THE MURDERER VINE

THE MURDERER VINE
By Shepard Rifkin
Hard Case Crime
254 pages

This is one hell of a good book. Unlike a lot of crime titles that aspire to the label of noire, this one delivers. It is a hard edged, brutal look at America in the early sixties set against the backdrop of racial prejudice as it existed in the Deep South.

Joe Dunne is a Korean War veteran who makes a decent living as a private eye in New York City. He’s even got a cute, blonde secretary named Kirby, a former Georgia peach. The trouble with Dunne is he’s wants more and that greed is his Achilles’ heel. When the son of a wealthy industrialist goes missing in Mississippi while working on voter registration for blacks, his father believes he’s been murdered. He hires Dunne not only to prove that assumption, but to find the men responsible and kill them. In short order Dunne is promised half a million dollars to murder five men. He accepts the jobs.

Dunne meticulously plans the assignment by creating a bogus identity for himself and Kirby, who has convinced him to bring her along as proper Southern camouflage. She is not aware of his actual mission and assumes he’s only looking for the murderers. Of course once they arrive in the sleepy little community of Okalusa, Dunne must play the part of a bigot to ingratiate himself with the suspects, one of which is the town’s redneck sheriff. It is a repulsive role and he despises himself for having to assume it. Through Kirby, Dunne sees the South as it truly is, a divided land still nursing its wounds from a hundred year old war with the North.

Rifkin captures the atmosphere of the times perfectly and although it was easy to see the tragic ending half way through the book, that is what noir is all about. Noir stories are about being trapped on a runaway train whose tracks go off the cliff. You see the wreck coming and there’s nothing you, or the protagonist, can do about it. Noir is being a victim of fate and that’s the tragedy of Joe Dunne. It’s a fate he chose for himself.

This is one of the finest noir thrillers ever penned. Kudos to Hard Case Crime for bringing it back. It deserves a huge audience.

BATMAN GOTHAM KNIGHT

BATMAN – GOTHAM KNIGHT
Novel by Louise Simonson
Story by Jordan Goldberg
Ace Science Fiction
278 pages

A solid round of applause to Warner Brothers Animation for producing a truly marvelous new animated film in the continuing saga of Gotham City’s greatest detective. WB recruited several popular Batman comics scribes to contribute a story set during the interval time frame between BATMAN BEGINS and the soon to be released, DARK KNIGHT. The idea was to create a direct to DVD animated feature they could release while the sequel was playing in theaters around the world. What is truly exciting is that producer Bruce Timm opted to have each segment done overseas in Japan employing their brand of stylized cartooning known as anime. As a fan of animation, I’m most eager to see this movie when it debuts.

In the meanwhile, not one to miss a product opportunity, those same WB execs took the animation film script and had it novelized for the paperback market. They were also smart enough to assign it to Louise Simonson. Simonson, no stranger to comic scripting, took the separate elements from the movie and wove them together into a very neat, cohesive drama that effectively captures the somber tone of this Batman’s world.

It has only been a few weeks since the events depicted in BATMAN BEGINS and Jim Gordon and his team of detectives find themselves hard pressed to maintain law and order in the hell-hole that is Gotham. With the death of mob boss, Falcone, both the Italian and Russian gangs are battling each other to gain control of the city’s criminal underwold. Amidst carnage, the Scarecrow is still at large, directing an army of Arkham Asylum escapees, one of which is the mutant monster known as Killer Croc.

And if that wasn’t enough to keep billionaire Bruce Wayne’s alter-ego busy, a deadly super assassin, known as Deadshot, is responsible for several high profile murders. Word on the street is that his next target will be the Caped Crusader himself.

Novelizations are tricky as the writer generally has to pad the narrative to comply with normal book lengths that usually exceed film scripts. Still, the book should mirror the events of the movie it is based upon. Simonson not only attains that objective but also enhances the adventure with her own personal understanding of this truly iconic cultural hero. BATMAN GOTHAM KNIGHT is a good read and will appease even the most dedicated Bat-fans.

SPEAKS THE NIGHTBIRD

SPEAKS THE NIGHTBIRD
Vol #1 – Judgment of the Witch
By Robert McMammon
Pocket Books Fiction
483 pages

Will someone please tell me how you review half a book? That’s the dilemma I find myself in after having just finished SPEAKS THE NIGHTBIRD : Vol. #1 by Robert McMammon. Had I been aware it was only the first half of a longer story, I would have waited until I had both before reading it. This doesn’t excuse the publisher in the slightest. Part of me is very upset with all this and righteously so.

I would love to meet the editor who came up with the idiot idea of splitting this novel into two books. This is just another case of avarice and greed winning out over common sense. If this book is actually one half of McMammon’s actual manuscript, then we can deduce the entire narrative is approximately 966 pages long. I have dozens of books in my library (paperbacks no less) that are longer this. I had no qualms in purchasing them, nor any difficulties in reading and enjoying them. There is much to be said for a big book.

Little can be said for stupid editor/publishers who make us pay twice for one story. Shame on Pocket Books and all involved. It was a cheap, economic trick and one we find reprehensible. Especially when done to such a wonderful work of fiction.

The book is an historical murder mystery that takes place in the American Colonies of the Carolinas in 1699. McMammon describes an accurate, frontier world where survival was a daily struggle and the colonists were very much British in their sensibilities about law, justice and government. In the new settlement of Fount Royal two men have been murdered and their deaths appear to be the work of a witch. After locking her up, the Mayor, a pompous character with dreams of riches for his burgeoning village, sends a message to Charles Town asking for a Magistrate. He wants someone who will come and conduct a speedy, but proper trial so they can legally burn the accused woman and end her threat.

