Come With Me

Come With Me is the latest novel by horror fiction author Ronald Malfi. For this selection, he steps away from supernatural fiction to present the reader with a story of human grief and loss unfolding within a “hunt-the-serial-killer” procedural mystery.

Our narrator is Aaron, a man who discovers that his deceased reporter wife - her name was Allison - was secretly on the trail of a serial killer. For reasons he doesn’t understand, Allison’s amateur gumshoe work was kept a tight secret from Aaron and others in her life. Learning this does little to heal the crushing grief and loneliness Aaron feels for his bride’s death. After all, they had an awesome marriage. Why would she keep this obsession a secret?

Aaron takes up the hunt to learn more about his wife’s hidden infatuation and becomes enmeshed in the maniacal mystery himself. I would compare Come With Me favorably to the work of Harlan Coben or Linwood Barclay in which secrets of the distant past are brought to light by an everyman in the present.

The first half of the book is a slow-burn, but Malfi is an excellent and vivid writer, so the reader is never bored. The second half speeds up quite a bit as our narrator begins putting the pieces together and approaches a solution. At 400 pages, it could have used some trimming and would have been more impactful at a lean 300 pages.

There was a whole sub-genre of serial killer books after Thomas Harris’ Silence of the Lambs, and Come With Me can be counted as a late-entry in that category. Would-be amateur sleuths and fans of the current true crime podcast craze will also find themselves in familiar territory with this novel.

Overall, there’s nothing here not to like. The writing was superb. The protagonist was likable and sympathetic. The mystery’s solution and climactic ending were both very satisfying. It’s an easy recommendation for fans of contemporary suspense and mystery fiction. Get a copy HERE

Night Squad

Philadelphia author David Loeb Goodis (1917-1967) wrote excellent crime novels about skid row losers rising above their alcoholism and misfortune to find justice and normalcy in their violent world. Although Goodis never achieved fame in the U.S. during his life, the French had a keen appreciation for his particular brand of noir. Night Squad was his 1961 paperback original from Fawcett Gold Medal that has been reprinted by Stark House Noir Classics as one of three novels in a trade paperback reprint.

Five weeks ago, Corey Bradford was canned from his job as a police officer for taking bribes from lawbreakers. After the death of his honest police officer father, he was raised by a wino mom in the skid row alleys he now calls home. As we join him, Corey is a boozehound stewbum sleeping on the streets of a city that’s never given a name. Goodis is a master at atmospheric descriptions of the slime-filled slum called the Swamp where rats crawl in the bedroom windows and gnaw on sleeping babies in their cribs. Yes, it’s one of those kind of novels.

The Swamp is under the thumb of a gangster named Walter Grogan, who hires Corey to figure out who is trying to kidnap him. There are several violent set-pieces where Corey is thrust into action trusting his wits and police training to save his own skin as well as his client’s hide. For his part, Grogan is a muscular 56 year-old athlete with a 24 year-old trophy wife who is hot to trot for Corey. If Grogan had any inkling that Corey and his temptress bride were up to anything, it’s a safe bet Corey would disappear to the bottom of the city’s lake.

And then there’s the Night Squad itself. They are a shadowy team of cops operating out of City hall beyond the strict boundaries of the law and police oversight. They are willing to reinstate Corey and return his badge in order to nail Grogan. There’s some great backstory explaining the Night Squad’s hard-on for Grogan that includes one of the most violent vignettes I’ve read in ages. Can Corey serve two masters and rebuild his life?

To be sure, there are a few slow sections, but mostly Night Squad is a pretty exciting, yet thin, paperback with some crazy-violent scenes, backstabbing, torture, gunplay, hot dames, a treasure hunt, and a shot at redemption. Upon reflection, it’s a nearly perfect crime-noir paperback and another win for Stark House, the imprint at the top of the reprint game. Read this one ASAP. Get it HERE

The Slasher

Ovid Demaris is a mid-20th century author who wrote both true crime and crime-noir. Most of his novels have been reprinted by publishers like Stark House Press and Cutting Edge Books. In recent years, I have read and collected his writing. Thankfully, a friend gave me a tattered copy of the author's Fawcett Gold Medal paperback The Slasher. It was originally published in 1959. As far as I can tell, it was never reprinted.

