Thoughtful thrills

On this snowy day in the U.S. northeast, here's a quick movie tip: If you enjoy crime thrillers in either book or movie form or both, you might like The Little Things, which was just released simultaneously in U.S. theaters (the ones that are open, anyway) and on HBO Max. While not slow or dull, the literary nature of the story in reminiscent of a good thriller novel, one with interesting characters and thoughtful themes.

The story involves a hotshot detective (Rami Malek) looking for a killer of young women, who is not making much headway until he teams with an old-timer detective (Denzel Washington).  The two meet in an unrelated, minor police matter, and the hotshot (refreshingly, in a movie like this) is not territorial and welcomes the experience and perspective of the older detective.  Soon they have a suspect, a definitely creepy appliance repairman (Jared Leto).  But though unambiguously weird and creepy, is he a killer?

Written and directed by John Lee Hancock, the story moves along nicely but is ultimately a vehicle to examine how the police- through these characters- feel about failures in past cases, what lines should and shouldn't be crossed in police work, how to handle yourself if you do cross a line or just make a tragic mistake, and other psychological issues related to being a cop.  

Some people might not like the slow-burn nature of the story (it takes its time and there isn't much physical action) and the fact that all questions aren't neatly answered. And we're also not clearly told how to feel about some of the controversial decisions some characters make.  But if you don't mind these things, and in fact welcome the nuance they bring to the story, then you'll probably find The Little Things worth your time.

The Little Things is currently in theaters and will be streaming on HBO Max until the end of February.

An observation or two

I might touch on some of the following at a bit more length at some point, but for now here are some quick impressions of a few diversions that have recently crossed my path...

I'm still quite enjoying Lawrence Block's Matthew Scudder series, and found the latest one I've read, Eight Million Ways To Die, to be the best yet. This one is pretty much equal parts Scudder trying to solve a series of prostitute murders and overcome his alcoholism.  It's longer and more nuanced than past Scudder entries, but still a fast, engrossing read.  It looks like I'll be firmly on the Scudder train through the remainder of 2021.

I picked up a copy of Michael Chabon's The Final Solution, an original Sherlock Holmes story set during World War II when the great detective has seen better, livelier days. At only 131 pages (with several of featuring full-page artworks), I thought it would be fun to read an entire novel in only a couple of days, something I haven't done in a while.  But, no.  While moody and somewhat interesting, this mostly dry and self-consciously literate take on Holmes took a little effort to get through, but I was glad that I finally finished it in a week or so. 

The plot involves a little boy's missing parrot, with said parrot somehow in the possession of missing codes used in the war effort. Prior to the bird's disappearance, the bird would often cackle the seemingly nonsensical codes aloud, until someone figured out the value of the cackling and absconded with the bird.  While in the end readable and okay, I'm making the book sound more interesting than it was.

On the streaming front, We Summon The Darkness was a perfectly watchable thriller on Netflix.  It involves three young women heading to a Metal concert (the 2020 movie is set in the 80's), the three guys they meet at the concert and eventually party with, and some satanic killers roaming the countryside. While certainly not Citizen Kane, the movie isn't as junky as it sounds and has a couple of decent twists (the first one of I guessed, though it wasn't bad).  At 90 minutes or so, the movie doesn't overstay its welcome and wouldn't be a bad choice in you're in the mood for a drive-in style horror thriller to distract yourself from the only slightly less intense horror of the outside world these days.

Spenser is on the case

Ace Atkins' newest Spenser novel is a decent, engrossing read.  In it, Spenser takes on a Jeffrey Epstein-type character who is abusing young girls in the Boston area. Nothing like a villain you love to hate, right? But keeping things from being too neat and simplistic plot-wise is the fact that the antagonist of the piece decides to fight back, and using his vast financial resources to do so.

So, soon it's Spenser, Hawk, and a bunch of law-enforcement types trying to get the goods on the powerful billionaire who spirits away impressionable young girls to his private island. Then, to add one more fly, and a particularly deadly one, to the ointment, the billionaire hires Spenser's old nemesis The Gray Man to get Spenser out of the way. The Gray Man is a great villain from past Spenser adventures and he even gives Hawk pause.

If you've enjoyed some of the past Ace Atkins books that continue the adventures of Robert B. Parker's classic detective hero, you will probably enjoy this one, too.  I won't give you more plot details, as discovering them will be half the fun.  Same with the nicely done surprise or two that Atkins will throw your way- you'll enjoy saying "Oh, wow, that's cool" a time or two before the book is over.

Robert B. Parker's Someone To Watch Over Me, by Ace Atkins, is available in hardback, Kindle, and audiobook editions.  The audio, incidentally, is nicely read by actor Joe Mantegna, who has played Spenser lots of time on TV.  This particular Spenser story I did on audio, though I can see myself going back and reading it in prose form to enjoy the story again at some point.