Post by edwin on Jan 22, 2014 9:40:21 GMT
Taken from another thread "Under Vanishing Skies" I was intrigued by Matthew's use of the term "cold brutality" and thought of some comparisons with American fiction. Certainly we can agree with Pirie in "Death of Grass" (No Blade of Grass) "Under some circumstances the English will murder with a will and more cheerfully than most" while the little band shoot their way across England to Westmorland. The killings at the farmhouse are probably the most coldly brutal, shooting the farmer for food is written of as a necessity and explained thus to the son.
American killings by the "good" guys seem to require more justification, under attack and justice for rape and murder seem common. Weirdly there is a theme that expertise with weapons and the quality of those weapons kind of adds justification as well. Heaven help you with a rusty .38 facing our hero with his Glock even though fast lead objects will fly in a dangerous manner from both barrels.
Perhaps some of the British traditions of PA carried over from the thriller/detective stories like the Bulldog Drummond series and those of Geoffrey Household.
American killings by the "good" guys seem to require more justification, under attack and justice for rape and murder seem common. Weirdly there is a theme that expertise with weapons and the quality of those weapons kind of adds justification as well. Heaven help you with a rusty .38 facing our hero with his Glock even though fast lead objects will fly in a dangerous manner from both barrels.
Perhaps some of the British traditions of PA carried over from the thriller/detective stories like the Bulldog Drummond series and those of Geoffrey Household.