Review: Park Avenue Tramp

Park Avenue Tramp by Fletcher Flora
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Although similar in theme and style to the late-1950s novels by Lawrence Block and Orrie Hitt, Flora's style here also has a lot of similarities to David Goodis. At times the narrative is more from within the characterizations as opposed to being description or armchair psychoanalysis and the style frequently gets poetic. Went on a bit at times with needless dialog and backstory rumination and that put me in speed-read mode for large chunks of the book, but I could say that about most of these pulps. The basic plot centers around a young woman married to rich older husband. She is a lush and has one-night stands. Her husband hires a private investigator to follow her and make sure no serious relationship develops. When it does, muscle is brought in. Interestingly, the writing is strongest during the sections when the narrative focus is turned over to the investigator. He is bitter, hateful, and fantasizes killing the husband and being with the wife. The writing in these sections is dark and totally "inside" voice and if Flora had given this character more space to act this novel had the potential to be a great crime-noir. As it is, the crime comes at the end, and although critical to plot resolution, it is a small part of the book.

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Review: Zero Cool

Zero Cool by John Lange
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Zero Cool, first published in 1969, is another of Michael Crichton's early John Lange novels. This was reprinted by Hard Case Crime initially under the John Lange pseudonym. Its cool x-ray looking cover is shown with this review. (The original Signet paperback from 1969 has a lame photo cover). Hard Case later editions have Michael Crichton's name in large letters on top with a "writing as John Lange" by line below in much smaller letters. Crichton apparently revised this novel for the Hard Case Crime edition. Not sure how much was done to the body of the book, but the framing "Video Interview" prologue and epilogue he added seem completely unnecessary. The other somewhat humorous thing to note from the copyright page is that Crichton trademarked Zero Cool. Perhaps planning a movie treatment? Or a branded whats-it? Who knows. The novel itself is just so-so. The plot is intricate and constantly twisting and there is action scene after action scene and it's all quite cinematic. Unfortunately, at least to my reading taste, more than half the book consists of ridiculous dialogue that barely advances the plot. Crichton—like Carter Brown—spends five pages attempting witty repartee to impart maybe three sentences of information that moves the story along. He repeats this technique over an over throughout the novel. Plenty of colorful villains in the James Bond mold, although a bit cartoonish. Plenty of exotic settings, but they are thinly rendered. The plot? A radiologist on vacation in Spain is suddenly sucked into a Maltese Falcon-esque struggle between a bunch of criminals all trying to find a whats-it. I won't spoil the read by divulging more because then the first two thirds of the book are less compelling. The plot driver, and what keeps the pages turning, is that the radiologist protagonist doesn't know what is going on, so we get to follow along as he is batted about like a ping-pong ball between rival gangs. What is going on? Who is who? Will he survive? If you can can put up with the dialogue, or speed read it as I did, the plot will drag you along to the, finally, fast-paced and climactic ending.

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Review: Bayou Nurse

Bayou Nurse by Peggy Gaddis
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

One of Peggy Gaddis' later novels first published in hardcover in 1964 by Arcadia for the library market and it recycles numerous themes from her earlier novels. Nurse Lindsay puts her hospital career on hold to return to the bayou to care for her ailing Aunt Jennifer who had—spitefully—raised her after Lindsay's parents were killed in a fishing boat accident. Lindsay is the typical sassy Gaddis protagonist readers want to root for, but it is mean Aunt Jennifer, wheelchair confined and using her words like a cattle-prod, who steals every scene she is in. The verbal jousting between Lindsay and Jennifer are the high points. The low being the three dolts pursuing Lindsay: a doctor, a journalist, and a bayou guide. The nurse romance plot, and I won't spoil the outcome, demands that she end up with one of these guys, although to Gaddis' credit, Lindsay isn't really interested in any of them for almost the entire book. So that's the tension that keeps this one moving. Less developed is the mystery of why the journalist is sniffing around the bayou. That plot point is teased a lot but barely pursued until some thin gruel of criminal activity is surprisingly introduced to spur the novel's conclusion. It's the story not told that if it had been would have elevated this one considerably. There's a Valentine paperback edition with the title Strange Shadows of Love which tries to make this seem like a gothic novel. It isn't. Not one of Gaddis' best.

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Review: Odds On

Odds On by John Lange
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Michael Crichton's first novel written under the pseudonym of John Lange while he was in medical school. It's a heist plot, with three professional criminals planning to rob a luxury hotel in Spain. Would have been a better book if it were a hundred pages shorter as there are a lot of scenes with minor characters that add flavor but really don't advance the plot. The middle of the book, where the three thieves are chatting up the hotel guests and gathering information, is basically an excuse for a bunch of gratuitous sex scenes. Nice twist at the end during the heist itself that is set-up with plenty of foreshadowing. If you strip out the extraneous parts you can see the bones of Crichton's later cinematic style here in this first novel. Plenty of good scenes and a solid story arc, just a bit bloated. Available as a Hard Case Crime reprint.

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