Mon 9 Nov 2009
Capsule Reviews from TAD (1968), by Allen J. Hubin – Part 5.
Posted by Steve under Reviews[7] Comments
Commentary on books I’ve covered in the New York Times Book Review. [Reprinted from The Armchair Detective, Vol. 1, No. 4, July 1968.]
Previously on this blog:
Part 1 — Charlotte Armstrong through Jonathan Burke.
Part 2 — Victor Canning through Manning Coles.
Part 3 — Stephen Coulter through Thomas B. Dewey.
Part 4 — Charles Drummond through William Garner.
RICHARD H. GARVIN & EDMUND G. ADDEO – The FORTEC Conspiracy. Sherbourne, US, hardcover, 1968. Paperback reprint: Signet T3832, 1969. A combination of a science-fictional theme, UFO’s, with the man on a mission suspense story — and it builds toward a shocking and memorable finale.
ROSEMARY GATENBY – Aim to Kill. Morrow, US, hardcover, 1968; Robert Hale, UK, hc, 1969. Paperback reprint: Pyramid X-2094, 1969. Weakened by too leisurely an approach (largely flashback), this second novel describes a small town terrorized by a seemingly random sniper.
FRANK GRUBER – The Gold Gap. Dutton, US, hardcover, 1968; Robert Hale, UK, hc, 1968. Paperback reprint: Pyramid N2558, 1971. Commander Sergeant returns a hero from Viet Nam, and accepts a millionaire’s assignment to investigate his fiance — a job which turns out to have international implications. This is a smooth job, though not so deviously plotted as some.
E. RICHARD JOHNSON – Silver Street. Harper & Row, US, hardcover, 1968. British title: The Silver Street Killer. Hale, hc, 1969. Paperback reprints: Dell, 1969; IPL, 1988. This is a powerful first novel by an inmate of the Minnesota State Prison, dealing with the seamier side of a large city slum and harshly carved out in the vernacular of its inhabitants. [Series character: Tony Lonto.]
November 9th, 2009 at 10:21 pm
The only author of the four whose books I’ve read extensively is Frank Gruber, whose mystery and thriller stories ranged from the semi-comic to the deadly serious. I’m sure I read THE GOLD GAP, but it took this review, as short as it is, to bring any of it back.
E. Richard Johnson enjoyed a short period of popularity for a while, especially among those who liked “hard as nails” crime fiction, but I guess I never fell into that category, as I’ve read only one of his novels, a paperback original entitled THE CARDINALLI CONTRACT (Pyramid, 1975).
November 10th, 2009 at 12:49 am
Gruber penned two of my favorites among his adventure and intrigue tales, Bridge of Sand, which deals with the Q document, and Brother’s of Silence, about the search for the sword of Attila the Hun. Twenty Plus Two is a good PI novel that is an early take on Vietnam, and The Last Doorbell, written as John Vedder, an early and worthwhile police procedural.
Anyone interested in the pulp era should find his The Pulp Jungle. The passage about a chance encounter at a second hand book store with one time pulp king H. Bedford-Jones is particularly poignant.
I couldn’t get into the Johnson books, though he flashed brightly on the scene for a brief period. He was active in the 70’s and early 80’s and gradually faded. Does anyone know what happened to him? Mongo’s Back In Town was a promising film, but his career just didn’t go anywhere.
November 10th, 2009 at 1:20 am
Johnson died in 1997. I’ve been trying to find something else about him online, but so far to no avail.
I know I’ve read quite a bit about him, but apparently in print form only. I believe he stayed in prison for quite a while, perhaps into the 1980s, but whether or not he was released before his death, I do not recall.
November 10th, 2009 at 1:55 am
I know Johnson did 20 years, but I have never known what for. However if he did 20 without parole, you’d have to think it was something serious or he had a really bad lawyer.
At first he was doing quite a few books, then dropped off, then stopped altogether, but I’ve no idea why.
November 10th, 2009 at 1:07 pm
It was Sue Feder, a well-known mystery fan, who corresponded with Johnson while he was in prison, and she did an extended article/interview with him. It was online at one time, but Sue died of leukemia four years ago, and that part of her website is no longer there.
The piece, which was very long, may have appeared in print somewhere, but if it didn’t, it’s essentially lost now, alas.
November 10th, 2009 at 5:48 pm
I actually read THE FORTEC CONSPIRACY, but danged if I can remember what happened in it.
November 10th, 2009 at 7:44 pm
It’s one of those books that was very popular in its day, but I doubt that anybody remembers it very much today.