Recoil

Oklahoma native Jim Thompson (1906-1977) began authoring his brand of violent, hardboiled crime-fiction in the late 1940s. His 1952 novel, The Killer Inside Me, is regarded as a mid-century genre classic. Often the author's work was written in a fast-paced, unbridled style rich with anti-heroes, sociopaths and violent criminals who serve as story protagonists. In his efforts to push the boundaries of the average paperback, Thompson's craftsmanship is widely respected by literary critics yet is often criticized for his abstract delivery. Case in point is the 1953 novel Recoil originally published by Lion Books.

The story's protagonist, Patrick Cosgrove, is first introduced to readers on his last day of a fifteen year prison sentence at Sandstone State Reformatory. In flashback sequences, it's explained that Patrick had a wild bank robbing accident while deer hunting (gives new meaning to chasing bucks). As a product of the 1950s, the law of that era specifically required someone to mentor or accept the responsibility of taking a reformed prisoner under their wing. Without it, the prisoner stays confined. Patrick doesn't have any friends or family, so he wrote to hundreds of companies asking for employment. After months of silence, Dr. Luther, a psychologist and political lobbyist, responds to Patrick's letter in the form of a job proposal. After his release, Patrick goes to work for Dr. Luther and that's where things become unusual.

Unconditionally, Luther provides free room, food and a car to Patrick. Additionally, he pays him $250/month to be a town surveyor...but provides no real instruction. Confused, Patrick drives around all day and attempts to avoid the seedy side of town. Later, Luther's sexy and flamboyant wife throws herself at Patrick. Instead of restricting the behavior, Luther encourages it! It's as if Thompson just purposefully defies the genre's traditions despite the overall absurdity of the situation. When Patrick hires a private investigator to learn more about Luther and Lila, smoking guns, car chases and corpses begin populating Thompson's otherwise flat, one-dimensional prose.

I wasn't sure what to make of Recoil. My first impression was to fling the book across the room, but then realized I had hardwood floors and the Kindle version. Jim Thompson proves that everyone should do a short, preliminary search to obtain a book's general public reception. Recoil is mostly panned by readers, and I'm only contributing to that consensus. Like an old, rusty Volkswagen, I start and stop repeatedly when I venture into this author's lane. Artistically, there's nothing to celebrate in this paperback. It is filled with awkward scenes that not only fail to entertain, but are just confusing to the reader. Yet somehow I stuck around like some interstate rubbernecker just wanting carnage satisfaction.

In closing, here's a scene summary that is indicative of everything wrong here:

Patrick finds a dead body in an office building late at night. Fearing that he himself will be a suspect in the murder, he attacks the night guard and attempts to stuff the corpse in the backseat of his car.

It's this kind of stuff that brings Recoil ridiculously close to the Paperback Warrior Hall of Shame. Steer clear of this book at all costs.

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Paperback Warrior Podcast - Episode 34

Paperback Warrior Podcast Episode 34 explores the violent and sexy world of Men’s Adventure Magazines and the upstart publishing company  reprinting the stories and art for modern audiences. We review the best anthologies compiling the content from these oddball publications of the 1950s and 1960s. Check it out on your favorite podcast app or stream below. Download directly HERE.

Listen to "Episode 34: Men's Adventure Magazines" on Spreaker.

Hell-Bent for Danger

There is sparse information available today about the life of mid 20th Century author Walt Grove. I speculate that he probably served as a pilot during WW2, evidenced by his aviator-themed novels like Down and The Joy Boys. Perhaps he's best known for his novelization of The Wings of Eagles, a 1957 aviation-war film starring John Wayne and directed by John Ford. My first experience with Walt Grove's small literary catalog is Hell-Bent for Danger, a paperback published by Fawcett Gold Medal in 1950. The novel was expanded from a 1949 short-story appearing in Colliers magazine.

Grove's opening chapter reads like vintage Gil Brewer in its presentation of a heated domestic dispute between main character Robert Warren and his wife Nancy. Feeling restrained in the cold cell block of marriage, Warren's response to his wife's request to return a package to a local department store is awe-inspiring. From the driver's window, Warren throws the package and it's spilled belongings onto the family's lawn as a horrified Nancy watches on. Quickly peeling out of the driveway, readers suddenly learn that this suburban married man and father has reached his breaking point.

