Bell cites novelist Walker Percy as the most direct influence upon his fiction; like Percy, he attempts to portray a realistic slice of modern life with all its absurdity. Indirect influences perhaps are Andrew Lytle, who taught a generation of young writers the impact that can be achieved by a sequence of introspective psychological narratives, and Flannery O'Connor, who demonstrated the significance that can be revealed through the use of grotesques. As a film-maker, Bell cannot have been unaffected by America's long history of gangster movies and the so-called "buddy movies," such as Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969), in which appealing outlaws join forces in a rebellion against the social establishment. No doubt the influence of contemporary action/adventure movies and novels can also be seen. In addition, Bell's choice of the mystery novel genre in Straight Cut (1986) suggests the influence of the hard-boiled detective...