The Final Country

Rating:
Summary: Nothing to be proud of
Review: There was a time when I thought James Crumley would become the greatest writer the mystery genre ever produced, and achieve what Chandler only attained after his death, that is, literary respectability and recognition of his talents as a great novelist of contemporary fiction. Crumley had all the gifts a great writer needs - an engaging prose style, finely constructed plotting and a unique voice. And in his earlier book, The Last Good Kiss, he spun all those elements into a story that was intoxicating in it's brillance, a book truly worthy of comparison to the best of Chandler. But thats been more than 20 years ago now and Crumley has neither continued or built upon his earlier promise of greatness. Sure, he can still write a line so good so as to make your heart skip a beat, and he can be funny as hell, but it's in fits and starts and nothing ever comes of it all. Somewhere, somehow ,the discipline that could craft a book such as the Last Good Kiss has gone and we are left with the spectacle of a now undiciplined talent repeating himself to a lesser and lesser effect each time. If you want to read the real Crumley, read The Last Good Kiss or The Wrong Case and see what you've been missing, but don't read The Final Country - it just makes those of us who admired his earlier work sad.

Rating:
Summary: A worthwhile but depressing read
Review: There were certain books that we had to read while in school. They were considered great novels and classic literature. They were the sort of books the reader had little doubt of their greatness. The writing was sound and the characters were unforgettable. However, they just simply were not fun or enjoyable books to read. THE FINAL COUNTRY reminds me of that type of book.
Milo Milodragovich is a PI and bar owner in Texas. He comes across a large black man, Enos Walker, who offers to buy him a drink. Unbeknownst to Milo, Walker has, apparently, just killed a drug dealer. Later, the police want Milo to track Enos down so they could prosecute him for the murder. He also searches for a beautiful female con artist who might possibly have Milo convicted for murder unless he could clear himself.
THE FINAL COUNTRY is actually more of a slice of life or a look at some of the most unpleasant characters a reader might ever come across. It is not a pleasant journey. Yet, there is much poetry in the lyrical writing of Mr. Crumley:
"The norther had finally blown itself out by daylight. Dawn came to a wide clear blue sky and cool, dry air. It could have been spring in Eastern Montana. From the green, I could see the flagstone clubhouse where groups of irritated early morning golfers milled around their fancy carts and were obviously bitching about losing their tee times. Like cocaine junkies who had too much money and nothing to do with themselves."
The story, itself, is remarkably dull with the book concentrating on language and character. James Crumley is not a writer for the masses. However, he might very well appeal to the fans of noir fiction.

Rating:
Summary: Another Texas Bashing Misanthrope
Review: This book, The Final Country, is perhaps the best (worst?) example of gratuitous violence and trite dialogue that was ever dreamed up. It is doubtless the product of some faceless editors idea of what might be a commercial project that would appeal to mindless misanthropic convicts. This piece of trash should be relagated to the bargain book table at a Montana gun show, not offered through an Amazon promotion.

Rating:
Summary: Crumley in fine form
Review: This is the sixth or seventh James Crumley novel, and it's a pretty good entry in his library. This time out, Milo Milodragovitch is living in Texas with a woman he picked up in a previous book, washing drug money he stole from some drug dealers through a bar he owns, and doing a little business on the side as a private detective to fight off the boredom. When one of the cases he takes on goes sideways on him, and someone gets killed right in front of him, he reacts like an old pointer who sees a bird get shot: he takes off running to see if he can figure things out. Other characters intervene, someone tries to kill him, and the plot thickens considerably.

There's a marvelous story told about Raymond Chandler. Soon after he wrote The Little Sister, Billy Wilder was filming a movie version of the book, using a screenplay that followed the plot as much as possible. The first day, Wilder filmed a scene where Marlowe finds a body, and then the end of the movie, where he explains who killed who and why. There was no explanation of the dead body in the first scene, so Wilder got a bright idea and sent a telegram to Chandler (they were friends) and asked him who killed that character. He received the reply: "I have no idea." The point is that for Chandler, plot was secondary to action, dialog, characters, and atmosphere, not necessarily in that order. This is very much the case with Crumley. The plot in "The Final Country" wanders all over the place, and doesn't make a whole lot of sense, to be frank. The dialog, action, atmosphere, and some of the characters, are so interesting, however, that for those of us who *do* get Crumley (at least sort of) it doesn't matter if the plot follows. Others, of course, who want a more conventional mystery with a straightforward plot, will find him somewhat wanting. I still like him, though, and I enjoyed "The Final Country."

