Sometimes they make an entirely adequate cast seem little more than perfunctory. While the voluptuous atmospheric flourishes of “Christine Falls” suggest how much fun Banville is having as Black, they also provide the book’s center of gravity, the force that holds all the other elements together. Place is essential to noir, character less so. Mainstream literary novels succeed or fail on the strength of characterization, but noir fiction is less concerned with building complex and believable characters than with creating a medium in which murder and mayhem can thrive. More than a seamless performance in fulfilling the demands of its genre, “Christine Falls” is executed with what feels like authorial delight.
John Banville has chosen Benjamin Black as the pen name for a project that may be his own guilty pleasure - a classic, hard-boiled crime novel.
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