Finally got around to getting a copy of this. Like Bill C I
got a copy for 99 cents, which seems to be the going price
for it on eBay. Which, IMHO, makes the best value in
hardboiled fiction for the money. While perhaps not in the
top-tier of great hardboiled novels of the Twentieth Century,
it's certainly near the top of the second tier.
The only other book I'd read previously by Seymour Shubin was
Witness to Myself and I must say they have one aspect in
common and that is the idea put forth that, under the right
circumstances, anyone can become a murderer. The problem I
had with Anyone's My Name, in fact, the only problem I had
with it, was that I believe this premise is flawed.
The main character is not really the "Anyone" he claims to be
just for the simple fact that he is a writer of true
detective crime stories, which puts him regularly in the
company of criminals, which, of course leads directly to the
circumstances of him becoming the same kind of criminal he
writes about. I'm not giving anything away here that isn't
stated on the back cover of the book.
My problem with Witness to Myself was just the opposite. It
reminded me a bit of the Michael Skakel story and probably
would have been a better novel if the main character hadn't
been just anyone, but rather someone a little more
high-profile such as member of the extended Kennedy family.
It would have made the plot turn more plausible and the
d鮯uement more sensational.
Jeff
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