 "Grifter's
Game"
by Lawrence Block
Hard Case Crime, 2004
The back cover reads:
"Con man Joe Marlin was used to scoring easy cash off gullible women. But
that was before he met Mona Brassard--and found himself holding a stolen
stash of raw heroin. Now Joe's got to pull off the most dangerous con of
his career. One that will leave him either a killer--or a corpse."
Grifter's Game,
a great piece of noir fiction, was originally published in 1961 under the
title Mona. This book is what a great pulp paperback should
be--a car-chase quick story filled with a streetwise yet pseudo-moral con
man, a femme fatale that oozes raw sex appeal, and a no-win situation our
hero is lead into. (Of course, you can't talk about this book or noir paperbacks
without making mention of fellow crime writer, the great Jim
Thompson, who's stories about grift and the seedy underbelly
of modern life helped put meat on the bones of pulp fiction.)
This book is the first
novel Block, who won many awards for crime and mystery writing,
published under his own name. This book is being offered up to a whole
new generation of readers thanks to the efforts of new publishers Hard
Case Crime.
The folks at Hard
Case Crime remember fondly the days when pulp paperbacks could
be found on racks in drug stores, train stations, and just about anywhere
else. These were novels that drew people in with the lurid covers that
promised all sorts of forbidden delights--from wanton women to vivid violence.
They were quick, inexpensive reads that in no way tried to be capitol "L"
literature. Most of the time, the stories never lived up to the promise
of their covers. It was hack writing done by guys who only cared about
getting paid.
At Hard Case Crime,
the story is just as important as the painted cover. They have already
released a dozen paperbacks, mixing reprints like Grifter's Game,
with new stories written in a classic pulp style. They have just gotten
started with many more releases planned. Their goal is to make pulp paperbacks
fun to read again by recreating the whole experience. They are bringing
back classic cover artist, searching out the best forgotten pulp novels,
and getting great noir writers to write for them. If Grifter's Game
is any indication of what the rest of the line is like, then this is a
exciting time indeed for pulp fiction lovers!
(An interview with Charles
Ardai, one of the men who started
Hard Case Crime Books,
can be heard on the October edition of WILL-Radio's features program Sidetrack.
Click here
to launch the Real Audio archive of the program. The feature is about half-way
in the show.)
Buy this book from
Book Shelf Archives>>>
|
