Writing Style
Solomon vs. Lord series: Levine’s novels often have a sly, sardonic tone. Publishers Weekly wrote that Solomon vs. Lord had “genuine laugh-out-loud moments. Fans of Carl Hiaasen and Dave Barry will enjoy this humorous Florida crime romp.” Though novels of crime fiction, they often revolve around the conflict between Victoria Lord, a by-the-book lawyer and her ethically challenged partner, Steve Solomon, who lives by “Solomon’s Laws:”
“When the law doesn’t work, work the law.”
“Lie to your priest, your spouse, and the IRS, but always tell your lawyer the truth.”
“I will never break the law, breach legal ethics, or risk jail time...unless it’s for someone I love.”
Jake Lassiter series: The St. Petersburg Times compared the hero of Levine’s first series with the protagonists of John D. MacDonald and Robert Parker: “For those of us who can’t get enough Spenser and miss Travis McGee terribly, there is Jake Lassiter.”
Jimmy (Royal) Payne series: Levine’s 2009 novel, Illegal, is more hard boiled than the earlier series. Set in motion when a mother and son are wrenched apart on a midnight border crossing, the book introduces Jimmy (Royal) Payne, a lawyer who uncharacteristically tries to do the right thing and is swept up in the world of human trafficking and sexual slavery.
Read more about this topic: Paul Levine
Famous quotes containing the words writing and/or style:
“The importance to the writer of first writing must be out of all proportion of the actual value of what is written.”
—Elizabeth Bowen (1899–1973)
“The most durable thing in writing is style, and style is the most valuable investment a writer can make with his time. It pays off slowly, your agent will sneer at it, your publisher will misunderstand it, and it will take people you have never heard of to convince them by slow degrees that the writer who puts his individual mark on the way he writes will always pay off.”
—Raymond Chandler (1888–1959)