What he gets instead is Issac Woodard, a seasoned, intelligent judge who will not allow himself to be used as a tool for civil murder. Accompanying him is his astute and clever young clerk, Matthew Corbett. Matthew is the book’s protagonist and we quickly learn his childhood as an orphan on the wild streets of New York City was anything but pleasant. Rescued from a boy’s home by Woodard, Matthew matures into a quick thinking apprentice who loves to solve mysteries. The case of the Fount Royal witch soon has him playing detective, searching for clues and at the same time attracting the animosity of the town’s people. They want Rachel Howarth, the beautiful accused widow, put to death and are frustrated by Woodard and Corbett’s turtle like investigation.

By the end of this book, Woodard has fallen seriously ill adding to Matthew’s worries. The evidence they accumulate is all damning and it appears the Magistrate will have no recourse but to condemn the woman in his ruling. Believing her innocent, Matthew is all too aware his time to find the real killer is running out unless he can solve the various mysterious happenings in this swamp-infested world he and his mentor have come to.

SPEAKS THE NIGHTBIRD is a terrific first half. Still it only that and being fair, I cannot recommend it to anyone, by itself. I’m left with having to find the second half and it’s a predicament I do not appreciate at all. So, unless you’ve both parts in hand, save yourself this grief and pass on this book.

SPIDERWEB

Side B
SPIDERWEB
By Robert Bloch
Hard Case Crime
160 pages

(As promised, this week I’m reviewing the “other” side of the new Hard Case Crime double flip book. For my comments on Side A, see my preview entry below.)

Eddie Haines is a small time dreamer from Iowa who comes to Hollywood in hopes of hitting the big time with his good looks and radio trained voice. He wants to be TV announcer. When the harsh reality of Tinsel Town comes crashing down on him, he is left battered, penniless and completely disillusioned. Refusing to return home a failure, Haines opts to take a more final solution to his problems.

Just as he is about to commit suicide, someone slips a hundred dollar bill under his door. The owner of that C note is a small, fat and bald little German fellow calling himself the Professor. At first Haines thinks the odd fellow his lucky angel because the Professor has come to recruit him with the promise of immense fame, glory and riches. It is temptation the dejected young man cannot possible resist.

He soon learns that his mentor is a sophisticated confidence man with an amazing intellect; all of which is put to use robbing the wealthy. A polished manipulator with a silver tongue, the Professor convinces Haines that their activities are no more immoral than toothpaste commercials on television. If the rich are so gullible as to part with their money on any brightly packaged gimmick, then why shouldn’t they partake in the harvest?

The Professor sets about creating a fictional persona for Haines, turning into a psychological guru named Judson Roberts. The idea is for Haines/Roberts, to become an indispensable crutch to the varied Hollywood neurotics thus being allowed into their personal lives to learn their most intimate secrets. Secrets which the Professor then uses to blackmail them. By the time Haines realized just how evil his teacher is, he is eyeball deep in extortion and murder. He has become nothing but another sucker caught in his mater’s bloody web. Can he escape, or is he doomed to a life of crime?

SPIDERWEB is an intense, taut thriller that completely engrossed me from the first page. It is clearly one of Block’s finest works and a real joy to read. Combined with SHOOTING STAR, this double-book package is a real treasure for any fan of crime fiction.

SHOOTING STAR

Side A
SHOOTING STAR
By Robert Bloch
Hard Case Crime
154 pages

As a teenager in the early 1960s, one of my fondest memories is of the Ace Doubles. I don’t pretend to know the exact history of these paperback flip books, only that I bought many of them in all kinds of genres. Why the idea came up, again, I haven’t a clue. Maybe it was a marketing ploy to give the readers twice as much bang for their bucks. What they did was print two books together, usually by different authors, back to back in reverse with two separate covers. Thus if you held one side of the book, the second half would be upside down. Once you finished reading one novel, you merely “flipped” the book over to read the second.

Hard Case Crime has brought back this nifty little gimmick with two crime thrillers from the pen of Robert Bloch, the author famous for having written the film PSYCHO for Alfred Hitchcock. Each of the two books has its own cover and is printed back to back. My initial thought was to read both before doing my reviews, but I realized that wasn’t fair. Each novel should stand on its own despite the other it is paired with in this package. To that end, here’s my first review of what I’m calling side A. Next week some time, after I’ve finished it, come back to see my review for Side B.

In SHOOTING STAR, Block makes good use of his intimate knowledge of Hollywood and its eccentric citizenry by setting it as the backdrop to a story of murder and drugs. Mark Clayburn is a one-eyed literary agent who has fallen on hard times. All of which is explained as the narrative moves along. Clayburn, for his own personal reasons, also possesses a private investigator’s license and that is what snares him into an affair he really had no business getting involved with.

A famous western star named Dick Ryan was shot to death in his trailer out on the ranch set of his latest movie. In the process of investigating the case, the police find marijuana and suddenly Ryan’s name is sullied by this association with drugs. Which is where one-time producer Harry Bannock comes into story. Bannock tells Clayburn that he has bought the rights to all of Ryan’s old western melodramas and stands to make a fortune if he can package them for television distribution. The trouble is because of the drug connection, none of the major TV houses want to associate themselves with the late actor. Thus Bannock hires Clayburn not so much to find out who killed the star, but rather to prove his was not a drug addict and clean up his reputation.

Of course the second the eye-patch wearing Clayburn begins poking his nose on the month old case, he starts getting anonymous phone threats to drop the case. Then a beautiful young starlet is murdered shortly after telling Clayburn she has information for him. Soon the bodies are piling up, the cops are becoming very, very annoyed with the agent turned private eye and a twisted killer is still free and most likely ready to make him the next corpse.

Robert Bloch was an accomplished writer and his style is always entertaining. He plays loose with the entire noire genre, having fun with his hero at the same time delivering a really good mystery that kept me guessing until the final pages. SHOOTING STAR delivers on all fronts. Here’s hoping Side B is just as good.

