Russel D McLean is the author of several novels featuring Dundonian PI J McNee. Born in Fife, McLean studied Philosophy at the University of Dundee before falling into bad company and entering the booktrade. He has been a reviewer, a freelance reader, a roving chair, a bookseller and an ezine editor.McLean's latest novel is Mothers of the Disappeared.
Recently I asked the author about what he was reading. McLean's reply:
I’m at that stage now where I’m reading very little as I finish the next book. But I recently finished John Connolly’s magnificent, The Wolf in Winter in preparation for interviewing the man for a Scottish newspaper. The book is, as ever,Visit Russel McLean's website.absolutely magnificent. Connolly makes me weep with jealousy the way he slings sentences around, and his mood is always spot on. His particular take on American Gothic seethes with atmosphere, and more than anything I appreciate the way he breaks just about every rule dictated by genre. That and he takes some massive risks with established characters that really do pay off.
I also loved Louise Welsh’s take on the apocalypse in A Lovely Way to Burn, which takes place in a London over-run with a modern plague. It’s a thriller, a mystery, a speculative novel for people who don’t read speculative fiction (and those who do) and above all, a true pageturner.But there’s depth beneath the thrills, and Louise is one of the masters of saying a lot with a little; her prose remaining simple and yet communicating complex ideas.
Finally, I read Sally Cline’s recent biography of Dashiell Hammett which was absolutely fascinating but over far too soon. His life reads like a noir novel in and of itself…
The Page 69 Test: The Good Son.
My Book, The Movie: The Lost Sister.
The Page 69 Test: Mothers of the Disappeared.
--Marshal Zeringue
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