The novel introduces Stanley Palke, a psychopathic lunatic who terrorizes a Californian city. Palke is gay and has a fondness for naval men and merchant seamen. This "slasher" usually picks up men from local dives or bars and then brutally attacks them with a knife. In the first pages of the book, the police find four dead sailors trapped in a car immersed in water. These appear to be Palke's victims.

Whereas the novel occasionally presents events from Palke's point of view, most of the narrative is from Paul Warren's perspective. Like any "downward spiral" story, Warren has developed an alcohol problem. He ends up being fired from his reporting job due to his inability to stay sober for his newspaper assignments. Feeling as if his life is over, Warren spends his days drinking in bars and refusing his wife's help. The stars unfortunately align when Palke spots Warren in a local dive and offers to buy him a drink. Warren awakens the next day in the hospital after being brutalized by Palke. 

The Slasher is mostly a crime-fiction book that highlights two homicide investigators attempting to locate Palke. As fun as that was, I think I enjoyed the more personal account of Warren's downfall. The fact that this suburban husband and father could socially and financially plunge to the depths of alcoholism and suicidal tendencies was riveting. While Demaris is mostly known for his books on organized crime, I felt he presented this emotional story in a way that was easily relatable to readers. 

The Slasher also features some really mature moments that were shocking to me considering this is a 1959 paperback. Palke's flirtation with men wasn't something that was common in literature or film for that time period. While not terribly graphic, Demaris presents some material that was probably taboo or controversial at the time. At one point Palke insinuates that heterosexual men all have a homosexual tendency at one point or another. Warren's wife even reflects on a personal relationship she had with another woman. Beyond that, the sexual crimes were disturbing. Palke's stabbing was comparable to intercourse, each penetration becoming a sexual crescendo that eventually leads to castration. This is all pretty bold stuff for 1959. None of this is really illustrated with the book's cover. Instead, the artwork suggests that the killer is preying on voluptuous women instead of men.

If you like crime-fiction, there's no reason that you won't enjoy The Slasher. Considering all of the elements at work here, Demaris is able to inject quite a bit into a relatively short 172-page novel. From graphic violence, sexual innuendo, police procedures and the aforementioned "riches to rags" personal story, The Slasher is a multifaceted, enjoyable paperback. Get the ebook HERE

Pranks

Dennis J. Higman is a relatively unknown author from Idaho. After a deep dive online, the only information I could gather is that he wrote the horror novel Pranks in 1983 and a romance novel titled Laura Jordan in 1987. I love Halloween and vintage horror novels, so I was excited to borrow my friend's paperback copy of Pranks. It was published by Leisure, and not surprisingly, it's a horror novel that takes place on Halloween night. 

When the novel begins, residents of the small, cozy island town of Horsehead Point prepare for the night's Halloween festivities. There is a sense of isolation on the island, which is in Puget Sound off the foggy shore of Washington. It's here that young Bucky, Harry and Jeff are middle-schoolers running rampant on testosterone, boredom and a desire for reckless abandonment. While most of their misbehavior consists of a few Valium pills and nudie books, it is Bucky that proves to be psycho.

Despite Jeff and Harry's hesitation, Bucky ends up killing two elderly people on Halloween night. Higman's narrative showcases a police procedural that mistakenly rules the murders as accidents. But, Bucky's school teacher Jan feels that the child exhibits unusual behavior by drawing disturbing images of people being tortured. Once she talks with Bucky's mother, she learns that he has a history of psychotic behavior. Jan's father is also suspicious of the two deaths and feels that there may have been foul play involved

At a robust 431 pages, it's clear that Pranks could have been much shorter. I was hoping that this novel would possess some of the "killer kids" genre tropes of vintage horror paperbacks. While I was entertained, the idea of a child killing two elderly people and attempting to cover it up was not exactly a terrifying story. In some respects, Pranks may be more of a juvenile delinquent novel from the 1960s. 

If you manage your expectations, Pranks is an enjoyable crime-fiction novel. The fact that the book's cover is themed for Halloween has no impact on the actual story. While I wish the book was trimmed considerably, I have no regrets reading it. 