DRAGONS WILD

DRAGON’S WILD
By Robert Aspirin
Ace Books
360 pages

(Well it’s been a month since my surgery and we’re back. Thanks to all of you who sent along cards, well wishes and most of all, your prayers. I really missed doing this column and sharing new and old books with you. So enough prattle and on to our latest review.)

Griffen McCandles has just graduated from college and is not overly concerned about his future. Griffen is a card sharp, having picked up the game early in his school career and discovered he has a talent for gambling. He is surprised by a summon from his uncle, a successful business man who raised Griffen and his sister, Valerie, when they were orphaned at a young age. The story his uncle tells him at this meeting is so fantastic, the new graduate begins to question the old man’s sanity.

Griffen is informed that shape-shifting dragons still roam our world. They are not myths but real beings who had to disguise their presence from humans as a matter of self preservation. What’s even more incredible is that Griffen and his sister are also dragons and will soon reach a stage in their lives when their latent nature will make itself known. He is also told that because they are from a lineage of very powerful dragons, there are other dragon clans very concerned with their development. Some will feel threatened by them and go to any means to nullify that threat, to include murder. While others will seek their alliance and support.

Griffen leaves the meeting convinced his uncle needs psychiatric help. Then he is approached by a well known senator wanting to know where his allegiance lies. Confused, Griffen attempts to confide in his long time girlfriend, only to discover she is actually aware of his supposed dragon nature. Before he can question her further, she disappears. Frantic to reclaim his grip on reality, Griffen decides to find Valerie and share his unbelievable tale with her in hopes she can make some sense out of it. On the road to her college, he is set upon by two assailants in pick-up trucks who attempt to run him off the road. Surviving the encounter, Griffen is more determined then ever to get to the bottom of things.

The early part of this adventure moves well but the plot really kicks into high gear when Griffen, via the advice of an old friend, goes to New Orleans, accompanied by Valerie, to meet an old black man named Mose. Mose is also a dragon and he manages an illegal gambling organization. He wants Griffen to take it over and become the new boss. Soon Mose is Griffen’s mentor and teacher and the young man begins to learn the amazing destiny he has inherited. Aspirin’s description of the city, in particular its notorious French Quarter completely charmed me and I really enjoyed following Griffen on his journey to self-dragon-discovery.

His relationship with Valerie is also a fun and Aspirin creates marvelous supporting characters that inhabit Griffen’s new Cajun world. So well, in fact, you can almost hear the jazz and smell the gumbo on every page. DRAGONS WILD is a fresh, innovative fantasy and a wonderful opening chapter to what is planned as a series. It builds a world I truly enjoyed visiting and very much want to go back to again really soon. Put it on your short list right now. You’ll be glad you did.

A LITTLE R & R

Dear faithful readers, please bear with me while I do a little Rest & Recuperation. I was in the hospital all of last week for a little lung surgery. No worries, I came through with flying colors. Now I'm home healing, and hope to get back to reading, and reviews, as soon as possible. Thanks
ever, Ron.

ZERO COOL

ZERO COOL
By John Lange
Hard Case Crime
221 pages

In reading through this excellent thriller, I couldn’t help but bemoan the fact that filmmaker, Alfred Hitchcock, is no longer with us. This would have been a terrific book for him to translate to film. ZERO COOL has all the elements of a classic Hitchcock experience. The protagonist is an educated, professional who inadvertently is sucked into a criminal enterprise and against his will, soon finds himself the target of several groups all intent upon bringing about his demise.

Radiologist, Peter Ross, is on a much needed vacation in southern Spain when he’s approached by a mysterious group of men to perform an autopsy on a body that has to be shipped to the United States for burial. Ross does his best to put them off, but when they threaten him, he relinquishes and performs the illegal procedure. Illegal because he is told to put a wrapped package into the cadaver’s chest before sewing it shut. Now he knows these criminals are attempting to smuggle an unknown object into the states.

Again, classic Hitchcock, in that whatever the mystery object is exactly is completely unimportant to the story as its very existence as a plot device to endanger our protagonist is only real purpose of being there. Soon poor Dr. Ross finds himself, beaten, shanghaied to Paris where meets another group of unsavory characters and then once again returned to Spain for shady adventures. All the while accompanied by a beautiful woman who, because of their flirtatious tryst, finds herself entangled in his dilemma.

ZERO COOL is a really fun thriller that has its share of surprises and twists, all done with a deft hand that never allows the pacing to lag. By the book’s finale, in a rather well known Spanish landmark, another nod to Mr. Hitchcock, I had been thoroughly entertained from start to finish. What more can you want from any book?

SPACE VULTURE

SPACE VULTURE
By Gary K. Wolf &
Archbishop John J. Myers
Tor Books
327 pages

When people ask me why, after a life time of reading, I still enjoy it so much, I am never hard pressed to answer them. All I have to do is hand them a book like this one. Born in 1946, I grew up in the 50s, when newspapers still carried the Flash Gordon strip and early television was offering up classic science fiction adventure melodramas like Tom Corbett; Space Cadet, Captain Midnight and Commando Cody; Sky Marshall of the Universe. It was a rich time for any kid with a vivid imagination.

Keep in mind this was not what fans would call “hard” science fiction that was being practiced by the likes of Isaac Asimov, Arthur C. Clarke and Robert Heinlein. Nope, this was pure, unadulterated space opera on a grand scale; the kind George Lucas would return to amazing popularity in the 70s with his debut of the Star Wars saga.

