Dennis Lynds

Dennis Lynds, Michael Collins, Mark Sadler. All the same guy, a terribly underrated writer. I just re-read Circle of Fire (1973), which was published under the Mark Sadler name in 1973. Solid plotting, interesting characters drawn in varying shades of gray (including Paul Shaw the first-person narrator), and good writing. So why isn't Lynds better known? My guess would be that it's because his books aren't action-oriented. There's action, quite a bit, but it isn't ramped up the way it is in many current books. And there's a lot of introspection. It seems pretty clear to me that this is a Ross Macdonald-influenced book. While it's not as good as the best Macdonald (but that's a pretty high standard), it's a solid novel. The other day I found two Sadler books that Berkley reprinted the 1980s. I plan to read the other one Real Soon Now.