Review: One For The Road

One For The Road by Robert Dietrich
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The first third of the book employs a familiar noir theme, an irresistible drifter scamming a beautiful rich widow, nothing too original although well written and interesting enough. The next third has a Las Vegas hooker falling for him while he blows his big score gambling. Seemed like pointless filler in the grand scheme – again well written and interesting. This sets the stage for the final third, again a familiar noir theme with with our charismatic drifter seducing a young heiress and plotting to kill her rich husband. This was the best part of the book, clever scheming and tension as plans go awry and need to be reconfigured, crackling dialog, steamy sex, and a nice twist at the end. Turned out to be a fine book, not too original but nicely written and well executed. I liked it enough to award it four stars.

Available in the Best Pulp Noir Super Pack from Cutting Edge Books

Review: Swamp Nymph

Swamp Nymph by John Burton Thompson
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

Written in 1962 Thompson’s literary and elegant prose are a poor fit for a swamp sleaze novel and I found myself skimming and looking forward to the end of the book. The first three quarters of the book are alternating expository character studies introducing the two main characters, and the last quarter their inexplicable meeting in a Louisiana swamp. The author doesn’t seem to have a good grasp on male/female relationships providing a series of bizarre and nonsensical romantic and sex scenes. The solid prose and dialog were enough to keep me from ditching the book, but Thompson’s fine writing skills aren’t enough to redeem this snorefest. One star.

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Review: Savage Surrender

Savage Surrender by March Hastings
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Sally Singer, writing here as March Hastings, was a skillful writer that toiled at penning mostly lesbian and sleaze novels for low-brow publishers like Beacon. Here she tells the story of a racecar driver and journalist named Chuck, his nymphomaniac wife Eve, a frigid woman named Robin who is married to an abusive husband, and their wimpy son, aptly called Skinny. The plot revolves around Chuck’s sexual obsession with Robin, with the other characters contributing various complications to his motives. Singer’s strength is her crackling dialog, although her plotting often falls flat. More of a drama than sleaze, and although a murder does occur there is no hiding of the body or noir type elements that I was hoping for. The murder does free Robin from her frigidity which I thought was a bit of a forehead slapper. The novel was okay but I wouldn’t go so far as to recommend it. Two stars, maybe two and a half.

Recently reprinted by Cutting Edge Books.

Review: The Long Night

The Long Night by Ovid Demaris
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Private eye Vince Slader is a character born from Spillane’s Mike Hammer school of ultra hard-boiled detectives, hard-boiled to the point of self parody. Most of the familiar hard-boiled PI tropes are here, Slader is a former cop, gets beat up, gets laid, hands out plenty of brutal violence, barks caustic and smart ass dialog, etc. Demaris writes all of this very well and adds a couple of nice touches, a best buddy, and a love interest that humanize Slader and make him more sympathetic. The plot has something to do with killing a husband and collecting the insurance and although familiar, is executed well. The destination isn’t all that important, it's the ride, and the novel delivers a fun and wild one. Four stars.

Digital copy available from Cutting Edge books

Review: Crack-Up

Crack-Up by March Hastings
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Sally Singer published several well-written vintage lesbian pulp novels under the pseudonym March Hastings which seem to be gaining some well-deserved traction since being recently reprinted by Cutting Edge Books. Here a neurotic, selfish, and sexually repressed young wife named Karen goes bananas after after her cranky husband Steve, a race car driver, is rendered bed-ridden and impotent after a crash. Not surprisingly some sexual exploits and experimentation ensue. Her relationship with Jean, whose snarky banter crackles with sarcasm and droll self-mockery, is the highlight of the book and I kind of wished that the novel were about Jean instead. The ending, dictated by the sexual climate of the times, was a bit of a clunker although the writing and dialog make this well worth reading. Four stars.

Available from Cutting Edge Books. I read it in the Vintage Sleaze collection.

Review: Carnival Girl

Carnival Girl by Max Gareth
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Solid writing propels this sleazer a notch above most of the vintage erotica of the era. It tells the sordid tale of Norma, an eighteen year old runway, who dreams of California but ends up getting work as a stripper in a traveling carnival. Norma is not only beautiful, she has an eye-popping physique that no man can ignore, or even resist. Norma is forced to fend off advances by slathering, slobbering horndogs who just can’t control their primitive instincts. Sort of a mildly amusing female sexual awakening/coming-of-age story (but written by a man) for most of the book then an interesting plot twist catches fire leading to an unexpected climax. I really liked the carney atmosphere and the writing in general. I give it an extra star just because I have an inexplicable fondness for carnival books (swamp books too). It’s an okay book if you like carnival stories. I can’t recommend it otherwise.

Available from Cutting Edge Books. I read it in the Vintage Sleaze collection.

Review: By Flesh Alone

By Flesh Alone by March Hastings
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Early lesbian pulp novels were often written by men, not the case here since this one was written in 1962 by Sally Singer using the pseudonym March Hastings. Singer wrote over 120 novels, plenty of them lesbian themed. Openly gay (bold for the times) she gives her novels some serious authenticity. Here she tells the story of Lila, a young woman bored with a dull marriage, who ditches her husband for a life as a Bohemian in early 1960s Greenwich Village. The Village was an epicenter for the Beat Generation at that time populated by artists and musicians, most of them flat broke and living in splendid squallor. The book is very well written, I don’t know how I’ve never heard of Singer before - she can really write, and serves as an interesting snapshot of life in the Village with adventure, romance, jealousy, and some fairly torrid (for the 1960s) lesbian sex.

Available from Cutting Edge Books. I read it in the Vintage Sleaze collection.