Buy a copy of the book HERE

Hold Back the Sun

Robert Carse (1904-1971) was a New Yorker who worked as a merchant seaman before becoming a writer and novelist. In the 1920s, he used his experiences at sea to write a number of adventure tales for the pulps. Under his own name he wrote historical and nautical fiction. He also contributed to the romance genre with books like  The Flesh and the Flame (1960), Cage of Love (1960) and End to Innocence (1964) for Monarch. Perhaps his best-known literary work was written under the pen name of John Vail. It is this name that is featured on his Fawcett Gold Medal paperbacks The Sword in His Hand (1953), The Dark Throne (1954), Blond Savage (1955) and Sow the Wild Wind (1954). My first experience with the author is his Fawcett Gold Medal novel, Hold Back the Sun, originally published in 1956 with a cover by poster artist Frank McCarthy.

Hank Gatch and his team are smugglers. Using Gatch's 83-foot ship The Soledad, his illegal operation ships goods between the coast of France and North Africa. His reputation as an experienced smuggler is what appeals to a young Israeli named Yevna. Her horrifying experiences at the Auschwitz concentration camp motivated her to defend Israel from the Muslim Brotherhood. Along with her brother, she's aiding resistance and freedom fighters with firepower. She hires Gatch to help her negotiate with an arms dealer to acquire a stash of weapons.

Carse's narrative is constructed around Gatch's team running and gunning around North Africa in an attempt to avoid port authorities and the Brotherhood. Beyond the initial job, Gatch is employed by Yevna's brother to secure another large shipment of firearms on a coastal reef. Along the way, Gatch and Yevna fall in love. 

Hold Back the Sun is just an average read. There's nothing terribly exciting about the story, but it is written well enough to please most readers. I found that the narrative was really just connecting map dots as the team traveled to each destination performing tasks. The romantic chemistry between the two main characters was Carse's main interest, evident from Fawcett's front cover: "By day they fought, by night they loved." From a nautical fiction stance, the technical aspects reminded me of another, much better Fawcett Gold Medal paperback - 1968's A Great Day for Dying by Jack Dillon.

At just 140 pages, Hold Back the Sun is a satisfactory read, but just manage your expectations. Despite the alluring cover art, the story is a little stale. 

Buy a copy of this book HERE

Zorro #01 - The Curse of Capistrano (aka The Mark of Zorro)

Johnston McCulley (1883-1958) was a prolific author for the pulps. He created characters like The Crimson Clown, The Green Ghost and Black Star. On August 9th, 1919, All-Story Weekly presented the first of five installments of "The Curse of Capistrano" (aka "The Mark of Zorro"). It was the first appearance by the Western hero Zorro. McCulley kept writing Zorro stories for decades. The hero became a phenomenon of pop culture with TV shows, movies and graphic novels all dedicated to the masked man. 

In 2016, Florida's Bold Venture Press began reprinting all of the pulp adventures of Zorro. These have been compiled in 6 massive volumes. I'm staring with Zorro: The Complete Pulp Adventures Vol. 1. It contains an original serial "The Curse of Capistrano" plus two short stories, "Zorro Saves a Friend" (Argosy, 11/02/1932) and "Zorro Hunts a Jackal" (Argosy, 04/22/1933). In addition, two informative pieces are included regarding the series location as well as Zorro's appearances in cinema and television.

"The Curse of Capistrano" takes place in the early 19th century in California. This was before California joined the United States. As a result, the state was governed by Mexico. In the story, the Spanish missions and ranches are often terrorized by Mexican soldiers, notably Sergeant Gonzales and Captain Ramon. A masked man dressed in black and calling himself Zorro (The Fox) assists the people in their fight against the tyranny. 

When Zorro helps a young woman named Lolita, the story starts to tighten. Lolita's parents have requested that she locate a proper suitor to marry. Don Diego Vega, a wealthy man living with his father, attempts to swoon Lolita and asks if she will marry him. The problem is that Lolita has her eyes fixed on the dashing Zorro and now her heart is beating for him. However, Lolita doesn't realize that Vega is Zorro. When Captain Ramon forces himself on Lolita, Zorro comes to the rescue, further emphasizing her attraction for the lone hero. Later, Zorro comes to the aid of his friend Fray Felipe while also being hunted by the Mexican army. 

