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Sto caricando le informazioni... Mr Bowling Buys a Newspaper (Detective Club Crime Classics)di Donald Henderson
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Iscriviti per consentire a LibraryThing di scoprire se ti piacerà questo libro. Attualmente non vi sono conversazioni su questo libro. What an odd, fascinating book. I have never read anything like it. It feels like a mix of Notes from Underground, Crime and Punishment, American Psycho, and noir. Its changes in perspective can be dizzying, sometimes occurring within the same paragraph. There are things casually mentioned, then casually mentioned again 60 pages later which completely changes your understanding of a character, that I feel like I need to re-read it to fully understand what Henderson has done. It is not a surprise that, according to the blurb on the cover, Raymond Chandler read it over half a dozen times. As Mr Bowling's murders escape police detection, he begins to wonder why God seems to be rejecting his advances. As he commits more murders he buys swathes of daily newspapers to see if anybody has picked up on his activities. The problem is that his murders seem to be covered over by "natural" events, like the Blitz of London, a heart attack, a fall down the stairs, and a catastrophic fire. Nobody asks the questions that Mr Bowling thinks should be asked. He is sure he has left evidence that a discerning detective should "see", or even be alerted by the fact that his name keeps turning up in connection with dead people. Mr Bowling has no real motives for most of his murders apart from the fact that his victims are essentially boring people, or that they don't particularly like him. Originally Mr Bowling was working for an insurance company and he benefited from a policy that he had taken out on his wife. He had thought about making himself the beneficiary of policies taken out by some of his clients but then that seemed a little greedy. It is unusual to read a murder mystery from the point of view of the murderer, and I thought at times they pontificated a little too much. In the end Mr Bowling seems to have found the woman of his dreams, but has he? For he has told her everything about his murderous activities. Does she believe him, or is she blinded with love? nessuna recensione | aggiungi una recensione
In Raymond Chandler's favourite novel, Mr Bowling buys the newspapers only to find out what the latest is on the murders he's just committed... Mr Bowling is getting away with murder. On each occasion he buys a newspaper to see whether anyone suspects him. But there is a war on, and the clues he leaves are going unnoticed. Which is a shame, because Mr Bowling is not a conventional serial killer: he wants to get caught so that his torment can end. How many more newspapers must he buy before the police finally catch up with him? Donald Henderson was an actor and playwright who had also written novels as D. H. Landels, but with little success. While working for the BBC in London during the Second World War, his fortunes finally changed with Mr Bowling Buys a Newspaper, a darkly satirical portrayal of a murderer that was to be promoted enthusiastically by Raymond Chandler as his favourite detective novel. But even the author of The Big Sleep could not save it from oblivion: it has remained out of print for more than 60 years. This Detective Club classic is introduced by award-winning novelist Martin Edwards, author of The Story of Classic Crime in 100 Books, who reveals new information about Henderson's often troubled life and writing career. Non sono state trovate descrizioni di biblioteche |
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Google Books — Sto caricando le informazioni... GeneriSistema Decimale Melvil (DDC)823.912Literature English English fiction Modern Period 1901-1999 1901-1945Classificazione LCVotoMedia:
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Mr Bowling buys newspapers because he's trying to see if his murders have been discovered, if the latest death he's dished out has been spotted and is being investigated (coincidentally I was also listening to "The Nobody Zone" while reading and the parallels are scary). It's kind of a suicide by cop, he killed his wife when their house fell on them during an air raid, almost by accident, and the ease with which he gets away with it starts him killing other people who irritate him.
The end felt a bit of an anticlimax and somehow unfinished but it was overall an interesting read. Most of the characters I found unlikable but I really did want to know what was going to happen at the end. ( )