Sat 3 Jun 2023
An Archived Review by Barry Gardner: GEORGE V. HIGGINS – Sandra Nichols Found Dead.
Posted by Steve under Reviews[5] Comments
GEORGE V. HIGGINS – Sandra Nichols Found Dead. Jerry Kennedy #4. Henry Holt, hardcover, 1996; paperback, 1997.
I had quit reading Higgins some time ago, prior to receiving this one. It seemed the books were all dialogue — his trademark, of course — and it didn’t enthrall me enough to wade through it trying to piece together a story. Talk, talk, talk, bore, bore, bore. This one looked like it might have a plot, so I thought I’d give old George another try.
Well-known criminal attorney Jerry Kennedy is in an uncomfortable position. He’s forced into handling a civil case by a judge who’s supposed to be his friend, and not only that, but acting as a prosecutor. A woman has been found dead, murdered, and though there isn’t enough evidence for the DA to indict anyone, there may be enough for the woman’s children to file a Wrongful Death suit, and reap huge financial gains therefrom. Kennedy’s not too keen on the whole thing, but he really doesn’t have a lot of choice.
I don’t want to use the space or the time to expound on why it’s so, but the fact is that the only rational reason to read Higgins is that you love to hear his characters talk. There’s always some story (and maybe a little more here than usual), but never enough to carry a book. He made his reputation with dialog, monologues, and speech patterns, and that’s basically that’s all there is.
Every new character is introduced with three or four pages of monologue from someone, and that’s Higgins’ form of characterization, and that’s Higgins’ way of telling a story. It’ s obviously good enough for a lot of people; me, I get irritated at best and at worst and more often, bored.
This was a case of “at best,” and I just got occasionally irritated. I really don’t think he’s that much better at authentic speech patterns and realistic dialog than a number of others, either. *Grump.*
June 4th, 2023 at 6:02 pm
I started out hot for Higgins, still love THE FRIENDS OF EDDIE COYLE, but about four books in I yearned for a descriptive paragraph or maybe just one bit of exposition.
By the time of the Jerry Kennedy books I just didn’t give a damn anymore, it too often all talk and damn little resolution.
Great source for movies, the screenwriter just had to edit, but the novels read too much like screenplays for me.
June 4th, 2023 at 6:20 pm
I’m with you and Barry. George Higgins had his way of telling a story and it worked for him, and it worked with his readers for a long time. But if given a choice to read a screenplay or not, I’d rather watch the movie.
June 5th, 2023 at 8:25 am
There’s too much talk in Higgins for a screeplay – a radio series, perhaps. In his early books. which are good and innovative – dialogue reveals character. In the later books the dialogue reveals the plot – the characters keep telling each other what they already know.
June 5th, 2023 at 7:57 pm
Roger,
Agreed. In the later books the writing seems a bit lazy really. Endless exposition often lost in even more endless jabbering and not saying much.
Not really a screenplay, not even a play, maybe as you say radio script if you could keep track of who is whom.
June 6th, 2023 at 11:31 pm
There’s a good audiobook of William Gaddis’s JR – much longer, much more plot, even more dialogue – so it would be possible to do Higgins. Whether it would be worthwhile is another matter.