SPACE VULTURE harkens back to those early days when heroes were chiseled jaw, noble and always ready to come the rescue and villains were dastardly scoundrels capable of the most monstrous acts without blinking an eye. Such is the culprit in this wonderful, exuberant adventure. Space Vulture considers himself the epitome of the human race. He is the handsomest, smartest, most talented individual ever born and by that irrefutable logic, he should be the supreme ruler of the universe. Petty laws made for lesser beings should not impede his efforts towards that lofty goal and they don’t. He robs, pillages and destroys to his heart’s content, completely oblivious to the suffering he causes others.

When Space Vulture, and his zombie soldiers, raid a small farming colony on the fringes of the galactic empire, he not only nets hundreds of healthy, fit men and women to sell in the slave markets of unscrupulous worlds, he also, by sheer accident, captures his most ardent nemesis, Marshal Captain Victor Corsaire, the most famous and successful lawman known throughout the stars. Also among his prize catch is the beautiful widowed foreman of the colony, Cali Russell. By some quick thinking, Cali manages to hide her two sons, eleven year old Eliot and seven year old Regin, so that when the Space Vulture lifts off with his human cargo, they are left behind, still free.

The boys soon discover the insidious villain has left one other behind, a small time space con-artist and thief, Gil Terry. Terry’s only desire, having somehow managed to escape the Vulture’s clutches, is to find a spaceship and go his way, having no problem deserting the two helpless boys to whatever fate awaits them. Unfortunately for Terry, the boys aren’t as helpless and he believes and they trick him into accompanying them on a mission to find the Space Vulture and rescue their mother.

The book is filled with non-stop action and adventure as the boys, with the supposedly heartless Terry, manage to overcome and survive one disaster after another while chasing after the Space Vulture. With each new victory, the thief’s stoic nature slowly begins to thaw as he gradually comes to care for these likeable lads and against all his criminal rationale, he actually finds himself becoming their true ally and protector.

Meanwhile, aboard the Space Vulture’s magnificent spaceship, Cali and Captain Corsaire join forces to plot their own escape and somehow find a way to thwart the Vulture’s plans. In the process, Corsaire, a man dedicated to lady justice, begins to recognize in Cali Russell and exceptional woman as she stirs strange, new emotions in his lonely heart.

Believe me when I say Wolf and Myers pull out all the stops here and have woven a grand tale destined to be a hailed as a classic in the genre. It is bold in its unsophisticated narration, painted with the broadest strokes imaginable, yet deftly giving us characters so true to life, they become real from the moment you meet them. I love space operas and SPACE VULTURE is one of the finest I have ever read. It deserves to win awards, but more importantly, to find a huge audience, as I’m sure it will. Do not miss this one, that would be the biggest crime of all!!

NO QUARTER

NO QUARTER
By Everette Bell
Creative Guy Publishing
52 pages

NO QUARTER is gritty short story. It calls itself a novella and is printed as a chapter book, but with only 52 short pages, it is really a short story. Having said that, it is one hell of a terrific, in your teeth explosion of drama and violence that displays a very strong writing talent. Three men rob a bank, killing several people in the process and then attempt to flee in a stolen vehicle. They are stopped by the cops and forced to take shelter in a tattoo parlor, where once again they unleash a storm of cold blooded violence.

Ace is the punk of the trio, wanting to get to this brother and apologize for turning his sister-in-law into a crack whore. Cuz is the white giant who simply wants to inflict as much pain as he can before he is gunned down. Finally there’s the black man, Juice, who although educated, sees his life as tragedy predetermined by the fates long before he committed his first misdemeanor.

Opposing them is veteran police sergeant James, himself a tough, professional with no illusions about life and the great beyond. James takes the bad with the good and in his confrontation with the three desperate killers, arrives at his own moment of truth.

NO QUARTER is a hard slap to the face that entertains more than its slim package would suggest. Sadly it comes and goes like so much fast food, leaving the reader truly hungry for much, much more. Bell should be honing those storytelling muscles and tackling novels. He has a lot to offer crime fans. Let’s hope he realizes his own potential soon.

NO QUARTER is available on-line at (http://www.creativepublishinguy.com)

SEASON OF THE WITCH

SEASON OF THE WITCH
By Natasha Mostert
New American Library
395 pages

Before getting into the review of this book, I have to take a minute and applaud Carla Bolte and Spring Hoteling. Who are they? They are the extremely talented designers who made this book so beautiful. We bibliophiles don’t only to read books, we also appreciate the very objects themselves and are fully aware of the tasks involved in producing a product that is pleasing to the eye. The moment I pulled this book out of its package, my breath caught in my throat. So beautiful was the cover, its colors, fonts and over-all design composition, I simply held it for a few minutes appreciating the true skills of its designers. Take a bow, Bolte & Hoteling, you do exceptional work and I’m sure because of it, lots of people are compelled to pick this book off the store shelves and take a closer look. That is, after all, what book covers are for.

Gabriel Blackstone is an industrial thief who uses the latest wireless computer technology to steal. His best friend is a geek hacker named Isadore and the two of them have a lucrative business going for themselves in the heart of modern day London. People from various scientific and financial companies are their primary clients, as all of them are willing to pay large amounts to know what their competitors are doing. It is a colorful, if often times boring, life and Gabriel is most content with it.

He is not at all happy when the wealthy husband of a former lover approaches him with the request to find his missing son. Gabriel wants nothing to with the man or his offer. Within days of turning him down, he is visited by the man’s wife, his former paramour. It is through her we are informed that Gabriel is a gifted psychic who, at one time, worked for a special organization using extra-sensory abilities to help the police. During a kidnap case, Gabriel refused to use his talent and a young woman was brutally killed before the police could track down her abductor. Blaming himself for her death, Gabriel left the group and ceased using his gift. Now, Frankie, his lost love, wants him to use that talent in finding her missing stepson and Gabriel, still harboring feelings for her, reluctantly acquiesces to her request.

