WAYNE D. DUNDEE “The Judas Target.” PI Joe Hannibal. First published in An Eye for Justice: The Third Private Eye Writers of America Anthology, edited by Robert J. Randisi (Mysterious Press, hardcover, 1988).

   Of the various authors included in this third PWA Anthology, Wayne Dundee is probably the least well known. But when you’re included in a book that also includes original stories by authors such as Lyons, Lutz, Grafton, Estleman and Pronzini, I’d have been pumped if it were me, and I’ll bet Dundee was too.

   His primary PI character was a fellow named Joe Hannibal, and although it’s been a while since he’s made an appearance, over the years he’s been featured in a couple of dozen short stories and eight or do novels. His stomping ground is, of all places, Rockford, Illinois, a place which if you’re a PI in, you’re probably the only PI in town.

   In “The Judas Target” it’s his good buddy, bar owner Bomber Brannigan, whose life has been threatened – twice before he lets Joe know about it, and once after the Joe talks him into letting him help.

   The case develops slowly but assuredly from that point on, ending in one slam bang of a finish. It’s difficult to learn much about a character after reading just one short story about him, but I can safely say that if someone were after me, for reasons unknown, I’d sure like to have someone like Joe Hannibal on my side.

IF SCIENCE FICTION. October 1967. Editor: Frederik Pohl. Cover artist: Hector Castellon. Overall rating: **½.

HAL CLEMENT “Ocean on Top.” Serial, part 1 of 3. Review to appear after my reading of the full story.

LARRY EISENBERG “Conqueror.” A short but terribly important story of how sex can humiliate the proudest conqueror. (5)

A. E. van VOGT “Enemy of the Silies.” Novelette. More incomprehensible adventures of the Silkies, attacked this time by the Nijjians. Cemp’s only weapon if his Logic of Levels, whatever that might be. You gotta admire van Vogt, if he understands this stuff. (0)

C. C. MacAPP “Winter of the Llangs.” Novelette. An intelligent cattle-like people trapped by the weather are harassed by creatures which might be wolves. Solid alien characterization. (3)

DONALD J. WALSH “Mu Panther,” First story. A hunting party goes after a mutant panther which has more than size going for it, (2)

JAMES BLISH “Faust Aleph-Null.” Serial, part 3 of 3. To be reviewed separately soon.

THE DARK PAST. Columbia Pictures, 1948. William Holden, Nina Foch, Lee J. Cobb, Adele Jergens, Stephen Dunne, Lois Maxwell, Berry Kroeger, Steven Geray. Director: Rudolph Maté

   You might think that, with the title The Dark Past, that this Columbia production was a film noir. And, in some ways, you’d be correct. But overall, this feature is way too optimistic about human nature to be considered a proper noir.

   Let me explain.

   Lee J. Cobb portrays Dr. Andrew Collins, a college professor/psychiatrist whose family home is invaded by notorious outlaw Al Walker (William Holden) and his crew. Over the course of a stormy evening, Collins takes the angst-ridden Walker on as a veritable patient.

   Apparently the distraught and criminally-minded Walker has been having a recurrent nightmare that is slowly driving him to the brink of insanity. Collins, who seems to believe many criminals can be “cured,” breaks down the symbolism of the dream and helps Walker break from his murderous ways. That’s the gist of The Dark Past.

   Supporting cast members include the lovely Nina Foch as Walker’s girlfriend and Adele Jurgens as one of Collins’s houseguests. Truth be told, however, the movie – which is based on a play – centers around the performances of both Cobb and Holden.

   Both do well enough with the material, even the psychobabble. But the material simply isn’t that particularly compelling, at least from the vantage point of 2025. Still, I surprisingly somewhat enjoyed watching this movie, perhaps due to the short running time and the commitment that both leads gave to the work.

A. S. FLEISCHMAN – Danger in Paradise. Gold Medal #295, paperback original; 1st printing, 1953. Cover by Barye Phillips. Stark House Press, 2010, 2-for-1 edition with Malay Woman.

