NUDE ON THIN ICE by Gil Brewer

Pulpy tagline: “A red-hot hellcat in the frozen night—and murder on the prowl!”

Yep. It’s another potent cocktail of greed and lust by noir master Gil Brewer! This one stars one of his most sleazy protagonists, a womanizer and scam artist who drops the ladies he uses like a bad habit and skips out on the hotel bills. After an old friend dies, Ken McCall concocts a plan to seduce his widow and take her for all the money he left behind for her. But a wrench is thrown in his plans in the form of a pretty young thang named Justine who steals his heart and has plans of her own as well.

"My father. I always called him Daddy. He was the first. He was the only one, other than you."

This is a pretty standard pulp novel for Brewer, but what really makes it memorable is how truly crazy the entire cast of characters is. And if you've read Brewer's other books, that’s really saying a lot! Once you get to Justine's kinky daddy issues and all the ruthless blackmail and double-crosses, you’ll find yourself actually rooting for that poor asshole McCall!

I suddenly wanted to leave this house, fast. I didn't, though. Somehow you never do. It's so damn easy to ignore wisdom when it whispers.

GRADE: B 

THE BRAT by Gil Brewer

Pulpy tagline!: "She wanted out and she had the price—a lovely body and the will to use it."

This is a middle of the road Gil Brewer novel that falls somewhere between the pulp awesomeness of The Vengeful Virgin or A Taste For Sin, and the disappointing Wild To Possess. In this book, Brewer pushes to create the "fatalest" of femmes in Evis Helling, the titular "brat" of the story. But brat is an understatement! Lee first meets her when he's riding down a river one day minding his own business and he sees her sitting on a dock, as if she's been waiting specifically for him to ride by, like a sweaty swamp succubus ready to suck him in. They soon marry and then begin to plot a robbery together. After he starts to get cold feet, she goes through with the robbery anyway and sets him up to take the fall, prompting Lee to travel back into the heart of swampy darkness to track her down!

I thought that the beginning of the book was great and the final act was pretty good, but the middle of the book that mostly consists of Lee traveling through the swamp did not have the same urgency that Brewer is known for, and it falls into a repetitive slog. I also thought that the desperate sheriff was a pretty annoying character. But even though it doesn't stand up to his best work, it's still entertaining enough, even if just for it's pulpiness and for Evis herself!

I cursed her and tore that dress to shreds.
It was like tearing us apart. I had to demolish every last stitch of cloth, scattering what remained of the dream across the floor of the room where a ghost of her still moaned and writhed in ecstasy.

GRADE: C+

A TASTE FOR SIN by Gil Brewer

While the last Brewer novel I read left much to be desired, A Taste For Sin, one of his later works, hits all the right notes! In it, we follow Jim Phalen, a drunk with money problems, as he hooks up with Felice Anderson, a hot, barely legal Latina with rough rape fantasies. It's all fun and games at first, but then this feisty femme goes from zero to fatale almost immediately, blackmailing him into helping her not only kill her husband but also rob the bank where he works of a million bucks.

She was a juvenile delinquent with a Spanish tinge, and she was absolutely out of her mind.

This book has a lot of the ingredients that make a great pulp novel: ultra fast pacing that leaves you breathless, a vulnerable and morally questionable protagonist, an icy but irresistible femme fatale, dark humor, and surprising violence. We've seen a plot like this many times in pulp noir, but Brewer stands out and writes it all with his usual sharp wit and ratchets the intensity way up.

I read this book as part of the Gil Brewer two-fer from Stark House that also includes Wild To Possess. While that book was pretty bland with a clunky plot, in A Taste For Sin, not only does the plot move as smooth as butter, but Brewer holds no punches with the depravity in the material. There aren't many books where you'll have a scene where the two main characters run around the house rough-sexin' each other while they have a police officer blind-folded and gagged and dog-chained to a radiator upstairs. A fun read!

When you dine with Death, Fear sits at the head of the table.

GRADE: A-

WILD TO POSSESS by Gil Brewer

This novel opens with a neat but pretty unbelievable premise where a lonely, drunk sign-maker overhears a couple of strangers plan a kidnapping plot and decides to get in on the action. It's basically a noir-within-noir structure where the main character has his very own James M. Cain story playing out in front of him and he decides to write a role for himself, interrupt the whole shebang and take off with all the ransom money, while trying to also deal with a horny girlfriend, and a man that shows up knowing all of the dark secrets of his past.

The events that follow were difficult to buy into and I was never truly engaged beyond the surface action. It just felt too "conceived," like I could see the uneven gears of Brewer's plot turning. Thankfully, Brewer's trademark pacing kept things going at a quick clip and there were a few tense scenes. But then things just fizzled out with a weak climax and a forgettable resolution.

GRADE: C-

THE VENGEFUL VIRGIN by Gil Brewer

GRADE: A-

Whoa! Talk about having serious girl problems!!

A month ago I read another tight Gil Brewer pulp called The Red Scarf and got a kick out of it. But this awesomely-titled little gem rocked! Brewer takes a cue from the James M. Cain Holy Book of Noir, and weaves a tale of a TV sales-and-repairman who's business is less than stellar, and to top it off he has a psycho-stalker ex-girlfriend that won't leave him alone. Things change when he places a house call to a red-headed, little rich virgin who takes care of her ailing stepdad, and he immediately starts catching feelings. But then he starts catching ideas when:

 

1) he finds out the fun way that she's definitely not a virgin

and

2) she begins to drop hints that maybe her rich old man should die a bit quicker...

The book starts off at a leisurely pace, as the main characters flirt not only with each other but also with their murderous intents. But once they pass the point of no return, things get ratcheted up to a nail-biting intensity! Obstacles pile and pile and there's almost no letting up as Jack, the main character, tries to stay ahead of the obstacles and get away scot-free, while trying to keep a lid on his increasing paranoia. It makes for an entertaining read, where you know that it won't end well (as it is with most of these stories), but your eyes are still glued to the page to see how the tragedy will play itself out. And if you're one of those people who needs their fiction to have fancy, lofty themes, here's one that sums this book up. 90's R&B group BellBivDevoe said it best in their hit song: "Never trust a big butt and a smile. That girl is Poison!!"

"Her aqua dress was all roped up around her middle, and her hair was snarled, and she just lay there, like some glorious whore, glorifying her whoring, happy as hell."

THE RED SCARF by Gil Brewer

GRADE: B

Pulpy Tagline!: The money was hot and so was the girl, but it was cold-blooded murder just the same. (Crest edition)

This fast-paced noir novel from one of the star writers in the genre follows sad-sack Roy Nichols who's hitching rides across the country begging for money for his floundering business running the Southern Comfort Motel with his doting wife. Things start looking up when he gets involved with sexy, black-haired Vivian, her brooding boyfriend, and a briefcase full of dough. Getting a cut of that money might be just what he needs to keep the motel open, if he can stay alive and out of jail to spend it!

"The sight of that money was like catching a cold and know it would turn into pneumonia."

Although at times awkwardly written, this was a fun, quick read! I love how Brewer kept ratcheting up the tension as everything starts closing in around Roy from all sides. I was surprised by the complete lack of sex in the book! Because it's a major genre convention, every minute I expected Roy and Vivian to get it on, but they never did. I found it interesting that Roy could care less about her. Although he finds her attractive, he finds the money more ravishing and that's where most of his attention goes. And besides, with so many complications he has to stay ahead of, he doesn't have time to be thinking with his penis!!