Rating:
Summary: Final is a permanent state of mind.
Review: This is the story of hard-drinking Milo, the antihero of previous novels in this series. He appears more like an arch villian, the exact opposite of a hero.

The thing I liked about this book is its white binding. You don't see many in white, more so in black. White is for purity. Pure is what this book is not about.

Betty had her own pickup truck in this tale. There is a black Buddha who is good enough to buy Milo a drink. He, like my son Geoffrey complains of a bad back, but it doesn't slow down his pace or actions.

The final country is supposedly Texas, that big state which thinks it is a country of its own. Or it could be Montana, according to John Steinbeck in TRAVELS WITH CHARLEY. He seems to think that Paris is the new 'country' where he might just end up, but I'm not taking bets on that happening.

Using voodoo hit close to home, as did B. L.Brammer's description of it as the boondocks. I know first hand about living in the boondocks and the possibility of having the curse of voodoo alive and thriving in today's world.

The author, a college English teacher who gets his kicks out of writing crime novels,has previously had seven books published. He puts me in mind of Larry McMurtry who wrote a novel, SUTTREE, about my hometown of Knoxville, TN. He, too, is touted by the publishers as a good writer. I know someone here who has met him in a bar on Gay Street and appreciates him as a fellow drinker and writer.

Rating:
Summary: Crumley Coasts on His Reputation
Review: Way back in the 1970s, James Crumley wrote "The Wrong Case" and "The Last Good Kiss," two of the finest detective fiction novels ever released. If the great gonzo journalist Hunter S. Thompson wrote detective novels, his would read a lot like Crumley's. Alas, like Thompson, Crumley has lost a few miles-an-hour off his fastball as he's gotten older. He writes at a glacial pace, and this is his first novel in over five years (since 1996's "Bordersnakes").

The hero this time out is Milo Milodragovich, appearing in his third novel since his memorable debut in "The Wrong Case." Milo has relocated from Montana to Texas and is semi-retired on a small fortune he "stole" in "Bordersnakes." He can't stay away from the deteective game, however, and ends up with two interrelated cases, neither of which are good for his health. The story features a myriad of characters (over two dozen, I would guess) and meanders like a river across the Texas plain. The scenery is colorful, and the dialog is snappy, but the story is confused, and leads to a less than completely plausible ending. Additionally, the chief villian is only on stage for a total of about a half a dozen or so pages, and is not developed enough as a character to make the first of two climax scenes resonate.

Overall, "The Final Country" is not a bad novel. Crumley is a better writer than 99% of the mytery authors working today, and is still capable of creating vividly memorable scenes. Unfortunately, there are just not enough of them here to give this novel an unqualified recommendation.

Rating:
Summary: Crumley Coasts on His Reputation
Review: Way back in the 1970s, James Crumley wrote "The Wrong Case" and "The Last Good Kiss," two of the finest detective fiction novels ever released. If the great gonzo journalist Hunter S. Thompson wrote detective novels, his would read a lot like Crumley's. Alas, like Thompson, Crumley has lost a few miles-an-hour off his fastball as he's gotten older. He writes at a glacial pace, and this is his first novel in over five years (since 1996's "Bordersnakes").

The hero this time out is Milo Milodragovich, appearing in his third novel since his memorable debut in "The Wrong Case." Milo has relocated from Montana to Texas and is semi-retired on a small fortune he "stole" in "Bordersnakes." He can't stay away from the deteective game, however, and ends up with two interrelated cases, neither of which are good for his health. The story features a myriad of characters (over two dozen, I would guess) and meanders like a river across the Texas plain. The scenery is colorful, and the dialog is snappy, but the story is confused, and leads to a less than completely plausible ending. Additionally, the chief villian is only on stage for a total of about a half a dozen or so pages, and is not developed enough as a character to make the first of two climax scenes resonate.

Overall, "The Final Country" is not a bad novel. Crumley is a better writer than 99% of the mytery authors working today, and is still capable of creating vividly memorable scenes. Unfortunately, there are just not enough of them here to give this novel an unqualified recommendation.