   It’s easily said, but the fact of the matter is that they just don’t write books like this any more.

   Adventure thrillers, that is, written for the fun of it, and for the reader’s pleasure as well, without the bloated look of a book aimed straight for the bestseller list.

   Jefferson Cape is in a small village in Bali when a beautiful girl slips him a message. Upon his return to the United States, she tells him, he is to make sure it is immediately turned over to the CIA. Unfortunately, he is forced to miss his boat, whereupon he distinctly finds himself a center of attention, and from all sides.

   He soon finds he has fallen in love with the girl, of course, has doubts, has doubts erased, then raised again. Underlying his every action, however, is a sense of honor and chivalry no longer adhered to today, not even by the good guys.

   Maybe you can just chalk this one up to nostalgia.

Rating: B plus.

CHARLES L. HARNESS -The Ring of Ritornel. Berkley X1630, paperback original; 1st printing, November 1968.

   The twelve galaxies surrounding the Node, now at peace, bring [the planet] Terror/Terra to trial in prelude to its destruction. Terror/Terra, having been the cause of the Horror, nuclear warfare which threatened life everywhere, is not felt to deserve mercy.

   But is life a cycle, a Ring so to say, predestined to return to its original form, and then to continue again and again? So say the followers of the god Ritornel, and the postponement of Terra’s destruction may be the key to the Ring’s fulfillment. But Alea, the goddess of chance, has her own followers, who believe that the Ring can be broken, and new life can be formed.

   James Andrek us caught between the two. Seeking the reason for his brother’s disappearance, he id marked for death by the Magister of the Home Galaxy. But then escaping, he returns to put into effect one of the two destinies of the universe.

   A generous sense of wonder is evident throughout, but if the simple matter of statistical mechanics on page 99 is faulty, how much trust can be put into the grander theories of cosmology that follow? Plus a style which is both poetical and heavy reading and the book does not satisfy completely. Yet it is not a book to be missed.

Rating: ****½

WALKING ON AIR. RKO Radio Pictures, 1936. Gene Raymond, Ann Sothern. Director: Joseph Santley.

   A girl hires an obnoxious suitor to force her father to let her marry the man she loves. Nature naturally takes its own way in such matters, and here is no exception. You can very easily write the rest on your own.

   Gene Raymond’s character is also an aspiring young radio singer, which allows for a fine opportunity for a few extra songs, resulting in a pleasant mixture of comedy and music. If Ann Southern could never be called beautiful, she was the next best thing to it.

ARTHUR LYONS Hard Trade. PI Jacob Asch #5.   Holt, Rinehart & Winston, hardcover, 1981. Henry Holt, paperback, 1983.

   There must be more private eyes per capita in California than anywhere else in the world. Jacob Asch is another one. He’s been around for a while, but he’s never gotten himself so deeply caught up in the muck and mire or foul-smelling politics as he does in this one.

   Throughout their long celebrated history, the majority of the work that private detectives do has been to deal with the likes of blackmailers, errant spouses and runaway daughters. Common everyday problems like that. People like Jacob Asch just don’t end up on the county payroll, working for the leading maverick on the L.A. Board of Supervisors or at least not ordinarily.

   On the other hand, while private eyes are known for fighting the system, they’ve almost always been loners, at least in fiction, with hardly ever any kind of power or authority behind them. Nor do they usually end up uncovering a trail of corruption, tinged with illicit homosexual diversions, leading up anywhere nearly as high as this — clear to Sacramento and the governor’s mansion.

   This is heady atmosphere, there’s no denying it, but what it does mean, as whenever a story takes this route, is that there’s a lot less action involved, and the paperwork outweighs the legwork by far. Have no fear, though — the ending is as authentically sour as anything you can find in the works of Chandler, say, and it does compensate a great deal for a slower-than-usual course of events from Mr. Lyons.

   There is, by the way, one other note that is safe to add:

   Here is a book that Jerry Brown will definitely not be pleased with.

Rating: B minus.

UNSANE. Bleecker Street Media, 2018. Joshua Leonard, Claire Foy, Sarah Stiles, Marc Kudisch, Amy Irving. Director: Steven Soderbergh.