Through Grove's skilled hands, Hell-Bent for Danger is like a psychological study of man's downward spiral. As a fighter pilot in WW2, Warren often wishes he could relive one more thrilling bombing run (perhaps a sentiment shared by the author?). His distressed mind even fathoms a new society where working men and women are pitted against savage lions before boarding trains and buses – the ultimate survival of the fittest every weekday morning. But thankfully, Warren's life takes a drastic turn when his old Colonel, a lowly drifter named Bobo, shows up to borrow money.

It's abundantly clear that the author enjoyed stretching Warren's emotional guy-wires tighter and tighter as the narrative threads shift into a surprisingly new setting. Bobo wants Warren to help finance a transcontinental air-shipping business. The goal is to begin a thriving new adventure, but primarily it's so both Warren and Bobo can experience the exhilaration of flying again. The issue is that Bobo's lover Annie is young, sexy and available for Warren's repressed sexual desires. Warren wants to rediscover the thrill of living, yet teeters on a balance beam between lusting for Annie or chasing high altitudes with his friend and former Colonel. Through a roller-coaster of emotions, Grove's narrative explores lust, life's complacency and even criminal intent high over the Canadian Rockies.

Hell-Bent for Danger isn't necessarily a crime-noir. It reads more like a tight, romantic-thriller but retains enough action and masculinity to attract crime-fiction readers. It's clear that Walt Grove was an incredibly gifted storyteller, and I’m curious why his literary career stopped at just a handful of paperback originals. Based on my small sampling size, we were surely cheated out of what would have been an outstanding, robust literary catalog. Hell-Bent for Danger is an outstanding novel despite it's genre misplacement.

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Able Team #01 - Tower of Terror

With The Executioner's overwhelming retail success, it was just a matter of time before publisher Gold Eagle would expand the Mack Bolan universe. In June 1982, Gold Eagle launched two successful spinoff series - Able Team and Phoenix Force. The publisher used The Executioner's creator, Don Pendleton, on the covers of the first three novels of each series as a co-author. Of course Pendleton had no hand in the writing, it was only a marketing scheme to lure consumers familiar with the Pendleton name. Instead, house names were assigned to each series: Gar Wilson for Phoenix Force and Dick Stivers for Able Team. Like the later Bolan installments, the books were really penned by a revolving door of authors. We're examining the debut Able Team book, Tower of Terror, authored by L.R. Payne. It was the first of 51 total series installments.

In the Vietnam War, Sergeant Mack Bolan commanded a special forces unit called Team Able. Much later, Bolan's crusade against the mafia warranted Bolan to call upon his old team again. These events occurred in The Executioner #02: Death Squad. Unfortunately, the entire team was killed in that battle except Bolan, Rosario “ Politician” Blancanales and Herman “Gadgets” Schwarz. Both of these former members have served Bolan periodically throughout his war (and the book series). Carl Lyons is a former Los Angels Police Sergeant that became Bolan's ally during his West Coast mob fight. Under the direction of Bolan and Stony Farm director Hal Brognola, these three men combine as a trio to fight criminal cells within the U.S. Thus, Able Team is born.

In the series debut, a Puerto Rican terrorist group called FALN have claimed a Wall Street skyscraper. Thankfully, they chose to do this on a Saturday morning when the building is mostly empty. Quickly the terrorists commandeer the facility and plant bombs on nearly every floor. A Vietnam Vet turned business executive ushers a dozen employees to safety on one of the building's higher floors and the call goes out that the building is wired to blow. The NYPD calls the FBI who then calls Stony Man to get Able Team on the scene.

The problem lies in the fact that Able Team spends 160-pages of this 187-page novel running all over town hunting clues on who the terrorists are. Mercifully, they arrive at the building as the book closes but only have a brief encounter with the primary villains. This is acceptable if the hunting was more of a character developing storyline that delved into police procedural. Maybe it is my love of mid 20th Century crime-noir, but I found the investigation to be a sluggish exercise with very little to offer readers. Gadgets played with gadgets, Lyons rode around in a cab and Politician seemed like an unnecessary character here.

Needless to say, I hated this book. I counted the pages down just hoping it would end or the book would spontaneously combust. It isn't Hall of Shame material, but it is safe to say Able Team was unable to fulfill my reading pleasure. Perhaps another author will produce a different result. I'm in no hurry to find out.

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Adam Steele #01 - Rebels and Assassins Die Hard

Terry Harknett is a British author that specialized in writing violent, sometimes humorous western novels. By using a variety of pseudonyms, Harknett is one of the most dominant authors of the western genre. His most prolific work is the 61-book Edge series, the 27-book Apache series and the subject at hand, the 49-book run of Adam Steele novels. In fact, after Harknett's phenomenal success with Edge, the Pinnacle publisher was clamoring for another series in the same style. In 1974, the debut Adam Steele novel arrived with the title Rebels and Assassins Die Hard. Harknett's pseudonym was the same one used on the Edge series, George G. Gilman.

