Thu 7 Jul 2022
Reviewed by Tony Baer: PAUL KAVANAGH (LAWRENCE BLOCK) – Such Men Are Dangerous.
Posted by Steve under Reviews[6] Comments
PAUL KAVANAGH – Such Men Are Dangerous. Macmillan, hardcover, 1969. Signet, paperback, 1970. Also published as by Lawrence Block by Jove, paperback, 1985.
Pseudonymously written by Lawrence Block, but much funnier (if you like gallows humor) if taken at face value as written in the first person by the protagonist. The story is about an ex-Green Beret, adrift. Picture Rambo without the patriotism. Parker without the greed. Hoke Mosely without a job (a la Grimhaven).
Since Paul’s been back from Cambodia, nothing interests him. Women? Meh. Booze? Meh. Money? Meh. Jobs? Meh. Paperbacks? Meh. Movies are alright to pass the time, I guess.
Then he gets summoned to DC to interview with the CIA. He’s got all the stuff you’d want from an international operative. Sans one: He flunks the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI): he’s a psycho.
He can’t believe it. He gets in a big argument with the CIA recruiter (George) that summoned him to DC. His record in the Green Berets is stellar. He’s never done anything politically questionable. He’s done everything he’s ever been asked to do, with flying colors.
There’s just one problem, George tells him: Would you take the black pill in your hollowed out tooth if ordered?
Paul asks why? I’d do it if it was necessary.
That’s the problem, George explains. You’d ask why. A true patriot wouldn’t ask why. They’d just do it. We can’t trust you to follow orders. Ten years ago you’d have just done it. Now? Now you’re thinking for yourself. We have no use for you.
Pissed, but grudgingly accepting, Paul leaves to figure out the rest of his life.
He takes a plane to Miami, settles on a small uninhabited island, and makes a list to live his life by:
Never write a letter to anyone.
Make no phone calls.
Don’t talk to anyone.
No women exc. whores if you have to.
Two drinks every day before dinner, otherwise none.
Three meals every day.
Exercise regularly, swimming and calisthenics, keep in shape.
Plenty sleep, sunshine.
Don’t go anywhere exc. movies.
When in doubt, do nothing.
Things are going swimmingly for him. Everything’s in control. Keeping a rigorous schedule, keeping religiously to his list, he’s finally finding peace and flow.
And then George shows up. He’s tracked him to his island. He tells Paul that he’s just the man he’s looking for. Not for the CIA, mind you, but for a caper: they’re gonna hijack a bunch of weapons from the military and sell them for a couple of million bucks to a supposedly ‘friendly’ terrorist group.
The caper is the balance of the novel, and it’s a doozy. A violent, bloody, doozy. About as violent as it could be and still be ‘written’ by the protagonist.
It was good. Liked it but didn’t love it. I felt like Block was kidding me. Which is fine. It’s kinda funny and quite captivating and I enjoyed the ride. But for ‘novel of violence’ verisimilitude I’d take Westlake and Jim Thompson any day over it.
It’s my third Block, having read 8 Million Ways to Die and When the Sacred Ginmill Closes, and I remain nonplussed at the universal acclaim. Scudder has neither the chivalry of Marlowe nor the dogged tenacity and efficiency of Sam Spade or the Continental OP. His clients always seem to end up worse for having met him.
I’m no worse for having read Block’s books. But I don’t feel any better either.
July 7th, 2022 at 8:01 pm
Tony liked it better than I did.
This is easily one of the most unpleasant books I ever read, and worse it doesn’t read as if Block believes in it either.
I can imagine he wrote it thinking it was a new genre he could conquer, but he doesn’t get it right, and while it was talked about a lot when it came out and had a following among some readers it really was a major pain for me to finish since I never believed in the hero one second.
I have no problem with Anti Heroes, even with amoral ones. I liked Block’s Keller, and Tanner, love Parker and Quarry, admired Trevanian’s Jonathan Hemlock and Nicolai Hel, enjoyed Nicole’s Jonas Wilde and Estleman’s Pete Macklin, but this book touched buttons I didn’t know I had, and I got through AMERICAN PSYCHO with no problem.
Like Tony, when I discovered this was Block I thought he was having readers on, deliberately writing a book he expected a large number of readers to react negatively to, a “here, I can be more unpleasant than all these psychotic blood-soaked men’s action series.”
I’m still not sure he wasn’t doing that and it got away from him when some readers actually embraced his hero.
But this really was one of the most unpleasant reading experiences of my life. If Block wanted us to loathe this book and its hero he succeeded beyond his wildest expectations in my case. The only book series I ever loathed more was John Ringo’s Ghost, and his hero was a sociopathic pederast who fantasized about watching women being sexually assualted.
July 8th, 2022 at 11:50 am
It must be quite a book to produce a reaction such as this, David. Not that I have a copy handy to read anyway, but I’ll take a hard pass on it if ever it does come my way. (I might ave given it a try when I was younger, but that was when I was reading everything!)
July 7th, 2022 at 8:52 pm
I read the Signet paperback in 1970. At the time, I wondered if this was Donald Westlake under one of his pseudonyms. The tone reminded me a lot of the Parker books.
July 8th, 2022 at 8:58 pm
Part of my reaction was his “hero” killing American soldiers guarding the weapons they want to sell to “friendly terrorists.”
July 11th, 2022 at 10:37 am
This will be a ramble, induced by oncoming Old Age:
Back in 1972, I was 21, a high school graduate, in the work force with (after several false starts) a full-time job (that became a long run, but that’s another story), and doing most of my reading on buses, to and from work.
Most of the books were paperbacks, bought off the spinner racks at Walgreen’s, Kresge’s, Woolworth’s, Kroch’s & Brentano’s, and places like that.
There was a Presidential election in ’72 (kind of a bad one, if you recall), and a paperback novel cught my eye, because of its subject matter: The Triumph Of Evil, by Paul Kavanagh (of whom I’d never heard).
I read this one over a week’s worth of bus rides to and from Downtown Chicago (I was a messenger on LaSalle Street), and it was a scary read at times, but 21-year-old me was impressed; I made a mental note to look for Mr. Kavanagh’s work –
– but at that point in my young life, I’d never heard of Lawrence Block, in all his other guises; that was some years off for me.
Learning after some years that Lawrence Block and Paul Kavanagh were the same guy – that a new favorite writer was in fact an old favorite – well, by that time I was old enough to “know better” …
Anyway, fifty years down the road, when Lawrence Block started putting his backlist on the market, I made it a point to get The Triumph Of Evil in its spanking-new trade paperback edition, and I do plan to read it again, when the opportunity presents itself (I really, really will – honest …).
Inexorable time in its flight:
In 50 years time, nearly all the stores I mentioned above seem to have gone under (Walgreen’s excepted); I’m getting nearly all my books from Amazon, or direct from the publishers (don’t even remind me of the 21st century prices).
And now I think I’ve reached my minimum daily requirement of nostalgia … and more likely than not I’ve exceeded yours …
July 11th, 2022 at 12:11 pm
Mike,
I’m not read “Triumph of Evil†and am surprised to see there are two more titles ‘by’ Kavanagh—tho it appears that only ‘Such Men are Dangerous†was written as ‘autobiography’ and the other two books involve characters not named ‘Paul kavanagh’. I guess that means that kavanagh—the anti-hero of “such men are dangerous†retires from a life of action and becomes a writer of crime thrillers?
In any case, I note that one goodreads reviewer claims that a politician in “triumph of evil†(1971) uses as his election catchphrase: “Make America Great Againâ€.