Here's the text of a review I just wrote of two sleaze
paperbacks, one of which was probably by Evan Hunter. To see
the covers (which I highly recommend, though be warned that
they are NSFW) and get the benefit of embedded links, check
out the original review on my blog:
http://groovyageofhorror.blogspot.com/2007/10/nightstand-sleaze-double-feature.html
Nightstand Sleaze Double Feature!
There's been some debate recently over at the RARA-AVIS forum
(devoted to hardboiled and noir fiction) about the relative
merits of pseudonymous sleaze, and its place in the canon of
various authors who've gone on to achieve distinction. Many
authors are reluctant to discuss or even acknowledge these
more-or-less pornographic novels hacked out quickly for a
paycheck, typically in the early parts of their careers
before they found their voices. Even at the time, most did
not want to be associated with this type of fiction; thanks
to an impenetrable wall of pseudonymity, built of house names
and cemented with often-conflicting attribution between the
covers and title pages, it's now all-but-impossible to know
who really wrote what in many cases.
The damn shame of it is that, though much sleaze is truly,
wretchedly unreadable, much of it also flashes with rough
brilliance, and you even find the rare minor masterpiece
that's obviously received some loving polish. Sometimes, it
seems, the fast hack-work tapped deeper concerns and
inspiration, in something like the manner that automatic
writing is supposed to do, with much more interesting results
than the authors might have intended, expected, or
desired.
Here are two published by Nightstand, one excellent and one
middling-to-good, both with amazing covers by Robert Bonfils,
and both sharing the theme of troubled children growing into
murderous stalkers of prostitutes.
LUST DREAM by Dean Hudson (Nightstand 1962)
Sean McClain catches his mother in the act of prostitution
only moments before his father does, and then watches
helplessly as his father strangles her right before his
horrified eyes. The father dies shortly afterward in prison.
In the orphanage, a kindly doctor tries desperately to undo
the damage to Sean's psyche, and tries to help him work
through the awful recurring nightmares depicted by the cover
illustration. But Sean is too badly twisted, and his sweet
romance with the clinic nurse is shadowed by the secret
vomiting and compulsive showering he does alone each morning
after every night of love. The doctor despairs when Sean
announces his intention to join the police force, knowing
that the poor boy is hell-bent on joining the Vice Squad so
he can act out both his fascination and his hatred of
prostitutes.
This is about as fine a sleaze novel as I've ever read. The
sex scenes are sometimes touching, sometimes quite erotic,
only once or twice lapsing into rote mechanics. The scenes of
violence are shocking and repulsive, all the more so since
they always follow the sex. Sean is no cookie-cutter
sociopath; he's intelligent and curious, longs for real love,
and wrestles with great sorrow against the demons that
prevent him from achieving it. The childhood trauma backstory
might sound cliché¬ but his complex, evolving responses to it
never are.
This was almost certainly written by hardboiled master Evan
Hunter/Ed McBain. If indeed it was, in my judgment it's one
of the best things I've read by him under any name. Earl Kemp
has a provocative article about Evan Hunter's authorship of
sleaze like this, and the next article down on that same page
includes Lynn Munroe's capsule review of this title and
others by "Dean Hudson."
HARLOT HATER by Don Holliday (Nightstand 1965)
Now this one is quite a bit cruder than Lust Dream, but still
by no means a poor telling of this type of story.
Lucas first catches his father frequenting a hooker, then
discovers that his mother secretly works as one, too. He
actually observes a gangbang in which she's cheerfully
triple-penetrated! Both parents die as a result of their
involvement with prostitution, and a badly warped Lucas grows
into a masked, rubber-suited slasher/vigilante!!
He's on a fateful collision course with Margaret, a lesbian,
and her bisexual lover, Zoe. The cover illustration depicts a
moment from the climax, which is actually more violent and
gruesome than the picture suggests. The closing chapter caps
it all off with a twist that I suppose I should have seen
coming.
This one spends too much time on flashbacks, which really
drag in places. You could do much worse, though, if you're
looking for a dose of crazy nastiness--it certainly delivers
on that promise!
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