Here the story moves into the realm of an arcane, erotic thriller. It seems Robbie, the lost youth, was last seen in the company of two wealthy and beautiful sisters who consider themsevles witches. Upon meeting them, Gabriel is instantly mesmerized by their sensual graces, their quick intellects and their bravura joie de vivre. As he delves deeper into their mysterious lives, he soon learns that the young man he is seeking is dead, drowned by one of the sisters. But which one? And why? Then, as if that wasn’t enough of a puzzled, Gabriel is attacked psychically and the entire matter takes on horrific implications. His sexy unknown advisory is capable of killing with her mind!

As a writer, Mostert is wonderful at building a very deceptive pacing that seems leisurely. Her choice of words and descriptive passages paint complete atmospheres that captive the reader and pull us into the world of the two sisters. Yet each scene seems to come along like a literary freight train, each moving swiftly towards a taunt, gripping duel that takes place in ever shifting realm of pure thought. Her characters are well drawn and believable, enough to earn the reader’s empathy from the start and to elicit emotional investment.

This is a one powerful, highly entertaining novel that I will remember for a long, long time. If you enjoy tales of modern witchcraft and fantasy, look no further. SEASON OF THE WITCH is your cup of herbal tea.

VALLEY OF EVIL

VALLEY OF EVIL
A Wraith Adventure
By Frank Dirscherl
Coscom Entertainment
162 pages.

In the past five years there has been a tremendous resurgence in pulp fiction centering on the old heroic pulps. Young writers have started taking up the mantle of old masters like
Walter Gibson and Lester Dent and begun creating their own avengers in tales of genuine purple prose. Among the best of this new generation of wordsmiths is Australian, Frank Dirscherl and the exploits of his modern pulp paladin, the Wraith.

VALLEY OF EVIL is the second novel detailing the crusade of this macabre vigilante against the criminal forces that threaten the good citizens of Metro City. In his first adventure, the Wraith battled a mysterious fiend named the Cobra and vanquished him soundly. As this second adventure begins, a new threat arises even deadlier and more insidious. Someone has created a plague of epic proportions and randomly unleashed it. Thousands are dying in the streets of the city and officials are powerless to stop it. Enter the Wraith and his two devoted allies, Max, his mechanic and genius inventor, and Leena, his gutsy girlfriend, who knows no fear when fighting by his side.

As the plot moves along, the Wraith discovers the villain behind the plague is none other than the beautiful Natalya Blackova, the Cobra’s chief aide, along with his former enforcer, the deadly Magnus Khan. Now it is up to the Wraith to find Blackova and Khan and stop them before they destroy the city he has sworn to protect.

Of all the classic heroes, Dirscherl clearly emulates the action-packed tales of the Spider and chronicled by the late Norvell Page, as his plots are always bombastic, over-the-top disasters where the body counts add up faster than the average reader can keep count. The atmosphere is moody, the action relentless and the villains always meet the fates they deserve at the hands of our warrior hero. VALLEY OF EVIL is no exception and wonderfully carries on this pulp tradition without reservation.

My singular quibble with the Wraith adventures is they occur in modern times and that is always an awkward fit, a 1930s hero operating in today’s computer saturated environment. Note, the pulps were never about logic and most of them ignored mountain size plot holes for the sake of action and melodrama. In reading a pulp, you accepted these flaws for the benefit of the ride. The Wraith’s setting just make that road a bit bumpier than it should be. It’s a venial sin I’m all too happy to forgive in lieu of Dircsherl’s writing. This is grand pulp!

TWO BY GIL BREWER

A DEVIL FOR O’SHAUGNESSY
& THE THREE-WAY SPLIT
Two mysteries by Gil Brewer
Stark House Press
286 pages.

If you, like me, enjoy good, crime fiction, then allow me to point you in the direction of Stark House Press. Here you will find some of the finest mysteries and pulp noir thrillers ever penned by the masters of the genre. Stark House specializes in reprinting long lost classics in thick, wonderfully designed volumes that are jammed packed with good stuff. Each, such as this particular title, contains two complete novels by a particular writer, essays on his life and career and occasionally a short story or two to complete the package. When I wrote editor/publisher, Greg Shepard, last year requesting to be put on their reviewers list, I had no idea the first book he would send me would be such a gem.

Tolbert O’Shaugnessy is a con man. The trouble is he is not a very good one. O’Shaugnessy has a conscience, a real liability in the grifting game. He also has a weakness for alcohol, which tends to aggravate his delicate stomach, and another for beautiful women which almost gets him killed.

At the start of the book, O’Shaugnessy has been romancing Miriam Kindott, a sexy socialite who lives with her wealthy grandmother. His plan is to romance as much of that money from her as he can. It’s a good plan, but unfortunately for O’Shaugnessy, Miriam is two steps ahead of him and hires a private eye to look into his background. When she shows him the report detailing his checkered past to include a stay in the Colorado State Prison, he figures his ticket has been punched. But exposing him for the sake of ending their association is not Miriam’s intent. She likes the fact that O’Shaugnessy is a grifter because she wants him to help her murder Old Lady Kindott and inherit all her wealth.

Many years ago the old woman had a grandson, one Joe Lancaster, who at the age of eight was taken away to live overseas with his father. Except for a few letters over the ensuing years, the boy then disappeared. Grandma Kindott never forgot him and he is the sole recipient of her will. From the same investigator, Miriam has discovered that Lancaster died in England and she wants O’Shaugnessy to impersonate him to get into the old woman’s good graces. Once securely a member of the household, they would murder her, make it look like an accident and together run off with the inheritance.

