Variety describes the novel The Straw Men as a crime thriller about a detective brought out of retirement to solve a series of bizarre murders connected by dark conspiracy
. Which makes me wonder if the intent is to make the least interesting of the novel’s three main characters the protagonist of the film version. That would solve one structural problem: the late Big Reveal of the novel is not possible to delay in a film without jumping through hoops. But it would also be boring. It’s the pulpier aspects that make the novel interesting IMHO.
Advertisement
