I found this 1963 novel to be a very conscientious, and
fairly successful effort to get inside a black doctor who is
being set up to take the blame for an abortion-turned-murder
case. Continuing her interest in and sympathy for
minorities--seen esp. in The Fallen Sparrow and Ride the Pink
Horse--Hughes dramatizes the sensitivities of an accused
black in white Southwestern (Phoenix) culture. I think she's
got the transitional attitudes and practices about right,
including how blacks can "read" white reactions.
Although the book is crime suspense, it is not hard boiled or
particularly noir. Even has a romance going on the side. But
it is effective in what it's attempting to do. Typical of her
other novels, Expendable Man has some very visual scenes and
characters--an outlaw abortionist's "operating room," the
teen victim, cops both racist and honestly struggling.
Bill Hagen
billha@ionet.net
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