Fletch

My Take
So this is my 100th post. I struggled long and hard to male this post noteworthy or exceptional for some reason, but alas it is not to be. Instead I am going to continue my series of book reviews no seems to care about. The books this time are three parts of the series of mysteries centered around "Fletch" created by Gregory McDonald. I have read a total of four Fletch mysteries, and also son of Fletch. The film version only vaguely resembles the books, while Flitch Lives is entirely outside the scope of McDonald's work. On the whole, McDonald is gifted, his second Fletch novel was the first sequel to ever win the Edgar Alan Poe Mystery Writer's Award after the original had one. To give a bit more sense, I read the first three Fletch novels in a span of about 72 hours, or approximately a book a day. Good, fun, fiction with a likable (by almost everyone) hero.

Summary
The Fletch novels are John Grisham novels with better dialog. They are fast paced, involve conspiracies, plot twists, foreign affairs, scandals, the government and serve as an insider's critique of the press (particularly print media). McDonald has a knack for dialog. He is capable of writing the way people speak which is quite a gift. You do not get long, flowing accounts of setting or character, but you do get the terse, rapid description of a former journalist. It seems that any writer who has worked as a journalist, or as a printer, has a more innate sense of the value of words. They are surprisingly efficient. McDonald is adept at juggling more than one story line at time and allowing the reader to slowly unwrap the mystery. None of the Fletch novels end with a twist that was unforeseeable, but they all end with a twist that males good sense with the rest of the story. As a reader you never feel cheated because all the information you need is there all along.

Reflection
The books, not surprisingly are far superior to the movies, although I must confess that Chevy Chase was almost the perfect casting choice for Fletch. If I were going to recast it now I think perhaps Topher Grace, of he could pull of the sense of cool necessary to be Fletch. It turns out there are nine total Fletch novels, and I hope to get through the rest at some point. For now I will just have to enjoy the one's I've got and watch clips on you tube. I thought you might all enjoy this trailer at the top, funny how these have changed.