The story begins with the assassination of Abraham Lincoln at the Ford Theater in Washington, DC. With the town stirred up, three guys in a bar start targeting anyone with a southern accent. After brutally beating an older patron, the trio, with the help of the bartender, accuse a defenseless old-timer with providing Lincoln's assassin with the proverbial smoking gun. Despite the victim's pleas of innocence, the foursome cruelly hang him in the bar.

Adam Steele arrives in town and quickly learns about Lincoln's murder. He chances on the same bar and finds the old-timer still hanging in the saloon. After Adam gets a closer look at the victim, he gains some information from the bartender regarding the identities of the hangmen. Then shockingly, he tells the bartender that the man they hung was his father! After shooting the bartender pointblank in the belly, Adam rides back to the old family farm to bury his father.

Things get really interesting at this point in the narrative. First, Steele has a confrontation with his childhood best friend Bishop, now a deputy. Adam is a wanted man, which is like blood in the water for a cold-blooded bounty hunter named Lovell. While that narrative comes to fruition, another thread has the Army searching for the assassins involved in Lincoln's assassination. This leads them into a enthralling head-on collision with both Bishop and Lovell, the hangmen and Adam Steele.

This debut entry is just a remarkable western tale. There are so many narratives weaved together, yet it's presented seamlessly under Harknett's experienced hand. Just when I thought the frantic pace would slow, a new adventure would quickly begin. By story's end, Adam Steele resembled an enjoyable Fargo installment. There's even a small The Most Dangerous Game thread as Adam is hunted through the mountains by Native Americans led by a deranged British Captain. To say this is an unorthodox western is an understatement.

Terry Harknett's debut Adam Steele novel is a mandatory read for genre fans. Buy your copy HERE.

Killing Cousins

Fletcher Flora (1914-1968) was born in Kansas and served in the U.S. Army during World War 2. After the war, he became a mystery writer while continuing to serve as an Education Advisor to the Army. The promise of sex in his novels is always front and center in the marketing, but his stories were never as graphic as the tawdry covers promised. Flora’s Killing Cousins was a 1960 hardcover later reprinted in 1961 as an Ace Double and several other times since then. It’s currently available as both an ebook and audiobook.

Willie is married to Howard, but she’s also the town slut in their affluent suburb of Kansas City. It seems that a sizable number of men in the town - certainly at their country club - have taken their turn with Willie over the years. One some level, Howard knows this is happening and chooses to look the other way like a good cuckold.

All this changes when Howard catches his wife servicing his brainy cousin, Quincy. Willie’s infidelity with a family member is a bridge too far, and Howard packs his bags to leave Willie once and for all. This leads to an altercation in which Willie shoots Howard dead with a pistol in their home. No spoilers here - this early-novel killing is disclosed in the opening pages.

Of course, this is just the novel’s setup. The heart of the story is how Willie deals with the dead body of her husband lying in her bedroom. She enlists the help of her lover Quincy to manage the disposal of his cousin’s corpse while planning the elaborate cover-up together.

Flora writes Killing Cousins in a breezy and darkly humorous style reminiscent of a good episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents. This tonal choice makes sense as the author sold dozens of stories to Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine and anthologies throughout his writing career. The focus is not on the horror of Willie’s infidelities and husband-killing but rather how she and Quincy navigate suburban norms and niceties in their attempt to get away with it.

I enjoyed the hell out of this short novel and you probably will too with three important caveats: First, all the characters are pretty reprehensible, so there’s no hero to really get behind. Second, it’s not an action-packed novel at all. It’s more like a chess match between the protagonists and the their obstacles. Lastly, this is a crime novel, not a mystery. There are twists and surprises along the way, but there’s nothing for the reader to solve. None of these issues detracted from my enjoyment of the book, but you should know what you’re getting. Recommended. 

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He-Men, Bag Men, and Nymphos

During the 1950s and 1960s, Men’s Adventure Magazines like Stag and For Men Only told salacious stories - often masquerading as non-fiction journalism - of daring deeds and lusty ladies around the world. The magazines were illustrated with vivid action drawings by many of the same artists who created the cover art for the vintage action and crime paperbacks we adore.

