January 15, 2003
-
If you love mystery novels, read this:
If you haven’t read anything by David Wiltse, you are in for a huge treat. He is absolutely first-rate, way above many other NYTimes best-sellers. Besides thrillers, he has written a number of plays and has a generally impressive resume (which you can see at his web site), but I am writing about his Becker novels. John Becker, FBI agent, is one of the most interesting and well-developed figures in modern popular fiction. He is brilliant, sensitive–heck, as Inspector Renault said of Rick in Casablanca, If I were a woman, I would be very much in love with him. Thing is, there is one little, well, quirk, that Becker has, which makes him a very effective lawman, but gives him al lot to think about–thing is, he enjoys killing people. Although I never killed anyone, I can relate to this in depth, as there are numerous people I know I would enjoy killing. Killing for killing’s sake, I dunno, but I do know I fantasize about gut-shooting my enemies and seeing them writhe in pain as they slowly die. Oookay, maybe I am roaming a tad far afield here. Thing is, if you love really really good fiction, read anything by David Wiltse and especially the Becker novels. And if you are feeling really pushy, email him and ask him to give us more Becker. I did, and I’m glad.