It sounds simple enough, but O’Shaugnessy is a crook, not a killer. Although he allows Miriam to recruit him in this deadly con, he has nothing but reservations from the moment he comes to live at the Kindott mansion. There he meets Grandma’s beautiful secretary, Ann Elliot, and learns the old lady has a wild South American monkey named Gargantua as a household pet, believing it to be possessed with the spirit of her dead husband. If that wasn’t screwy enough, within a day of moving into the estate, O’Shaugnessy discovers a dead body hidden the basement. The identity of that corpse and its connection to his presence there all begin to crowd in on the reluctant con man. Events begin to spin wildly out of control and he soon begins to suspect he’s the real patsy in a much deadlier game.

A DEVIL FOR O’SHAUGNESSY is expertly written and effortlessly pulls the reader along, with enough twist and turns to keep things interesting. There’s even a very nice, completely rational surprise ending that I enjoyed a great deal. After this, the book showcases three of Brewer’s nasty short stories. My favorite was easily “Love…and Luck,” but each is a gem and wonderful bonus in this collection. It is followed by the second novel.

THE THREE WAY SPLIT tells the story of Jack Holland, a down and out guy who barely makes a living chartering his fishing boat out of Tampa, Florida to rich and bored tourists from the north. On one particular excursion, Jack is forced to dive into the clear waters of the gulf to retrieve a necklace that has fallen from the neck of one of his drunken passengers. In doing so he discovers the wreck of an old sailing ship, the type known to have carried valuable cargos of gold and silver.

Upon his return to his slip, Jack is anxious to tell two people about his amazing discovery. The first is Sally, the girl he loves and hopes to marry and the second is an old sailor named Mike Wales who is expert on ancient wrecks and diving. But his plans are suddenly knocked askew when his con man father, Sam, shows up with mob killers hot on his tail. When the old man learns of the sunken treasure, he muscles himself into the deal, much to Jack’s displeasure. Jack can sense his father’s involvement will lead to no good and his instincts prove correct when a hit man arrives on the scene. Murder follows and Jack’s dreams of a big strike become a nightmare that threatens to destroy him and the woman he loves.

Brewer was a skilled craftsman and he builds suspense slowly and deliberately, leading the reader down an unavoidable path of doom that is the hallmark of classic noir. His characters are flawed, desperate and always believable. That he is considered one of the finest crime writers of his generation is no surprise, it is a title he truly deserved as these two books clearly demonstrate.

So there you have it, two terrific novels and three shorts, all wrapped up like a nice noir gift between two covers. Do yourself a big favor, go to (www.starkhousepress.com/), find this book and check out all the other great titles available there. Tell them Fortier sent you.

JOURNEY OF THE GUN

JOURNEY OF THE GUN
By Van Cort
Berkley Medallion
158 pages

This book was published in 1966 and sold for all of fifty cents, most likely off some drugstore spin rack. What kind of route did it travel through time and through how many different hands before it reached mine? The answer to the last part is simple enough,
my fellow reviewer, Troy “Doc” Holaday found this somewhere, read it and then sent it along to yours truly. But not before registering it on-line at Bookcrossing.com. More about that after I’ve reviewed this really terrific western drama.

Clay Rand is a young 19 year old out west to seek his fortune. At the offset he gets in with cattle rustlers and the book opens with Clay and his new found friends about to be hanged for this attempted crime. For reasons unknown to him, the foreman of the lynching party spares Rand’s life and lets him go with a warning. Days later, while traveling alone and still emotionally numb from his brush with death, Rand meets up with a savvy outlaw named Connie Blackwell who imparts a little frontier advice to the boy and gives him one of his extra hand guns. From that point on Clay Rand’s life is buffeted by outside forces and he soon finds himself using that outlaw gun to survive.

Gaining a reputation as a gunslinger, Rand is soon the object of much interest amongst town politicians, ranchers and even the local sheriff. Being handy with a six iron is a marketable talent, he soon discovers. Still, how long before an even faster gun comes along and ends his troubled life? Cort writes an adult story and is very authentic in his portrayal of the burgeoning west with its many complexities, challenges and dangers. In the end, Rand’s journey is very much of self discovery and he is a better person for it. This is an excellent read and if you can find a dog-eared copy in some used book shop, I recommend it highly.

Bookcrossing is an organization made up of thousands of readers from all over the world who enjoy sharing books back and forth. The process is simple enough. Once you’ve registered at their site (www.bookcrossing.com) you can list a book, give it a specific identification number, which you then paste somewhere on the book, usually the inside front cover. Then merely send it to someone else and allow them to read it and do the same, after logging on and leaving their own comments or reviews. This is referred to as Read & Release. I’ve yet to decide who I’m going to send JOURNEY OF A GUN to, so if you’d like to have some fun with this, by all means drop me a line.

MIDNIGHT MASS

MIDNIGHT MASS
By F. Paul Wison
Tor Books
403 pages

One of my favorite horror movies of all times is Bela Lugosi’s DRACULA and it’s sequel, DRACULA’S DAUGHTER. While growing up I was always fascinated and scared silly by the idea of undead creatures ruling the night and drinking the blood of others. When Hammer Films came along in the 60s with Christopher Lee inheriting the role of the Transylvanian Count, there was a distinct erotic element added to the tradition which I didn’t mind as long as the vile nature of the monster remained. Oh, sure, he could gloss himself over to ensnare unsuspecting humans who were his prey, but in the end he was still that same disgusting, horrible creature with absolutely no mercy within his cold, dead heart.

Thus it is no surprise that I fell in love with Stephen King’s modern take on the entire vampire myth in his absolutely marvelous epic, SALEM’S LOT. That an entire small New England town, like the one I grew up in, could be taken over systematically by the undead totally awed and scared me at the same time. Then came Robert McCammon’s THEY THIRST and he took this same conceit up a notch when he had the vampires overwhelm Los Angeles and rule over it with their unquenchable blood lust.

