Pulp Poem of the Week

His books don't sound

like he had any fun

writing them.

But you see ads,

you can buy every book

Zane Grey wrote and

fill up a whole shelf.

For people who

don't know any better.

Elmore Leonard

Up in Honey's Room

2007

Book Review: Jim Tully, Circus Parade (1927)

A bleak portrait of life with a traveling circus, Jim Tully's Circus Parade focuses on anecdotes and character sketches rather than sustained narrative. As a result, the proceedings may sometimes be tedious, especially for readers familiar with the subject matter. Grade: C

Pulp Poem of the Week

It had been good.

He'd thought he loved her,

and she'd certainly acted

the part of loving him.

It was like getting cut

across the throat

when he found she was laying

not one guy, not even two--

but every beer-faced stud

in the county.

And then coming back to him

with her fine virginal face,

her just-for-you-honey body,

and her church-going, fine, clean

mind that manufactured

all the crazy promises

that had him standing

on his ear night and day.

And he never knew until

that time in a bar,

when a stranger began

bragging to him

about the quick piece

he'd knocked off

that afternoon

in a park

on the edge of town.

Gil Brewer

Little Tramp

1957

Book Review: Donald Goines, Daddy Cool (1974)

Daddy Cool features the most jarring contrast between style and subject matter of any book that I can remember reading. While the plot is fairly brutal--featuring, among other things, the gang rape of a child and an assassin who works only with knives--the novel is written in the most wooden grammar-book prose imaginable. Even the profanity-laced dialogue is written as though Donald Goines imagined that some schoolmarm somewhere would be assigning him a grade. I found the narrative sometimes to be powerful when I was able to tune out the prose style, but tuning out the prose style was difficult. Grade: C

Book Review: Gil Brewer, Little Tramp (1957)

After the train wreck of 1957's The Angry Dream (aka The Girl from Hateville), Gil Brewer finished the year with two much stronger efforts: The Brat and Little Tramp. Little Tramp is a Noir Everyman story, in which our ordinary guy, Gary Dunn, is blackmailed by the title character into kidnapping her so that she can extort money from her father, who also happens to be Gary's former boss. For me, what often elevates truly great noir is the ending: Simply put, how memorable is it? Gil Brewer loads up a powder keg and lights the fuse. Will he snuff the fuse, or will he let it blow? And if he lets it blow, will the explosion somehow surprise me--but without making me roll my eyes? This time out, Brewer does a fine job of packing the explosives, but if you ask me next week what happened to the keg, I probably won't be able to remember. Grade: B

Book Review: Elmore Leonard, Up in Honey's Room (2007)

In need of something to keep me awake as I drove from Ohio to Virginia, I found this on CD at a Books-a-Million for $10. The most I can say for it is that it did manage to keep me awake . . . barely. There are a couple of memorable characters (the title character and Carl Webster from The Hot Kid), but no drama to speak of. Skip this one. Grade: C-

Pulp Poem of the Week

I don't mind if you

forgot my name.

It's about as ordinary

as a name can be.

Even I feel like

forgetting it sometimes.

It's not that easy, though,

to forget your own name.

Haruki Murakami

After Dark

2004

(translated by Jay Rubin)

Book Review: Haruki Murakami, After Dark (2004)

80% night people of Tokyo + 20% unnecessary pretentiousness. Grade: B

Pulp Poem of the Week

Sometimes

words

are just

a nuisance.

John Farris

Baby Moll

1958

Book Review: Max Allan Collins, The First Quarry (2008)

Though the title of 2006's The Last Quarry seemed to promise there would be no more, Max Allan Collins's crass, banal hitman has returned to narrate his genesis . . . and it's pretty good. In fact, if you read The First Quarry immediately after Deadly Beloved, MAC's previous effort for Hard Case Crime, it will seem like Raymond Chandler. Grade: B

Book Review: Ken Bruen and Jason Starr, The Max (2008)

Unless you adored Slide, the second entry in the Max Fisher saga, there is not much reason to read the third. In The Max, the same noir comique schtick is in place, right down to the heavy-handed in-jokes, which are stretched even thinner this time around. The best plan: Read Bust, the first and best entry in the series, and then stop. Grade: C-

Pulp Poem of the Week

Sometimes

it is good

for a man

to be drunk.

Dorothy B. Hughes

Ride the Pink Horse

1946

Book Review: John Farris, Baby Moll (1958)

Pete Mallory has cut his ties with the mob. He has a woman he loves, and they are engaged to be married. Pete is ready to live a normal life . . . that is, until his old boss blackmails him into doing one last job, etc., etc., etc. Competent but forgettable. As with quite a few Hard Case Crime reprints, it is difficult to figure why this one was deemed worthy of rescue from oblivion. Grade: C