Robert Deis and Wyatt Doyle have preserved many of the great stories and art from these magazines in a series of anthology books called Men's Adventure Library published by New Texture. These books are associated with the website MensPulpMags.com. One such compilation focuses on Walter Kaylin (1921-2017), a top writer in this interesting sub-genre. The book is called He-Men, Bag Men and Nymphos, and it’s a lovingly-curated Kaylin Greatest Hits collection with 15 of the writer’s stories from the men’s adventure magazines spanning from 1956 to 1978. There are also a few tribute pieces about Kaylin and his work.

Reviewing a short-story compilation is always a challenge, so I’ll just touch on three representative highlights:

“Snow-Job From a Redhead”

This story originally appeared in the June 1956 issue of Men. It’s a first-person narration by Fred who violently steals a small statue of a black bull from a fellow crook in an ambush doublecross. He’s part of a small smuggling crew meeting at a rooming house near Los Angeles operated by a sexy redhead who’s initially resistant to Fred’s advances.

What is it about the statue that makes it worth killing to possess? Can Fred withstand pressure from the local police? Will he get lucky with the redhead? Can he get away with his mini-caper, or will his lustful big mouth get in the way? All of these questions are answered in this gripping short story.

Kaylin writes in a dialog-heavy style without a lot of exposition, which allows the reader to catch up to the action in progress. The anthology editors were wise to start the compilation with a great double-cross story like “Snow-Job From a Redhead.” After finishing it, you’ll want to move onto other Kaylin stories.

“The Nymph Who Leads an African Death Army”

With a title like that, I needed to know more, which was often the idea behind the headlines and illustrations in these men’s magazines. This particular story originally appeared in the October 1960 edition of Men. The piece is presented as a piece of journalism - like a feature one might read in the National Geographic or The New Yorker - but every word came from the mind of Kaylin.

The story is about Max Bosch and his group of international solders-of-fortune known as the Butcher Boys who arrive in Camaroon and take over a peaceful village. The group of tough thugs is presented in contrast to Harry Tapp, a benevolent American living peacefully among the natives, establishing small businesses such as a general store and used car dealership. He’s a prince of a guy who teaches the Africans to play “Three Blind Mice” on the trumpet, a plot point that becomes brilliantly relevant as the tale moves to its violent climax.

Kaylin could write a helluva fight scene and this story has plenty to enjoy as Tapp turns to a full-breasted hill woman named Aunt Edna for assistance with his mercenary problem. She has a close relationship with a badass crew of African jungle dwellers, and she’s happy to supply them as muscle for Tapp’s crusade against Bosch’s Butcher Boys...for a price.

As alliances shift and the bloodbath becomes inevitable, “The Nymph Who Leads an African Death Army” becomes an exciting survival story and a high-point of this superb collection.

“Surf Pack Assassins”

Kaylin was such a prolific contributor to these
magazines that his stories often appeared under pen names to hide the fact that his imagination was saturating the market. This was the case for his piece in the August 1967 issue of Male magazine titled “Surf Pack Assassins” originally published under the pen name Roland Empey.

Kaylin has a lot of fun with this one trotting out the surf lingo in this story of an informal American surfing club riding the waves as part of an international hang ten tour. They’re a rowdy crowd who surfs all day and drinks themselves blind by the beach bonfire every night. Harmless fun, right?

As the story continues, it becomes clear that not all as it seems with the surf society. African democracy leaders are dying in cities corresponding with the surf crew’s travels. Yes, as the title promises, these aren’t ordinary surf-bums, they are a covert group of talented killers.

Meanwhile, a member of a U.S. intel agency is investigating the surfers to see if its even possible that a group of burnouts could possibly be assassins. The undercover infiltration story is exciting stuff and every bit as good as the best Nick Carter: Killmaster paperback. The story went on a bit too long, but it was a thoroughly enjoyable read.

* * *

He-Men, Bag Men and Nymphos is an important collection of delightful stories from a writer who deserves to be remembered. The guys at Men's Adventure Library should be commended for putting together such a lovely-packaged book packed with winning stories and illustrations from the original magazine stories.

Mostly, I’m glad Walter Kaylin is being remembered. He was a talented writer with an interesting niche market that could have easily been lost to the ages if it weren’t for this important volume. Kaylin wrote a single mystery novel for Fawcett Gold Medal called Another Time, Another Woman published in 1963 that I’d like to check out sometime. In the meantime, there are a smattering of Kaylin magazine stories in other anthologies covering this genre to read and enjoy. Highly recommended. 

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