Lush Life: A Novel

I have always been impressed with Richard Price's novels and his ability to wow both literary critics and fans of crime fiction. _Lush Life_ starts out as strong as anything I have ever read by Price. As in the past, Price demonstrates himself as a master of dialogue and detail that have made him such a respected author in a often neglected genre. He had me hooked up until the middle of the book, all of which I read in one sitting way past when I should have gone to sleep. However, once a certain conflict is resolved (anyone who reads the book will know what I am talking about), the story seems to lose speed rapidly and devolve into a mere recitation of events rather than a well told tale.

Even though the plot seems to slow down midway through, Price is still able to use the characters and their actions as an examination of the people and history that make up life in a modern American city--or in this case a small area of a city. So, despite this not being Price's best novel, I still found it thoroughly enjoyable and would recommend it to anyone interested in reading an intelligent crime novel that is more than just a well paced page-turner.

I'm having a really hard time trying to figure out where he's going with the plot. There are too many characters to keep up with and it drags on and on and on.

As a first-time reader of Richard Price, his rippling dialog was certainly the highlight. His story is a vehicle for talk, not for mystery and plot twists. Some scenes are so crisp and brisk, done almost entirely through dialog.

We know who committed the crime early, and the incident isn't much of one on which to hang a story. Instead, we go behind the scenes for police process and for character development of the main detective, the parents of the victim, and assorted others. From a safe perch in suburbia, contemplation of street life in turbulent city neighborhoods can be quite entertaining in the hands of a guy like Mr. Price.

With no real mystery or surprises of any magnitude, the story eventually loses momentum, given that the characters are not that interesting and some relatively superfluous subplots sap some energy. Billy Marcus and Boulware were rather tedious and caused me to skim some sections.

Tristan was a freshly drawn character and perhaps could have been developed further.

I knew that Richard Price was a writer of note, but I had not been enticed enough in the past to read his work. Well, once Lush Life arrived, I couldn't put it down. Every chance I got, I'd grab another 5-7 pages. One Saturday, I read Lush Life for 3 hours straight and loved it. You are just sucked into this story.
Price is a master at getting into the 'nitty gritty' of his characters. They're all truly lost souls, but we learn such compassion for them and garner a sense of what makes them tick. Price really writes so well - you can almost smell the air in the room and the adrenaline pumping through the characters' bodies...It's comtemporary; it's heart-wrenching; it's too true. Loved it!

I found myself in the last 125 or so pages skimming the text, just wanting to finish the story, but no longer interested enough in the characters to read carefully. This is not a good sign. Price has a nice sense of the setting but, really, there isn't enough of a story, and what's there isn't interestng enough, to justify the book's 450 pages. The quirky style is a question of taste; I rather like it but I could see it beginning to annoy less patient readers. Other, more genre-oriented writers -- Michael Connelly, Robert Crais, Lawrence Block, Walter Mosely -- do this sort of thing better, with more focus and discipline.