THE LAST GOOD KISS by James Crumley

 

GRADE: B+

A true classic of the crime fiction genre, and for some reason I just got around to it. The book introduces C.W. Sughrue, a Vietnam vet who is now a private dick, usually working boring jobs doing repossessions and divorce cases. As the novel opens, he's finally tracked down Abraham Trahearne, a famous drunken writer who Sughrue was hired to track down before he drinks himself to death. While on the job, he takes another assignment from an old barmaid to track down her daughter, who ran away from home ten years prior. So, accompanied by Trahearne and an alcoholic bulldog named Fireball Roberts, Sughrue searches for a girl he's mysteriously drawn to, a girl he only knows from a faded, crumpled photograph.

This book inspired almost all of the contemporary crime writers working today. One of the big reasons why it was so influential is because it took your standard detective novel and turned it into something more, with it's brilliant, poetic prose that, before then, would usually be reserved for more "serious" fiction. Sughrue is a great character, also influencing the modern detective characters today, with his mix of not only toughness, humor, and rough charm, but also with a tender empathy that drives his search for Betty Sue and his friendship with Trahearne. Thankfully he's so likeable and gives everyone the benefit of the doubt, because I really didn't like any of the other supporting characters, especially Trahearne. But along with Sughrue, it was Crumley's vivid writing that kept me turning pages, inherently hard-boiled and lyrical at the same time.

"Nobody lives forever, nobody stays young long enough. My past seemed like so much excess baggage, my future a series of long goodbyes, my present an empty flask, the last good drink already bitter on my tongue."

THE GREEN MILE by Stephen King

GRADE: A+

Whenever I mention to people that Stephen King is one of my favorite authors and that they should read more of his work, sometimes I get that "look". So many times he's dismissed into the "genre ghetto" as a popular horror writer and not a gifted writer of "literary" fiction. It frustrates me, because many people have no idea how gifted of a writer he truly is and how versatile he is. Obviously these same people have never read his novellas in the collection Different Seasons, or The Dead Zone, or 11/22/63, or Hearts in Atlantis, or this book especially.

The story is set in the 1930's and follows Paul Edgecomb, the head warden on the death row ward of Cold Mountain Penitentiary, a man whose job is to try to make the prisoners' last days and trip to "Old Sparky" as peaceful and humane as possible. One day, a new inmate arrives, John Coffey, a gentle giant black man who is accused on raping and murdering two white young twin sisters. But John Coffey has a special gift. And soon, once Edgecomb and the other guards learn the truth about Coffey, they will soon have all of their beliefs challenged and learn the true meaning of sacrifice and redemption.

“Sometimes there is absolutely no difference at all between salvation and damnation.” 

I believe that The Green Mile is superb. It is solidly on my list of favorite books and it's quite possibly the best full-length novel Stephen King has written. Although at the moment my favorite King novel is The Stand, I believe that this one is better written. It's mood and tone is pitch perfect, with the air of a fable laced with magical realism. The story truly moved me. When I read it for the first time years ago, I finished with what might have been a couple tears in my eyes. And that's a big deal, given the fact that I'm such a hardened badass. Stephen King shows a real knack of being able to take what should be very a brutal, depressing subject like death row during the Depression and infuse it with beauty, emotion, and sentiment that never feels forced. This novel is sincerely special and has stuck with me forever. If you've never read Stephen King's work because you don't like horror stories, then read this and it will make you a fan. If you are already a King fan and haven't read this, then do yourself a favor at start this one immediately.

KILLING JOHNNY FRY by Walter Mosley

GRADE: B-

I've mentioned before that Walter Mosley is probably one of the most versatile authors and consistently puts out solid work in different genres. At the point when this book was released, Mosley was mostly known for his great crime writing and was carving out a cult niche with his thoughtful sci-fi novels. With this book, he did what many would never expect and delved into erotic fiction.

Mild-mannered New York City translator Cordell Carmel is living a good life with his long-term girlfriend Joelle. Until one day he walks into Joelle's apartment and catches her majorly getting her freak on with wanna-be jazz musician John Fry. Without being noticed by them, Cordell walks out, not knowing what to feel. Haunted by the look of something more than ecstasy on Joelle's face, and by the image of Johnny Fry's bright red condom, Cordell decides to keep it to himself, beginning an intense journey of sexual transformation and awakening.

Although this book is definitely not for the prudish, what sets it apart from other erotic stories I've seen is the urgency and emotion in the storytelling and the fact that Mosley creates an awesome character in Cordell, one of the best characters in his work. What struck me the most about Cordell (and what many men can relate to, even though they might not admit it), was his insecurities after witnessing his wife's infidelity, as well as his conflicting feelings about the situation. After catching them, he's not just angry, but he's also confused and horrified to discover that witnessing it has also given him a hard-on, and he's not sure why. He becomes obsessed with a bizarre porno movie about a submissive, cuckolded man that he begins identifies with. There's something so honest about his behavior that touched me deeply. This sexual honesty is something that I almost never see in men, especially those in the black community.

