Hi. I’m new to this forum but I have been reading Dutch’s stuff for many years.

  I think his strength lies in the way we are allowed to tap into his characters thoughts. This gives the readers an insight into motives and ambitions that most thriller writers keep under wraps.

  This makes the books very special. But! And this may just be me; does it not make the movie versions fail to satisfy because this “walking in the head” is missing, even when EL has written the screenplay?
 
  Also, not many actors seem able to deliver the lines as well as they sound coming off the page. Again, I think this makes most of the movies fail to reach the potential of the books.

  Hope I’ve not annoyed anyone, just thinking out loud. See ya all.

Nice work macrinius. Solid point. I agree. For example, in “City Primeval”, when Clement Mansell is lying on the bed in Del Weems apartment while Raymiond Cruz is on other side of the door, Clement is thinking about the time in Oklahoma when he was lying down on train tracks while train went overhead. This thought prepared him for the “schpichter tightening” moments in life such as when a cop is only a few feet away. Point is, how would you get that thought down in a movie?  In any event, welcome to the site.