Though one can quibble over whether all of these are actually noir or not, on the whole this is an excellent collection by some of the most revered writers in the genre as well as a whole bunch that are new to me.
As another reviewer so aptly put it: "If I had to define "noir" just based on reading t ...more
James Ellroy and Otto Penzler have collected in this volume a large number of very dark crime stories spanning the years from 1910 to 2010. Included are stories by a number of very familiar writers like Mickey Spillane, Gil Brewer, James M. Cain, Jim Thompson, James Ellroy, Lawrence Block, and Elmor ...more
Εξαιρετική συλλογή noir δια χειρός Ελρόι, με κορυφαία δείγματα του είδους, από συγγραφείς που άφησαν ανεξίτηλο αποτύπωμα στον χώρο.
Όπως θα ανέμενε κάποιος (εγώ, προφανώς), τα ηγούμενα χρονολογικά διηγήματα (ως τις αρχές του '80 χοντρικά) είναι με μεγάλη διαφορά καλύτερα των επομένων. Οι λόγοι ξεκάθ ...more
I needed a wedge to get into this lengthy anthology "Best American Noir of the Century", which consists of 39 stories and over 730 pages. My wedge was David Goodis (1917 -- 1969), a writer I have come to know through the Library of America: "David Goodis: Five Noir Novels ...more
will read this book off and on for some time to come. a good cross section of the genre. of particular interest is the James M. Cain story which is one of the more perfect stories I've read, tailor made for my aesthetics ...more
The most interesting part of this noir collection is editor Otto Penzler's foreword. He insists that the hard-boiled PI and true noir stories are fundamentally different. The former will always star a hero while the latter an antihero. This belief impacts the book a lot. The best and most recognizab ...more
When a book boasts the monumental declaration, The Best American Noir of the Century, it damn well better stand up to scrutiny—all prodigious 752 pages of it. And so it was with relish that I tucked into this meaty and bloody feast from arguably the finest literary writers of noir America has ever p ...more
En esta antología conformada por diez relatos, encontramos las plumas de los autores estadounidenses más reconocidos dentro del género negro. Cada una de las historias contenidas en este libro, nos presentan personajes sórdidos, corrompidos, perseguidos por el pasado y dispuestos a matar con tal de ...more