McCulley's story blends romance with action into a Western-style story. The dry and dusty Pueblo of Los Angeles is the perfect place, further enhancing Western themes. Zorro's mission to assist the downtrodden and fight government politicians is crucial to the plot. The first half was a bit slow but the second half was ripe with action, violence and a frantic pace as Zorro performs hit and run tactics through the city. It was interesting that McCulley doesn't reveal that Vega is Zorro until the end of the story. It's no surprise to the reader as there are so many clues that signal Zorro's identity.

If you are a dedicated Zorro fan or just a casual reader, this omnibus is essential reading. The thrilling adventures of this masked hero showcases everything we know and love about the pulps. Buy a copy of this volume HERE.

Castlecliffe

Sandra Shulman (b. 1944) is a British author who specializes in gothic and horror novels. Typically, her works involve evil sects, worshippers of Satan, and old deserted castles. Using the pseudonym Lisa Montague, Shulman authored three novels of historical romance for Harlequin Masquerade. The author also wrote a number of non-fiction books about astrology, dream interpretation and the punishment of women through history. I read a thread online that suggested that she also wrote novels for the television series Dark Shadows. My first experience with Shulman is her second career novel, Castlecliffe, first published by Paperback Library in 1967. The novel was later reprinted by the publisher with different cover art in 1971.

In 1798, the French politician and military commander Napoleon Bonaparte placed an army on the coast of the English Canal. The threat of invasion tormented the British for six years and was eventually rescinded as a result of France's conflicts with Egypt and Austria. It is this era that Castlecliffe exists, a historical period that peaked in fever as England seemed to await the "inevitable" invasion. 

20-year old Sophy Marlowe has been a student in Brussels. Her father was killed in the Middle East and her inheritance comes to fruition on her 21st birthday. Upon specific instructions from her father, Sophy is to be placed under the care of her guardian, a close friend of her father named Eastlake, at his large manor called Castlecliffe on the English Moors. Sophy's father also makes it clear that he is not a fan of Eastlake's doctor and friend, Rashid.

Just on the outskirts of Castlecliffe, Sophy and her fellow passengers are attacked on a coach road by a highwayman named Midnight. This masked man has a brief fondness for Sophy and promises not to hurt her. When Sophy arrives at Castlecliffe, Midnight comes to her overnight and advises her to leave the castle immediately. He warns that it isn't safe to stay at the castle and that her guardian is a dangerous man. Sophy ignores Midnight's warning and proceeds with his stay. But the words of Midnight may have a ring of truth when she sees a man bent and disfigured lurking in the dark outside the castle.

Shulman's narrative introduces two romantic interests, a military captain who is smitten with Sophy and Rashid's young nephew. Both seem like safe allies, but again Midnight cautions her. The mysteries abound when Eastlake shows no interest in Sophy nor does he have any real information about her father. They were supposed to be best friends, so why doesn't he have stories or historical accounts of their time together? Rashid is also a mystery as a crazy scientist carrying out heinous experiments on animals. He often condemns Sophy and, at some point, seems intent on killing her.

Like Shulman's other novels, the idea of a satanic sect arises when Rashid, the captain and a wealthy woman are found wearing rings depicting goat horns. They invite Sophy to join their "science club" but Sophy fears that the group is practicing some sort of witchcraft in secret. The greatest mystery may be the heritage itself. Rashid and Eastlake aren’t aware of any specific inheritance and her father's documents simply state that she will not collect any information about this inheritance until her 21st birthday. This date is November 1, usually a Gaelic holiday called Samhain.

Castlecliffe is a more of a horror story than a gothic one. The satanic panic inside the castle, strange creatures wandering through the countryside and the disfigured thing are all frightening and indicative of a traditional horror story. The romanticism of these three men (captain, nephew, bandit) coveting Sophy is a central concept, but it also provides a good dose of action-adventure. Midnight's fights with the English are exciting and I really liked the idea of Sophy dressing in disguise as a male. This is another staple of Shulman's writing. In her 1971 novel The Florentine, that book's main character disguises herself as a man to seek revenge. In addition, the idea of the French possibly invading England at any moment just adds to the tension. 

If you enjoy gothics then you will surely love Castlecliffe. But beyond that, this is just a great story with an intriguing mystery, perfect pacing (it's a countdown to her birthday) and small ingredients of a selection of genres. With slightly less than 160 pages, the narration is a quick read with enough intensity to keep the pages moving. I urge you to find a copy.

Buy a copy of this book HERE