Neon Noir: Contemporary American Crime Fiction

Rating:
Summary: An interesting take on contemporary crime fiction
Review: In "Pulp Fiction," Haut studied the early 20th century crime writers - Hammett, Chandler & Co. In this follow-up, he shifts his focus to writers in the field of crime starting around the 1960s and continuing on up through the current crop of "Neon Noir" writers. At times, Haut's attempts to filter modern crime fiction through the prism of Vietnam, Watergate and Reganomics seem a bit forced, but overall, his analysis finds foundation. Full of trenchant observations on the works of James Ellroy, James Sallis and Daniel Woodrell, among others, this is certainly a worthwhile read for serious readers of contemporary crime fiction.

Rating:
Summary: An interesting take on contemporary crime fiction
Review: In "Pulp Fiction," Haut studied the early 20th century crime writers - Hammett, Chandler & Co. In this follow-up, he shifts his focus to writers in the field of crime starting around the 1960s and continuing on up through the current crop of "Neon Noir" writers. At times, Haut's attempts to filter modern crime fiction through the prism of Vietnam, Watergate and Reganomics seem a bit forced, but overall, his analysis finds foundation. Full of trenchant observations on the works of James Ellroy, James Sallis and Daniel Woodrell, among others, this is certainly a worthwhile read for serious readers of contemporary crime fiction.

Rating:
Summary: New Noir
Review: Like many people, I often wondered why more fim noir films aren't made. Neon Noir gives a simple answer: they are. It examines how film noir has changed since the 50's and who makes them. It also analyzes contemporary film noir and attempts to explain why film noir has changed as it has.

Rating:
Summary: Haut did his homework
Review: Woody Haut definitely did some hefty reading for this one. My hat's off to him, though I think he really didn't do nearly enough writing on the late, great Eugene Izzi, and too much on Leonard who, while good, we already all know more than enough about. This would be especially valuable to a newcommer to the genre.