Work
Greenan established a reputation as an inventive novelist working within the genre of crime fiction. His second novel Nightmare (1970 USA) was followed by The Queen of America (1972 USA), The Secret Life of Algernon Pendleton (1973 USA), Heart of Gold (1975 USA), The Bric-a-brac Man (1976 USA), Keepers (1979 USA), Can of Worms (1987 USA), Doomsnight (1991 France) and Glamour Doom (2002 France). Greenan's work has appeared in several anthologies both in English and French. Amongst these is the version of The Bric-a-Brac Man in Detective Book Club 3 Thrillers in 1.
The novels are plot-driven stories where a central character is drawn inexorably into a predicament that exposes the brittleness of human equanimity and the delusion of self-determination. The structure of a Greenan story hinges, as in ancient Greek tragedy, on a reversal of fortune as likely to be caused by a fatal mistake or 'hamartia' as by a flaw of character. However Greenan plays with the idea of the flawed character and is known for creating protagonists who appear to have lost a normal relationship with reality but whose motives impress the reader as being reasonable and even judicious. As the story progresses and the characters' fates become clear, the result is as likely to be comedy as tragedy.
The author secures his readers’ trust by grounding extraordinary events in settings described in verifiable detail, often including street names of actual locations in which the author lived. The predominant setting is Boston, Massachusetts, including Cambridge and Brookline, where all the stories except Keepers and Nightmare take place. Rhode Island is the backdrop to Keepers, and Nightmare is set in New York City. Carefully researched references to antiques, art history, literature and classical history are also an important element in the novels’ construction as are the detailed descriptions of domestic chores or eating. Into this solidly founded realism Greenan introduces the flourishes of imagination – often assisted by puns and word play – that have prompted critics to describe the works variously as ‘macabre’, ‘exuberant’, ‘gore’, ‘endearing’ or simply ‘extravaganzas’.
Read more about this topic: Russell H. Greenan
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