This isn't exactly a cry for help. I'm having a good time
diving into 50s fiction that I've somehow missed over the
last 40 plus years. But I know that harping on the
good-old-stuff could get old to those focused on the new
stuff.
So I've grabbed the complimentary copy (left in the chairs of
those attending the Bouchercon Awards Banquet) of George
Pelecanos' HARD REVOLUTION due out in March of next year.
Derek Strange is 13 at the opening and I'm sinking into it
nicely. This has the marks of being one of George's
best.
BUT in the meantime, I just finished a really fun read by
Donald Hamilton that has suffered under two really dumb
titles. When first published in 1956 it was called
ASSIGNMENT--MURDER but when Gold Medal picked it up they
needed a new title to avoid (I am guessing here) confusion
with the Edward Aarons' Sam Durell series. So they stuck it
with ASSASSINS HAVE STARRY EYES. Retch...
But back to the novel. It's a thriller born out of the heart
of the Cold War and a nifty one. There was something of a
sub-genre of these slightly to full-blown paranoid adventures
in the 1948 to 1958 period. Some fall completely into the
science fiction zone and others keep closer to perceived
reality. Most involve some secret society or group that is
controlling or attempting to control events. Examples include
Eric Frank Russell's DREADFUL SANCTUARY, Gerald Kersh's THE
GREAT WASH aka THE SECRET MASTERS, and Steve Frazee's THE SKY
BLOCK.
Hamilton's novel has a more grounded in reality feel with the
main character James Gregory a scientist working at a top
secret weapons research lab in New Mexico. Gregory is a very
appealing hero, as comfortably confident, competent and, when
necessary, merciless as the best of the Heinlein heroes. The
novel opens with Gregory escaping from his job and a failing
marriage with a trip into the wilderness to hunt deer. As he
sits on a stump watching for deer, he is shot by another
hunter who keeps firing even after Gregory shouts his
protest. In self-defense, Gregory kills the man and the plot
and the novel are well-launched.
It's rare that I truly find a book hard to put down but this
one earned that description. Hamilton is a writer I've
neglected through the years but that just means there are
many pleasurable hours of Hamilton reading in front of
me.
Richard Moore
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