The book is sort of an existential journey for Cordell to heal his sexual insecurity. It is yet another book that I've read this year that reminds me of the criminally under-appreciated movie Eyes Wide Shut (my favorite of Kubrick's). There is lots of hot sex for those interested in that, but much of it is covered with an aura of sadness and melancholy. The book falls apart almost completely in the last third, and it was a bit unbelievable that after Cordell catches Joelle cheating, every woman in the book suddenly reveal themselves to be heavy freaks and try to have sex with him. This caused me to lower it's score a bit, but the Cordell character and the honest and frank look at sexual identity makes this a novel that stuck with me for a while.

TREASURE ISLAND by Robert Louis Stevenson

GRADE: C

 

Young Jim Hawkins stumbles onto a map leading to a treasure buried by the famous pirate Captain Flint on a small Caribbean island. This sparks a overseas adventure to find the buried treasure! Treasure Island is THE classic of pirate adventures.

I love pirates and pirate stories. The adventure and independence on the high-seas is something that speaks to old boyhood fantasies. Sadly, I didn't find much of that adventure in Treasure Island. It was interesting seeing where all of the pirate story conventions originated, but otherwise it wasn't as exciting as it should've been. Jim was one of the most boring characters I've read in a while. Maybe it was the language...or maybe the book just hasn't aged well in general.

A STAB IN THE DARK by Lawrence Block

GRADE: B+

*Book 4 of the Matthew Scudder series*

It's going to get harder and harder writing fresh reviews for these Lawrence Block novels. Once again he has written a solid piece of detective mystery fiction in this latest installment in his Matthew Scudder series, about an ex-cop who lives a lonely life in a hotel room in Manhattan and does "favors" for people as an unlicensed private investigator. In this novel, Scudder takes on a nine-year old cold case after a serial killer is finally caught, and confesses to all of his suspected killings except for one. Now that dead girl's father can't rest until he finds out the truth behind her murder, which is now nearly a decade old. 

I'm four novels into the Scudder series and I've yet to be disappointed. It has another compelling mystery, layers of Matt's character continues to be laid, and the writing continues to be solid. It's impressive how consistent Block has been so far. I love how throughout the series you start to slowly realize, along with Matthew himself, how serious his drinking problem really is, although he continues to deny it. If this series gets even better than this, Lawrence Block might become one of my favorites!

THE MALTESE FALCON by Dashiell Hammet

GRADE: B+

This is the one that started it all. Dashiell Hammet's novel basically popularized the hard-boiled detective story. Hammet's detective Sam Spade paved the way for Phillip Marlowe, Lew Archer Matthew Scudder, and Easy Rawlins. The classic story follows private dick Spade after he learns that his partner has been murdered working a case. In trying to figure out who did it, he gets entangled with a bunch of low-life criminals who are all after an ugly black bird statue that supposedly worth tons of money.

There's not much you can say about this one that hasn't already been said. Although it failed to blow me away due to the fact that the plot is so familiar in this day and age, it's an indisputable classic, and undoubtedly essential reading for any lover of crime fiction.

Great hard-boiled dialogue:

“He said: 'I'm going to send you over. The chances are you'll get off with life. That means you'll be out again in twenty years. You're an angel. I'll wait for you." He cleared his throat. "If they hang you I'll always remember you.'"

PICK-UP by Charles Willeford

GRADE: A-

Man, that was depressing! A bleak and nihilistic look at a destructive relationship and the negative effects of alcoholism. I imagine that if David Goodis and Jim Thompson teamed up to write the screenplay for the movie Days of Wine and Roses, they would've churned out this novel!

Failed painter and alcoholic Harry Jordan meets a pretty blonde lush named Helen in the bar and grill where he works. They almost instantly fall head over heels for each other, but anyone with common sense can tell that their relationship is doomed and will be mutually destructive, feeding off of one another's depression and their unhealthy need for alcohol and each other. They soon start down a dangerous path of self-destruction.

The synopsis reads like a standard hard-boiled noir novel but Willeford puts his own spin on it. The femme fatale is as tragic as the protagonist she "seduces",  and Willeford treats the plot elegantly and with little melodrama. The book is carefully crafted, with the author doling out exposition and back-story about Harry just when it's necessary.

And then there's the ending...man, that ending! I won't spoil it here, but I'll say that one moment, I'm finishing up an already well-written noir about alcoholism and doomed love, and the next, I read the last two lines and it drops a bomb, changing the entire way I viewed the story, making me want to read it again. Some people may see it as a cheap gimmick but I disagree, while a gimmick ending like the one in the movie The Usual Suspects negates the entire rest of the movie, I think that this book can still work without it, and it acts as a cherry on top, forcing you to consider the story from a whole new angle!

This is my first book by Charles Willeford. I've heard that in most of his novels he takes interesting new looks at the hard-boiled noir genre. If any of them are even close to being as awesome as Pick-up, I can't wait to read them!

