Picks of the best from my top five list:
Hammett: RED HARVEST -- an extravagant ode to blood and
bullets, and possibly the best flat out pure pulp kickass
novel of all time. Paul Cain's FAST ONE is often cited for
this honor, and it does have the speed, but not the
heart.
Chandler: I've always been fond of THE LADY IN THE LAKE --
sharply written and, unusual for Chandler, sharply plotted.
And it isn't infected with the self-pity that makes his later
novels, especially the much loved THE LONG GOODBYE, so
difficult for me to reread these days.
THOMPSON: POP 1280 is his masterpiece. Even more than THE
KILLER INSIDE ME, this is a mean rattlesnake of a book that
coils up in your lap, tickles you with its tail and, when
you're laughing and off guard, buries its fangs in your
throat.
Brackett: NO GOOD FROM A CORPSE -- forget John Evans and Ross
McDonald and all the other Chandler wannabes. This is the
real thing, with all of Chandler's most annoying aspects
stripped away, and a poetic sensibility that belonged to
Brackett alone.
Himes: BLIND MAN WITH A PISTOL -- all of Himes' novels were
funhouse rides without the brakes, and in this one the car
plunges straight into the abyss, which as it turns out had
always been the real destination. Reading it today, this book
seems even more true than when it was written thirty years
ago.
A couple of bonus picks. I haven't seen either of these books
mentioned since I subscribed to this list, but both are
worthy of your attention:
DOG SOLDIERS by Robert Stone. Hard boiled crime fiction as
literature, and as wicked a trip into the heart of
contemporary darkness as anything I've read.
ON THE YARD by Malcolm Braley. The Great American Prison
Novel by somebody who walked the walk and talked the
talk.
BobT
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