Blood, Bedlam, Bullets, and Badguys: A Reader's Guide to Adventure/Suspense Fiction

by Michael B. Gannon

Overview

Hooked on adventure and suspense fiction? This comprehensive guide of over 2,000 annotations addresses the genre and its subgenres and includes titles published between 1941 and 2004. Each annotation describes and evaluates the best and most popular titles in the genre indicating the titles that are highly recommended and providing icons denoting the books that have been turned into films. A concise history and detailed guidelines for advising readers are included, along with subgenre definitions and related critical literature. Indexes let readers browse and search by author and title, subject, main character, page-turner, and works-to-film. Grades 6-Adult.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781563087325
Publisher:	ABC-CLIO, Incorporated
Publication date:	02/28/2004
Series:	Genreflecting Advisory Series
Pages:	400
Product dimensions:	7.22(w) x 10.26(h) x 1.19(d)
Age Range:	11 Years

About the Author

MICHAEL B. GANNON is Branch Manager at Anne Arundel County Public Library, Annapolis, Maryland, and winner of the 2003 PLA Allie Beth Martin Award.

Table of Contents

Introduction: Definition, Brief History and Appeal of Adventure/Suspense

Subgenres

"Licensed to Kill"Spies & Secret Agents

What Else Can Go WrongDisasters

"War is Hell"Military Fiction

Man, Woman and MachineTechnothrillers

"Order in the Court!"Legal Thrillers

The Buck Stops HereMaking a Killing in the World of Big Business and High Finance

Stalking the Predators. Maniacs, Murderers, Psychopaths and Serial Killers

"Dr. Frankenstein, I Presume": Science Gone Awry

From the Ridiculous to the SublimePolitical and Religious Thrillers

Things That Go Bump in the NightAdventures in the Alien and Paranormal

Locales and Themes

On the High SeasSea Adventures

From the Ashes of the Third ReichNazis

Land of the Silken DragonAsia

Communist Comrades and Capitalist CriminalsRussia

Exploding SandsThe Middle East

Male Heroic Adventure Series (Paperback Originals)

Professional Resources

Appendix A: Film & Television Movie Versions

Appendix B: Authors for the Core Collections

Glossary

Author/Title Index

Subject/Character Index

Editorial Reviews

This premiere guide to a popular yet ephemeral family of adventure/suspense genres is an important addition to the growing range of readers' advisory handbooks. Gannon (branch manager, Anne Arundel Cty. PL, Annapolis, MD) lists some 3000 titles (2000 of them annotated) published between 1941 and 2003, arranged under 16 headings such as Spies and Secret Agents, Disasters, and Legal Thrillers, with brief discussions of each subgenre's definition, appeal, and history. There is a thorough bibliography and extensive author/title and subject indexing, as well as an index to film and TV adaptations, a brief glossary, lists of core authors, and recommended titles colored by Gannon's own tastes (e.g., 33 serial killer titles vs. three legal thrillers). Unfortunately, the volume has some serious flaws. Although it claims to cover suspense and thrillers, it is seriously lopsided, entirely ignoring psychological, romantic, and mainstream suspense novels, crime and literary thrillers, and noir. Even within the scope that Gannon defines, there are some glaring omissions: Bernard Cornwell and Charles McCarry. The book's organization is somewhat arbitrary and confusing, with wildly divergent styles heaped together under such headings as "Nazis," "Asia," and "Russia." On the whole, the text suffers from a subject-based approach that makes scant distinction among pacing, style, and qualitative appeal of authors as unlike as Robert Ludlum and John le Carr and suggests advisory interviews along the lines of, "Do you prefer earthquakes, hurricanes, or volcanoes?" While a necessary purchase for exhaustive collections, libraries pinching their pennies may want to wait for the revised, expanded edition.-David Wright, Seattle P.L. Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

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