VALDEZ IS COMING by Elmore Leonard

 

GRADE: B+

Quiet, part-time town constable Roberto Valdez is called in when a mob has tracked down a black man who is accused by Tanner, a rich businessman in town, of being an Army deserter and murderer. Roberto tries to diffuse the situation and is forced to shoot the man, who was holed up in a house with his pregnant girlfriend and turned out to be totally innocent. When Valdez goes to Tanner to ask for reparations for the man's wife, Tanner's crew beats Roberto and tries to crucify him, leaving him for dead. They should have made sure they finished the job. Because everyone in town underestimated him. And only a few remember that Bob Valdez used to be a real badass back in the day, and when he comes for you, he comes strong. He's already tried to talk to them as civilized men but they wouldn't listen. But this time, maybe they'll listen to bullets.

This early Elmore Leonard western showcases the same lean and witty prose that eventually made his later crime novels so popular. Sparse and direct writing work so well with Western fiction, and Leonard was one of the best writers in the genre. There are not many wasted pages in the book and I love the classic tale of a man who has shelved his violent past, but must bring it back in order to right a major wrong. A fast and enjoyable read.

NO ORCHIDS FOR MISS BLANDISH by James Hadley Chase

GRADE: A-

After reading the fierce first chapter, I was totally surprised to discover that this book was written in 1938! The novel is just as dark, violent, and explicit as anything written today, and I enjoyed every page of it! I can see why the book was such a hit and such a controversy at the same time when it was released. It wasn't until after I finished the first chapter, that I realized that I was reading a revised version of the novel, "updated" by the author for more modern audiences in the mid-60's. After skimming through passages from the original text, I was shocked to find out that the language and some of the content was softened tremendously! When I read hard-boiled noir, I don't want it soft, I want it as hard as can be! So I paused my reading to track down the only edition that I could find with the original text, and that was this one. 

Described as a "shocking tale of vile, ruthless, gangsterism," it tells the story of the kidnapping and ransoming of the beautiful, innocent, unnamed daughter of millionaire John Blandish. The girl ends up in the hands of the infamous old lady Ma Grissom, and her gang of thieves and killers, including her psychotic son and knife-man Slim Grissom. Months later, the girl has still not been found and her father hires private dick Dave Fenner to find out what happened to her. Her father partly hopes she is dead, because if she isn't, one can only imagine what the Grissom gang has been doing to poor Miss Blandish.

The novel is well-plotted, fast-paced and never boring, with raw and lurid details and vivid characters in the villainous gangsters.  My jaw definitely dropped a few times at the horror of the story and the situation that Miss Blandish was in, being a rich girl that has always been protected by the terrors of the world, being suddenly thrust into something that might ruin her innocence completely. And that ending? Jeez...stuck in my head for days...

OF TENDER SIN by David Goodis

"It began with a shattered dream"

This awesome opening line sets the tone for this brooding, melancholy, fever-dream of a novel, par

for the course for a David Goodis book. The book is a bit more bizarre than anything else I've read by Goodis, and it follows normal, working square Alvin Darby, who, in bed one night, has a nervous breakdown and begins to be haunted by and obsessed with platinum blonde hair. The cause of this might be his recurring memory of the blonde hair of his older sister, who he was obsessed with when he was a child. This naturally affects his relationship with his brunette wife Vivian, who can't seem to understand why for weeks, Alvin has been unable to get it up and make love to her. After his breakdown, things get worse after Alvin overhears Vivian on the phone with another man, and he journeys out, with incestual memories and murder on his mind, onto the snowy streets of Philly's Skid Row; streets filled with alcohol, cocaine, flophouses, blackmailers, and gold-digging tramps with platinum blonde hair.

“Winter was gray and mean upon the city and every night was a package of cold bleak hours, like the hours in a cell that had no door.”

If this sounds to you like a real downer of a book, then you're right, it is. But that's what you should expect from the poet of despair, David Goodis. But as usual his writing is so poetic and evocative, you can't help but he riveted, and eager to follow the main character as he falls deeper into darkness. If you read a Goodis book expecting a standard noir, you'll be pleasantly surprised or terribly disappointed. His novels never have standard villains like crime bosses or serial killers, but most of the antagonizing comes from the inner demons of the protagonists themselves. The action and suspense in Of Tender Sin is more emotional and psychological, with the main character struggling to confront his paranoia, fetishes, sexual insecurities, and feelings of helplessness. In this way, the book reminded me a lot of my favorite Stanley Kubrick movie, Eyes Wide Shut, that dealt with a very similar journey for the main character. This book feels like it was written in a few nights of inspired, manic writing sessions, where I can imagine Goodis typing away in the late hours, binging on wine, whiskey, and cigarettes. This quality makes the plotting feel a bit rushed and uneven but it also gives the book a very earnest, energized feel. The book probably has the very best prose that I've read so far in a Goodis novel, with passages just pulsing with mood and imagery.

"Under the blanket the outline of her body was slender and displayed a certain innocence, a precious quality far more significant than the elegance of her form. She seemed to radiate kindness and essential goodness, and Darby, trying to measure the value of her, told himself it was immeasurable."

GRADE: A-