If the rage that characterized the British writers known as The Angry Young Men had ever been focused on a novel about prison, Allan Guthrie’s SLAMMER might well have been the result. In the course of the relentless story of prison guard Nick Glass, it takes apart the prison system, prisoners who make the OZ boys look soft, the police, the underground gun society and, not least, a marriage foundering on the fact that neither Glass nor his wife can quite get around her brief affair with another man.
In short explosive scenes, SLAMMER demonstrates that not only is Glass himself a prisoner (he badly needs the job), but so is his family. Prisoners demand that Glass start sneaking drugs into them. If not, an outside man will kill his wife and child.
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Quick takes and capsule reviews from the dark suspense master himself, Ed Gorman!
Three real knockouts this time. Excuse the effusiveness.
If the rage that characterized the British writers known as The Angry Young Men had ever been focused on a novel about prison, Allan Guthrie’s SLAMMER might well have been the result. In the course of the relentless story of prison guard Nick Glass, it takes apart the prison system, prisoners who make the OZ boys look soft, the police, the underground gun society and, not least, a marriage foundering on the fact that neither Glass nor his wife can quite get around her brief affair with another man.
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Bill Pronzini has become not only a poet of people, but a poet of place as well. In THE OTHER SIDE OF SILENCE, corporate security specialist Rick Fallon is, like many Pronzini protagonists, spiritually adrift. And with good reason: The death of his son also meant the death of his marriage. So when he finds Casey Dunbar in an isolated pocket of Death Valley and finds her suicidal, he recognizes a kindred spirit.
Her son has been abducted by her vengeful and cynical husband, not because he cares about the boy, but because he wants to destroy her. The desert speaks to both Fallon and Casey, and in its solemn silence, they agree to start on the long and dangerous journey to recapture her son.
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Quick takes and capsule reviews from the dark suspense master himself, Ed Gorman!
MYSTERY SCENE #106 has to be one of the two or three best issues of the magazine ever published. Art Taylor’s article tracking crime novels written during the civil rights era is not only fine scholarship, but also a reminder of several novels that deserve to be read even now; Gary Phillips’ piece on the black singing and screen star Herb Jeffries provides a complementary look at other popular culture in last century’s history; Kevin Burton Smith reminds us that whether you like his work or not, Robert B. Parker has been the dominant influence on private eye fiction since the publication of his first novel (I wonder if there’d even be a private eye market if Parker hadn’t come along); and I interview Donald E. Westlake, who talks at length about the history of the Richard Stark books. With Jon L. Breen on reference books, Dick Lochte on audio books and Ron Miller discussing TV shows (and all the regular columns and book reviewers), the new issue should be snapped up by mystery fans of every kind.
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There aren’t enough superilatives to do justice to the excellent science fiction and fantasy books Haffner Press has been publishing for several years.
The latest is GATEWAY TO PARADISE: THE COLLECTED STORIES OF JACK WILLIAMSON, VOLUME SIX. This is my favorite Williamson anthology so far because it contains the original novella that later became DARKER THAN YOU THINK — still, to me, one of the five best novels ever written about the werewolf culture. Also included is the novel GATEWAY TO PARADISE, which became one of the earliest of the Ace Double Novels: DOME AROUND AMERICAS, an exciting adventure story and an grim reminder of Cold War days.
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