   Steven Soderbergh’s Unsane is everything you want a solid psychological thriller to be – and more. Captivating and filled with tension, the movie stars Clare Foy as Sawyer Valentini, a white collar professional who relocates to Pennsylvania to start a new life.

   Her old one in Boston was tainted by the fact that she had been stalked for well over a year by the obsessive David Strine (Joshua Leonard). Life in Pennsylvania, however, isn’t exactly going as planned. Sawyer decides to seek out mental health counseling at a place called Highland Creek. She is told to fill out a series of forms, not realizing that the facility is going to use her “consent” to institutionalize her against her will and then charge her insurance for her stay.

   As you might expect, Sawyer fights back against the staff, leading them to view her as dangerous. Despite warnings from Nate (Jay Pharoah), a friendly fellow “inmate,” she increasingly pushes back against her confinement. At that point, the staff really does think she belongs there. As tension mounts, things come to a head when she thinks she sees her stalker, David, at the facility. He’s working there and giving out meds to the patients.

   But is he? Or is it all in her head? As the movie progresses, secrets are revealed and Sawyer must fend for her life against a man who has developed a bizarre fascination with her. Problem is: she’s stuck in an asylum and doesn’t know who she can trust. Even her ally Nate isn’t who he pretends to be.

   Filmed on an Apple iPhone 7 Plus, Unsane looks and feels like something different from what moviegoers are used to. Although I was skeptical about what an entire film captured on a phone would look like, I have to say that I was very impressed. The aspect ratio works well, especially for a movie which is meant to be claustrophobic.

   Overall, I found Unsane to be an effective thriller, one that evokes those made in the 1980s and 1990s. It is bolstered by Foy’s solid performance as a woman on the verge of a nervous breakdown. The movie has a lot to say about the corrupt health care industry as well, something that, to the filmmakers’ credit, never comes across as preachy or didactic.

   As you can tell, I liked this one quite a bit. Even if, or better yet despite, how the whole thing may come across as far fetched.

JOHN LUTZ – Dancer’s Debt. Alo Nudger #5. St. Martin’s, hardcover, 1988.

   Alo Nudger is hired by a woman who is worried about the man she is living with, a Vietnam veteran with the soul of a poet and in debt to everyone in town (St. Louis). Recently he has been living in fear, of what he will not say.

   Nudger’s client is someone he could fall in love with, and he very nearly does. There is also more to the case than the above. Lutz is a good writer, but not a great one. What builds to a climax then sadly fades to a neatly-wrapped anticlimax, and epilogue.

THE BURGLAR. Columbia Pictures, 1957. Dan Duryea, Jayne Mansfield, Martha Vickers, Peter Capell, Mickey Shaughnessy. Screenplay by David Goodis, based on his novel of the same name. Director: Paul Wendkos.

   Watching it recently. this was the second time that I’ve seen The Burglar, a criminally underappreciated film noir starring Dan Duryea and Jayne Mansfield. Adapted for the screen by David Goodis, the author of the book upon which the film is based, The Burglar has the always impressive Duryea front and center the majority of the time. He portrays Nat Harbin, the ringleader of a gang of thieves.

   After stealing a priceless jewelry necklace from a rich spiritualist, the group must contend with the police, their decision as to where to fence the goods, and their own internal squabbles. Along for the ride with the men is blonde bombshell Gladden (Mansfield), the daughter of a man who took Nat   in when he was a young runaway.

   Directed by Paul Wendkos, this crime movie reminded me very much of Stanley Kubrick’s The Killing (1956). Much like Kubrick, Wendkos had an eye for faces. Indeed, the movie isn’t so much filmed as it is photographed in beautiful, crisp black and white. Filmed largely on location in Philadelphia and Atlantic City, the movie immerses the viewer into the action. This includes a final sequence in an Atlantic City fun house which is as creepy as it is well executed.

   I recommend this sweaty, rough around-the-edges noir highly for those who haven’t yet had the occasion to see it.