Is Body Contact subverting a tradition?
Posted June 16, 2007
by Terry Carroll
In reviewing my mystery novel BODY CONTACT in the London Free Press, Canadian novelist Joan Barfoot suggested the ending of the novel was attempting to subvert an entire crime writing tradition.
At the risk of responding to a reviewer, I happen to politely disagree. (Both Joan and I are Canadians, and would never impolitely disagree).
What is perhaps a bit subversive about BODY CONTACT is that it takes many of the conventions of the noir tradition and works with them in a small-town setting.
These would include a modern version of the femme fatale, an exploration of lust, and a tragic structure, in the sense of the flaws of a main character leading to his demise.
We're not in Anne of Green Gables territory, but why should we be?
Small towns aren't like that and probably never were.
