Friday's Forgotten Books, December 2, 2011

Patti Abbott is the author of MONKEY JUSTICE.

BLACKBURN, Bradley Denton

Brian Lindenmuth recommended this book when I asked if there were any good novels about serial killers. His case was persuasive, and I ordered the book and was richly rewarded.

Jimmy Blackburn, lifelong serial killer, convinces us early on that a strain of decency runs beneath his murderous impulse in this short, well-written and compelling novel. Unlike Dexter or Hannibal Lector, he doesn't feel a need to kill, but annoying people just keeping popping up. One death seems to lead to another in several cases.

You won't feel terribly sorry for most of his victims and the book succeeds in making Blackburn sympathetic but dark enough that you don't really root for him either. The writing style perfectly suits the man here. Each death is give its own chapter and unfolds in a highly original way. It's much like a book of short stories that you will want to read slowly. The place of religion in taming the beast in us bookmarks the stories. And oh yes, it is often very funny.

Ed Gorman is the author of BAD MOON RISING and many other novels. You can find him here.

Hardboiled America by Geoffrey O'Brien

Forgotten Books: Hardboiled America
How's this for a resume (from Wikipedia): "Geoffrey O'Brien (b. 1948) is a widely published author, editor, book and film critic, poet, and cultural historian. In 1992, he joined the staff of the Library of America, (later) becoming editor in chief. He has been a contributor to Artforum, Film Comment, The New York Times, Village Voice, New Republic, Filmmaker and, especially, to the New York Review of Books."

With cred like this you might expect his writing to be hoity or at least toity. Nope. No matter what he's writing about O'Brien is a pleasure to read. He has a voice and style all his own. And he's never more compelling than when he's writing about "Lurid Paperbacks and Masters of Noir," the sub-title of Hardboiled America.

There is no equivalent to this study of the largely forgotten writers who were conduits to the present day likes of Lehane and Pelecanos and Zeltserman. Even if these men never read the paperback writers of the Fifties they could not escape their influence. It was everywhere, adapted to radio and movies and comic books. And O'Brien is masterful at tracing the hardboiled vision from generation to generation.

O'Brien takes seriously the writing of such people as Day Keene, Harry Whittington and Brett Halliday and many other paperback men and women. He's opinionated of course. His take on John D. MacDonald and Dorothy Hughes never fails to rankle me. But his observations on the work of Jim Thompson and W.R. Burnett and Ross Macdonald and Charles Williams are eloquent and so well reasoned I reread them several times a year. He also brings in literary writers whose work was sometimes in the spirit of hardboiled. Nelson Algren is a natural. But I'm glad he referenced Calder Willingham, too. A fine novelist whose short stories in particular are so dark they can disturb your sleep for a few nights.

Then there is a checklist of hardboiled novels from 1929-1960. Again there is nothing like this anywhere else. You'll encounter names you've never heard of as well as the paperback staples of the various eras. I was so taken with the checklist I once called O'Brien and asked him if he'd let me reprint it in a coffee table book I was editing on noir. He didn't bother to hide his irritation. His checklist, he said, was one of the selling points of the his book. Why would he let me reprint it? He was right of course. But what the hell, it was worth a try.

If you don't have this book in your collection then you don't have a serious collection. Period. O'Brien is a savvy and witty writer and his words are complemented by a healthy number of black and white paperback cover reproductions. Get this book

Yvette Banek
Joe Barone
Bill Crider
Scott Cupp
Martin Edwards
Jerry House
Randy Johnson
George Kelley
Margot Kinberg
Rob Kitchin
B.V. Lawson
Doug Levin
Evan Lewis
Steve Lewis
Todd Mason
J.F. Norris
Richard Pangburn
David Rachels
James Reasoner
Gerard Saylor
Ron Scheer
Kerrie Smith
Kevin Tipple/Barry Ergang
TomCat