nocturne," the protagonist, struggling under the prodigious name Porter Wren, is a newspaper columnist who falls for a seductive beauty, who wants his help in recovering a lost videotape made by her dead film director husband. Meanwhile, a powerful media magnate wants the same tape, and threatens to expose Wren if he doesn't find the tape for his (the magnate's) purposes. The plot leans a bit toward the needlessly rococo at times, and I felt the ending piled it on a bit too thick, but it still gripping, page-turning, and utterly pleasurable to read. This is a novel with tension, drama, interesting and three-dimensional characters, and genuine energy. But like Harrison's inexplicably out-of-print masterpiece "Bodies Electric" (very possibly the best thriller I've ever read), "Manhattan Nocturne" gets bogged down a bit under the weight of the author's detailed sexual ruminations. I am not a prude, but I find myself thinking "enough already" pretty quickly. However, I will say in defense of these protracted sex scenes that they are relevant to the plot and to the nature of his protagonist(s). Harrison seems genuinely interested in how identity is linked to sexuality, a worthwhile subject, and because his protagonists tend to fall down their slippery slopes owning to their sexual desire short-circuiting their common sense, the pornographic fantasias always come across as guiltily relevant. Do we need to know the details of every position Harrison's mind can conjure? Probably not. From an over-heard bit of conversation in one of the first scenes, we get the sense that this is a novel fueled by the fear of impotence (indeed, the protagonist confesses, at one point, that a familial history of prostate problems leaves him feeling that his sexual days are always numbered), so we must remember at all times that this is a pre-Viagra thriller. One of the other reviewers complains that Harrison goes on and on about things that have nothing to do with the plot, but Harrison's writing is strong enough that I'd read a novel he wrote about taking out the garbage. His dissertations on moral issues, poverty, New York culture, sexuality, etc. are all at the heart of what makes Harrison a superior writer. "Manhattan Nocturne" is not a flawless novel, but it is without doubt a superior novel and a must-read for anyone who expects more from their thrillers than the paper-thin characters, the by-the-numbers plotting and the clunky writing that we find scattered all over the best-seller lists.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Fantastic writer with rare writing talents,
By A Customer
This review is from: Manhattan Nocturne (Hardcover)
Beautiful prose-style writing! This is the only novel I have found so far that could be compared to "Gold Coast" by Nelson Demile. Wonderful narrative way of writing, a technique only could be created by a real talented writer. Every sentence is well written and worthy of being perused carefully and slowly. Once I've read about 1/3 part of it, I just couldn't wait to grap his other works to be ready in line to continue. Don't treat this book with anything of any genre, just appreciate it as a wonderfully constructed story. Fantastic characters, Porter Wren is especially an unique one, created by a most talented writer. If you failed to enjoy and/or appreciate this writer's "Dark Humor" as well as his wonderful and smooth writing skill, then you might have to admit that you are not a mature enough "thinking reader."
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Don't try to be too much,
This review is from: Manhattan Nocturne (Paperback)
This book definitely tries to be too much: A bit of Thriller, some Psychologoy, Philosophy, Literature, etc. And this is unfortunate, as Harrison definitely is a good writer: Porter Wren, Hobbs and Cynthia are good characters and the description of New York is great.The plot is a bit a mess, but sometimes the narrative is strong enough to cover it up and it has enough drive to keep you going. If the editor had done a better job and shortened this book by 80 to 100 pages - very often Porter Wren is just rambling on about stuff, nothing to do with the story and not very insightful -, it could have been a slick yuppie thriller! If it's sitting in your bookcase (as in my case), read it. If not, don't bother to hunt it down.
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