‘The Border!’ Crime Fiction? Or Trumpophobic Tripe?
Contrary to what you might imagine, I don’t spend my days blogging.
I like to relax with a book out front, if the sun shines….
..- as it does, esp in the mornings, even in this rainy season –
…with a snack, sometimes, but more often with coffee in one hand and a cigarette in the other.
An hour or two can pass very pleasantly.
But this week, the book was…
.
The Border, by Don Winslow
.
…an author of whom I didn’t think I’d previously heard when I bought it in Periplus book-store downtown.
It’s a big fat book…
.. – I’m a fast reader, so prefer something that’ll fill a week of spare time –
…first published 3 years ago, and readable enough, about the war on Mexico’s drug cartels.
Winslow writes well, to be fair.
The ‘hero’ is, alas, a liberal, but one can handle that, until…
…in the 2020 paperback edition -.page 306, in a chapter headed ‘Coyotes..’
…a villainous character called Dennison, fictional – of course – an outsider in the 2015 primaries, makes a speech in New Hampshire.
‘I’m going to build a great wall along the Mexican border…..
‘…and you know who’s going to pay for that wall, Mexico…
‘Our country has become a dumping ground. When Mexico sends its people, they’re not sending their best…’
And there’s more, but God forbid we dispute the publisher’s clear assertion that ‘any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities, is entirely coincidental.’
But that’s not the end of the chapter – nasty ‘Dennison’ is described by the ‘hero’ as an ‘asshole‘ whose ‘son-in-law is neck deep in drug money..’
Nasty, snide sort of fiction.
I don’t think highly of lawyers, but if any kind of pulp fiction scribbler…
Never mind…
What would you do?
PS. As it happens, that Winslow also wrote another book, which was turned into a movie, which I mentioned a while ago.
‘The Hair of the Dog?’
No, ‘The Power of the Dog!’
BAFTA-Cr-p! Save Money, Fire ‘Critics!’
I tried watching it, but it was a total turn-off, so I never felt like trying the book!
Larry Morden 05:44 on December 21, 2022 Permalink |
I read that book, you are not the only way one who found it goes way beyond the liberal bias many authors can’t shake off.
Surprised Hollywood hasnt turned it into a movie.
Agree about that dog movie,boring junk.
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