Mark Billingham:
"You worry that you will be entering that world of the strange cliche-ed cop, but you soon realise that you have to get comfortable in that world. You think 'Hang on, some of the clichés are part of that territory'. It would like writing a Western and going 'Oh no I've given him a horse! What a terrible cliché!' It's not a cliché - It's part and parcel of the genre - cowboys have six-guns, horses and stetsons and detectives have a past... problems [and] flaws, because if they don't, then there is nothing to read about."
It probably explains why I've never finished a Mark Billingham title. Would love to hear other opinions.
"You worry that you will be entering that world of the strange cliche-ed cop, but you soon realise that you have to get comfortable in that world. You think 'Hang on, some of the clichés are part of that territory'. It would like writing a Western and going 'Oh no I've given him a horse! What a terrible cliché!' It's not a cliché - It's part and parcel of the genre - cowboys have six-guns, horses and stetsons and detectives have a past... problems [and] flaws, because if they don't, then there is nothing to read about."
It probably explains why I've never finished a Mark Billingham title. Would love to hear other opinions.