Mon 6 May 2019
Stories I’m Reading, Selected by David Vineyard: MICHAEL GILBERT “The Unstoppable Man.”
Posted by Steve under Stories I'm Reading[3] Comments
MICHAEL GILBERT “The Unstoppable Man.” Short story. Inspector Hazelrigg. First US publication in Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, February 1954. First published in John Bull, UK, 19 November 1949, as “Amateur in Violence.†First collected in Amateur in Violence (Davis, US, paperback, 1973). Reprinted many times. Film: The Unstoppable Man (Argo, UK, 1960), reviewed here.
Those are the final words of Michael Gilbert’s Inspector Hazelrigg in this tale, and if you have ever read this oft anthologized story, you will have little trouble recalling them. In fact, they likely have the same impact now as you recall them they did when you first read them in one of the best known stories in Gilbert’s long career.
I suppose there are some who think of Gilbert as primarily a quiet writer, a British solicitor who wrote a certain kind of story, a far cry from his more violent American contemporaries. Of course that isn’t true. The truth is, Gilbert always wrote with a quiet savagery that belied his civilized settings and background. He had a fine eye for the darker, hidden side beneath the civilized soul of his fellow Brits, whether they were spies, solicitors, school masters, actors, prisoners of war, or policemen.
Gilbert not only produced fine puzzles and character studies, but when he wanted to, he could chill to the bone, producing nerve wracking suspense and high adventure. Think of some of those icy Calder and Behrens stories, some of the adventures of Patrick Petrella, and no few of the novels, that could suddenly go as dark and violent as any of their American cousins.
This was the first story of Gilbert’s I ever read, and I was a devout follower ever after.
“The Unstoppable Man†first appeared in this country in Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine in February 1954 in an issue that touted it contained no reprints. Among the all-new material were an Anthony Boucher story, one by Victor Canning, and others by Roy Vickers, Zelda Popkin, Phyllis Bentley, and Youngman Carter. Even in that company, though, Gilbert’s tale sticks out.
It’s a simple story. It opens with the Inspector describing the sort of man who would frighten him as a pursuer.
The amateur in question is Mr. Collet, managing director of a shipping firm who son has been kidnapped and wants to know whether or not kidnappers can be trusted to return their victim alive. Mr. Collet is in troublem and the kidnappers have his son.
The kidnapper is Joe Keller with his gang. Keller is a man who has kidnapped and tortured children before. He is holding Mr. Collet’s son and the police dare not rush the place for fear they will kill the child.
Mr. Collet has one request of the police, get him and his kit into the bedroom with his son before they rush the house. He will take care of the rest, though he doesn’t let on how, since he doesn’t want a gun. The police agree and get Collet into the room with his son. Their chances are slim as Keller and his gang will go for the child as soon as the police move in. There is no reason for them not to kill father and son at that point.
All that stands between the child and death is Hazelrigg’s “amateur in violence,†the quiet but strangely assured Mr. Collet.
I won’t spoil if for you if somehow you have missed this little gem from Mr. Gilbert from his Inspector Hazelrigg series. It’s such a good ending that Gilbert used variations on it in a couple of books, including a crossover novella with Calder, Behrens, and Patrick Petrella, and one of his early novels. I should point out that every time Gilbert delivers the goods, but perhaps never with quite the impact of this version.
I can only say without giving it away, that the ending is a corker, savage, shocking, and memorable.
You may never read Michael Gilbert quite the same way again. Whatever else you won’t forget Gilbert’s “amateur in violence.†You may even find you feel a little pity for Joe Keller and his gang … they never had a chance.
May 7th, 2019 at 10:53 am
Saw the movie, which I thought was very good, but I’ve never red this particular Michael Gilbert story.
I have to confess that I’m one of those who think of Gilbert as a “quiet writer.” A little too stiff for me, as least the ones I’ve read. Not quite the right word, but it’s close.
But that was many years ago. I’m willing to try him again.
May 8th, 2019 at 6:14 pm
Gilbert wrote several good adventure novels and even a couple of tough mysteries. If all you have read is SMALLBONE DECEASED or COUNTRY HOUSE BURGLAR (SKY HIGH) you might be surprised by some of the other books and the quiet savagery of some of Calder and Beherns and more realistic Petrella stories.
A particularly good title to look at outside his “norm” is THE 92nd TIGER about a television actor who starred in an action series who finds himself hired by an Arab prince who confuses his television role with real life. BLOOD AND JUDGMENT is a good police procedural with Patrick Petrella, AFTER THE FINE WEATHER a novel of intrigue about an English girl abroad who witnesses a crime and gives testimony against a dangerous man, BE SHOT FOR SIXPENCE a tough spy novel, THE BODY OF A GIRL an exceptionally tough police procedural about an undercover cop that was serialized in EQMM (I think Gilbert and Hoch are the only writers to ever have anything serialized in EQMM), and DEATH HAS DEEP ROOTS a fine courtroom novel set against the background of the French Resistance. THE DANGER WITHIN, a murder mystery set in a POW camp in Italy is one of his best, based on his own time as a POW along with Norman Lewis who wrote the non-fiction account of their escape across the Alps.
The Calder and Behrens stories are among the best short spy stories ever written, GAME WITHOUT RULES the best of the two collections (the other is MR. CALDER AND MR. BEHRENS). Even if you don’t like dogs in books you will admire Rasselas, the deerhound who aides in their work.
May 8th, 2019 at 8:47 pm
That’s a wealth of fiction you’ve run through in that comment, David. Not all of it appeals to me — I seldom read police procedurals any more, for example — but if ever I stop doing this blog, it’ll be because I’ve decided that the books, movies ad TV shows that I’ve accumulated directly because of it finally needs my focused attention, at last!