THE MONKEY'S RAINCOAT by ROBERT CRAIS

"東洋武術で自分を鍛えている、軽口が巧い、一応頼りになる用心棒がいる、谷を見下ろすテラスのある家に、愛想の悪いネコと住んでいる。警察に仲良しがいるというユニークさ以外には、ロスの私立探偵ものとしての設定に目新しさはない。依頼される仕事もそう変わったものではない。深刻さもアクションもそこそこ。でも、主人公の女性がだんだん独立心を身につけていくのがよく分かるし、味付けと料理の程度がマッチした軽食といえる ..." "here we've got two guys, Elvis Cole and Joe Pike. They're partners in an odd-couple sort of way in a detective agency. Both are Vietnam vets, and they're both as tough as they come. Yet there's little else they have in common. Pike, an ex-marine, owns and runs a gun store in Culver City and never uses the office Cole sets aside for him. "Sometimes he goes to places like El Salvador or Botswana or the Sudan" to work as a mercenary. He never smiles, never laughs ..." "Set in the Hollywood of the 1980s this feels a bit dated, but only because it was written then as the debut novel of screenwriter Robert Crais, who wrote scripts for Hill Street Blues and Miami Vice amongst others so it has that authentic 1980s feel about it. At first Crais' PI, Elvis Cole seems like a wise-cracking smart-arse but he grows on you as his smart, compassionate side comes out. Apart from quoting Jiminny Cricket and being a yoga and martial arts practitioner, Cole is a Vietnam vet whose partner, Joe Pike is a mercenary he calls in when he needs heavy duty surveillance and gun power ..."

Robert Crais 의 두번째 소설을 읽었다. 하지만 이 책이 'Cole' 과 'Pike' 가 등장하는 시리즈의 첫번째 작품이다. 개인적으로는 전에 읽었던 'THE PROMISE' 가 더 재밌는거 같다. 하지만 이 작품도 중간 수준은 가는거 같다. 이 작가가 'QUINCY' 'MIAMI VICE' 'L.A. LAW' 등 TV 쇼 등에 경력이 있어서 그런지 작품들이 영화와 드라마를 염두에 둔 듯한 느낌이 많이 든다. 읽다보면 마치 영화나 드라마를 보는 듯한 느낌이 든다. 문장은 읽을 만하지만 독자의 언어적 경험에 따라서 어려운 부분도 등장하는 책이다. 미리 참고하고 읽기를 바란다.