If you haven’t guessed by now, I was not all that happy with the advent of Anne Rice and her sissified version of the undead. No offense, but these things she modeled after 19^th Century Romance novels were not the cruel, decadent, rotting monsters I’d come to know and relish. It seemed for a while, thanks to the popularity of her work, that we would never see the true horror of vampires again. Was I ever wrong, and gratefully so.

MIDNIGHT MASS by F. Paul Wilson is a glorious, gory return to the nightmares of King and McMcCammon in a rather logic progression of their masterpieces. In this grim and dark thriller, the undead have not only captured mere villages or cities, but most of the known world. They have swept over and conquered all of Europe, Asia and England.

When the book opens they have crossed the Atlantic and begun their assault on America, quickly winning most of the East Coast to include their new headquarters, New York City. With this foothold established, it is only a matter of time, something they have an endless supply of, before they completely subjugate the entire continent.

Into this world devoid of any hope, Wilson introduces us to a determined Rabbi, a vigilante, bomb-making nun, a lesbian revolutionist and a gung ho Catholic priest named Joe Cahill. Together they form the nucleus of the first real opposition to this new Vampire Nation. Against all odds, with faith, courage and good healthy dose of righteous anger, these four set about reclaiming their desecrated church from the foul hands of the devil’s minions. From this one battle, which Father Cahill appropriately likens to the Alamo, these four dare all in hopes of igniting a spark among those humans still alive but afraid to stand up and fight. That they succeed and what happens next when the vampire overlords retaliate had me turning pages late into the night. MIDNIGHT MASS is an awesome experience and now takes its place on my library shelf beside SALEM’S LOT and THEY THIRST as one of the finest vampire thrillers ever written. Thanks, F. Paul Wilson for restoring my faith in monsters.

WHEN ALL SEEMS LOST

WHEN ALL SEEMS LOST
By William C. Dietz
Ace Books
342 pages

Several pages into this sci-fi military adventure, I found myself comparing the plot two of my favorite war movies; The Bridge on the River Kwai, and the recently made, The Great Raid. Elements from both are borrowed in this tale of futuristic warfare, heroism and self-sacrifice. The book is part of a series labeled The Legion of the Damned, but none of the previous chapters are needed to appreciate and enjoy this one.

In this future, mankind is part of union known as the Confederacy of Sentient Beings and is at war with a bug-like race known as the Ramanthians. Good sci-fi military books require traditional set pieces to be effective, among these are large scale outer space battles. When All Seems Lost opens with a dandy. The Ramanthians have managed to deploy an ambush around a known hyper-space exit point and when Confederacy warships begin appearing, they brutally decimate them one after the other. Aboard the flagship of this doomed fleet is none other than the President of the Confederacy and as his ship comes under fire, it looks like he will either be killed or captured by bugs; the latter course much more damaging to the Confederacy. As a high level prisoner, the President could be used by the enemy to extort certain concessions from the administration, concessions that would prove extremely harmful to the war effort.

Then, at the last minute, a savvy diplomatic assistant suggest disguising the President’s identity from their captors. This would allow him to go undetected among the other POWs until a hopeful rescue mission could be launched. The President agrees to the subterfuge and orders the captain of the ship to surrender. Thus begins the ordeal of the Confederate survivors. They soon find themselves on a harsh, hot and humid jungle planet and put to work aiding the Ramanthians in building a space elevator. Which is where the similarities to the Bridge on the River Kwai come into play.

Back in the 1980s, comic book writer Chuck Dixon wrote a sci-fi war series for Marvel comics called, Alien Legion. The idea was to imagine an organization created on the model of the French Foreign Legion, which was made up of rogues and villains from all nationalities and became one of the most fearsome fighting forces the world has ever known. Dietz works that same idea in this series and the primary hero of this mission is Legionnaire Captain Antonio Santana, who is asked to lead a suicide rescue made up of inmates from a Confederate military prison. So you can say he even throws in a little bit of the Dirty Dozen for good measure.

To say this book has it all would be a gross understatement. Good and evil cyborg warriors, alien politics on a grand Machiavellian scale, and episodes of gut wrench bravery as the POWs fight with their hearts and minds to protect their leader and at the same time sabotage the enemy’s goals. The pacing is brisk and never lets up and the characters so wonderfully etched that I came to care for them and their fates. The battle sequences are powerful and effective and the book races its way to a completely satisfying climax. This was my first meeting with Dietz’s Legion of the Damned, but you’d better believe, it won’t be my last. Hooyah!!

PARAGAEA

PARAGAEA
By Chris Roberson
Pyr Books
393 pages

Hold on to your hats! When you open this book you are in for a rip-roaring, old fashion adventure in the tradition of Edgar Rice Burrough’s planet stories. Like John Carter of Mars, Soviet Cosmonaut, Akilina (Leena) Mikhailovna Chirikova finds herself deposited on the strange world of Paragaea after being sent through a worm hole. No sooner does she arrive then she is captured by mutated jaguar men and then just as quickly rescued by an Englishman named Heironymous Bonaventure of the Royal Navy. He served during the Napoleonic Wars and is also a refugee from Earth. He is accompanied by powerful black jaguar man named Balam, a deposed prince seeking to regain his crown.

Under Bonaventure’s guidance and tutelage, Leena reluctantly accepts her fate but is determined to find another inter-dimensional gateway that will take her back to her own world and time.

The three begin a danger filled journey across Paragaea where they encounter all kinds of creatures, travel in a magnificent aiship and ally themselves with an immortal android named Benu who may have the answers they seek. Their quest is a lively action filled romp that I enjoyed to the max and was sorry to reach the end all too quickly. It does end with several unresolved plots that I hope will be handled in forthcoming sequels. Heironymous, Leena and Balam are three of the best adventure heroes ever created and I’m so happy to have made their acquaintance. It’s an experience I’d like to repeat and soon. So will you.

