Book of the Week: John Lange's "Zero Cool"

The pseudonymous John Lange (better known to readers as Michael Crichton) returns with his second Hard Case Crime reprint and it's another winner. An American doctor heads for Spain for a little R&R -- and instead finds himself caught up in a Maltese Falcon-inspired intrigue involving mysterious fat men, leggy dames and a whole host of bad guys trying to knock him off. Zero Cool isn't exactly a serious story, but it is a fun, fast and highly entertaining read. (I used to have scour used bookstores to find the old Lange paperbacks -- so much easier to get them now. Thanks Hard Case Crime!)

Comments

[Guyot]

Why do you think Crichton's Lange books are so good, so entertaining, while his "bestselling" stuff feels so forced and formulaic?

Well, it does to me.

I think Crichton is an excellent writer to study. You can almost glimpse the author's life by reading his books. You can see where he had the pressure of "Go bigger, more commercial, more $$" and where he was writing a story for pure pleasure.

I have not read ZERO COOL yet, but from your review it sounds like the same thing is still happening.

[David J. Montgomery]

That's an interesting question... I love Crichton's books -- he's hands-down one of my favorite writers -- but I can also see the point you're making.

Once authors reach a certain level of popularity, the expectation that they'll write certain kinds of books, the pressure of producing "big books," the demands of turning out a commercial product can really start to take a toll.

Crichton is, without a doubt, a very commercial writer. But I still feel that sense of adventure and fun in a lot of his books. (I also think he was ALWAYS writing for the money, even back in the early days.)

But I think you're right, that pressure is definitely there, and it's had negative consequences for a lot of writers.

When you're getting paid millions of dollars per book, with the expectation that you'll produce a product that will sell hundreds of thousands of copies, it's got to be hard to remember why you got into this business in the first place.

[Elaine Flinn]

Well, I agree with both of you. Thirllers lately all seem to have the same comic book bigger than life characters - but they're still fun to read.

From a writers standpoint, I don't think I could - or would want to -handle that kind of pressure. Then again, if I were young again? :)