Monday, July 7, 2014

Crossover Cover: Suspects

This novel by film critic and historian David Thomson is composed of short biographies of over eighty movie characters, showing how their lives intersect. For instance, Norma Desmond (Sunset Boulevard) bought her mansion from her former lover Noah Cross (Chinatown.) Norma's son by Joe Gillis was raised by her butler and ex-husband Max von Mayerling after Norma was put in a mental institution following her fatal shooting of Joe; this son grew up under the name of Julian Kay (American Gigolo.) Noah Cross' daughter Evelyn was friends with Vivian Sternwood (The Big Sleep.) And that's just the tip of the iceberg. For various reasons, I put this book in the alternate universe appendix of the new volumes, but it's a very interesting novel, if rather depressing. Thomson also authored a semi-sequel, Silver Light, which features characters from several movie westerns, which I have also written up.

3 comments:

  1. From reading the book reviews on Amazon, people either seem to love this book or hate it.

    I'm guessing this is a Film Noir universe that's separate from the CU. It does have some of the same characters, though.

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  2. That's why i love this blog. I'll have to try and find this. Sounds awesome

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  3. I read this book when it first came out, one of the cornerstones for my love of crossovers. Thomson's premise does fall apart at the end and I've often wondered if his resolution was due to concerns over fair use of the characters. Still, I remember so many of the individual portraits to this day, with Noah Cross figuring in the lives of so many. I probably should dig it out from the depths of the Toobworld Library and give it another read. It served as a driving inspiration for the Toobworld Dynamic.....

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