VACATION

VACATION
By Jeremy C. Shipp
Raw Dog Screaming Press
158 pages

Beware of books that make you think too much. The end result being a headache. VACATION by Jeremy Shipp supposedly has a plot but calling it that is like saying the trail through the woods behind your house is a really a super highway. The so called story here is really a gimmick to play with your mind. And that it does in every conceivable way possible.

When I came home from Vietnam in 1968 I was shoved into college by an adult friend who wanted me to get an education. The cultural shock of college life following immediately on the heels of Army life was mind-boggling to say the least and somehow I ended up a philosophy major. Ha. Until I got in my Volkswagon Beetle two years later, drove off campus and never looked back.

So what’s all this have to do with Shipp’s book. Nothing, except every now and then the mind can become constipated. Consider the million bits of data that bombard it daily and the task it has to filter through all of that to shape reality. When giving blood at local Red Cross Drives, I was made to believe that depleting the body’s blood by a pint was a positive thing as it forced it to make more, newer cells. Likewise books like VACATION are very much a strong enema that sweeps through the attic of one’s mind like a strong, fresh and clean wind. Bringing it with a much needed sweeping out of the old.

This is a book about ideas and it is not for everyone. Believe me, if you enjoy traditional stories that have a clear and lucid beginning, middle and end, avoid VACATION like the very plague. It truly is not for you. On the other hand, if you enjoy having your intellect stimulated, shaken up and toyed with in a deft, literate fashion (Shipp can write, make no mistake on that front), then I urge you to find this little gem and have at it. You may be just as confused when you’ve finished it as I was. But you also may be tickled pink with the mental adventure of it all.

CREEPERS

CREEPERS
By David Morrell
CDS Books
356 pages

As a child, the street I lived on had an abandoned railroad spur that cut across the border of an old factory yard and came to an end next to deserted concrete block building. Now, as an old thinking back on its shape and design, I’d guess it had once functioned as some kind of transformer power station, controlling the various tracks. But by the time I was ten, it was nothing but an empty structure, its guts long ago ripped out leaving behind a bizarre concrete shell that was a irresistible magnate to every kind within a two block radius.

Situated at the bottom of a hillside depression, the raise railroad platform virtually hid the blockhouse from view to those people in the big factory or on the street passing by. Once I, and my brothers, and pals discovered it, we spent many summer hours in, around and stop that place. Sometimes I would have most of the gang meet me there after dinner, just as twilight was falling and we’d climb ten foot ladder, enter the dusty, junk cluttered interior, with its open portals, the glass having long been smashed and obliterated, and there, with a single flash-light in hand, I would sit and tell them ghost stories. That was almost fifty years ago and to this day, whenever I cross paths with one of the old gang still around, they will invariably mention our adventures in that old, abandoned power station.

I mention all this because I too was once a Creeper; the slang name given to today’s urban explorer. Urban explorers are people from all walks of life who are obsessed with investigating abandoned buildings, structures, tunnels and other architectural landmarks created by our fast moving societies. They imagine themselves time-travelers when exploring these long forgotten edifices. Today there are thousands of Creepers in all parts of the world and their adventures formed the idea behind this David Morrell thriller.

The grand Paragon Hotel, which for many years towered over the boardwalk of Ashbury Park, New Jersey, is scheduled to be demolished in two weeks. Having been bordered up over twenty years ago, the hotel, built in the shape of a pyramid, was the home of an eccentric, hermit millionaire. University Professor, Robert Conklin, has assembled a team of three former students and one tag-along reporter, to explore the darkened halls and rooms of this once luxurious resort and see what remains of its former glory. But once they managed to gain access to the building’s convoluted interior, they soon discover that there is a grotesque evil still residing amidst the silent corridors of the Paragon. It is a monstrous evil that does not welcome intruders and within only a few hours of their entry, Conklin and his team are in a frantic, desperate struggle for their very lives.

David Morrell is the finest thriller writer alive today and CREEPERS continues to support that claim. It is a flawless thriller that is so well written, the reader becomes mesmerized within the first few pages and then captured completely. Once you’ve reached the black heart of the Paragon Hotel, you’ll find yourself wanting to escape it as desperately Morrell’s characters and the climax can’t come fast enough. CREEPERS is a delicious experience and having enjoyed it, I doubt I will ever look at another abandoned building in quite the same way ever again.

A DIET OF TREACLE

A DIET OF TREACLE
By Lawrence Block
Hard Case Crime
205 pages

Welcome to Greenwich Village, New York, during the height of the “beat” movement. Anita Carbone is a bored college student who, like the rest of her generation, is repulsed by the American dream of surburbia, a nine to five job and two and a half kids. She doesn’t know what it is she wants, only what she doesn’t. Thus she hooks up with two pot-smoking hippies in the persons of Joe Milani and Shank Marsten. Shank supports the two by selling marijuana while Joe simply smokes weed and floats through his life.

When Shank is offered an opportunity to start pushing heroin, he grabs for it and soon is moving in faster, more lucrative circles. He begins to have dreams of big scores with even bigger rewards. All the while Joe and Anita are simply tagging along for the ride, unaware of how deep into the drug world Shank is leading them. In the end Shank’s house of cards falls apart and he resorts to violence to escape capture by the law. Soon all three of them are on the run with nowhere to go.

Block is a craftsman who builds characters precisely. He knows their motivations, or in this particular case, their lack of such, and he paints a sad picture of a lost generation struggling to find some worth in the world. By the books climax, Joe has to climb out of his mental fugue and get back into reality, or else become a piece of social flotsam forever adrift in a meaningless existence. First published in 1961, A DIET OF TREACLE is a look back in time well worth your attention.