Wednesday 30 December 2015

BUDD SCHULBERG - WHAT MAKES SAMMY RUN? (1941)


Synopsis/blurb….

Sammy Glick is a winner. Aggressive, ruthless, belligerently self-centred, “sprinting out of his mother’s womb, turning life into a race in which the only rules are fight for the rail and elbow on the turns.” Sammy storms his way out of the New York slums to reach the top of the Hollywood film world in the 1930s.

Sammy is a way of life, a way that was paying dividends in America’s Depression era and is paying dividends today. For the “Sammy-drive” is still to be found everywhere and will survive as long as money, prestige and power are ends in themselves.

Witty, clever, action-packed and acutely observed, this classic of American literature, which has sold over a million copies, is as compelling and revealing now as it was when first published in this country in 1941.

“The tone is akin to Raymond Chandler.” WALL STREET JOURNAL

A 1941 novel for Past Offences December meme and fair to say it’s a novel as opposed to a crime novel. (Click here to see what others have read.)

We observe Sammy Glicks’ rabid ambition and ruthlessness as he rises from copy boy to Hollywood big-shot, trampling over all in his path, through the eyes of his “friend” Al Manheim. Sammy doesn’t do friendship, but if he ever did Al’s the only one.

An interesting observation on Hollywood and the American dream played out to the nth degree. Probably the closest modern comparison, I could make would be Gordon Gekko in Wall Street.

Naked feral ambition, lack of a social conscience and lacking totally in any empathy, compassion or consideration for his fellow man – what’s not to like about Sammy? Haha…. you don’t ever totally abhor him, in fact a sneaking admiration for his particular skill-set lingers.

Manheim banished from Hollywood after Sammy double-crosses the fledgling writer’s guild eventually discovers the roots of Sammy’s raison d’etre and “what makes him run” in an uncovering of a poverty stricken childhood in a Jewish slum in New York.

Eventually Sammy meets his match, when he encounters someone who can run faster than himself.

I thought unconsciously, I had been waiting for justice suddenly to rise up and smite him in all its vengeance, secretly hoping to be around when Sammy got what was coming to him; only I had expected something conclusive and fatal and now I realised what was coming to him was not a sudden pay-off but a process, a disease he had caught in the epidemic that swept over his birthplace like plague; a cancer that was slowly eating him away, the symptoms developing and intensifying: success, loneliness, fear. Fear of all the bright young men, the newer, fresher Sammy Glick’s that would spring up to harass him, to threaten him and finally to overtake him..........


It was too late to hate him or change him..........Sammy's will had curled in on itself, like an ingrown hair festering, spreading infection.

4 from 5

Budd Schulberg was an American screenwriter, television producer, novelist and sports writer. He was known for his 1941 novel, What Makes Sammy Run?, his 1947 novel The Harder They Fall, his 1954 Academy Award-winning screenplay for On the Waterfront, and his 1957 screenplay for A Face in the Crowd.

Bought copy recently from Amazon.

Tuesday 29 December 2015

2 BY DAVE STANTON

Dave Stanton is a new-to-me author, someone I’ve not yet tried.


He’s written 5 books so far in his Dan Reno PI series and I have all of them. On the basis that I do like my PI books, that’s not such a giant leap of faith.

Stateline opens the series. Followed by Dying for the Highlife and the third in the series – Speed Metal Blues. Dark Ice is number 4 and Hard Prejudice the latest.


His website is here – danrenonovels.com.




From the author page on his website….

Born in Detroit, Michigan, in 1960, Dave Stanton moved to Northern California in 1961. He attended San Jose State University and received a BA in journalism in 1983. Over the years, he worked as a bartender, newspaper advertising salesman, furniture mover, debt collector, and technology salesman. He has two children, Austin and Haley, and lives with his wife, Heidi, in San Jose, California.






He has this to say about the origins of his debut novel…..

COMMENTS FROM DAVE STANTON, ON WRITING STATELINE

It was 2001, and the dot.com bubble was bursting. My timing was bad – a few months previous I had left a steady job to work for a “promising” startup that offered more money. As a salesman, I quickly realized the product they hired me to sell was doomed. I drew this conclusion despite claims otherwise by some smart (and temporarily wealthy) people. Like many during that time, they had been sucked into an illusion.

I sat at my cubicle in Silicon Valley, regretful, certain I’d be unemployed soon. The customers I’d been assigned had all considered my proposals and firmly declined. I had nothing to do, and the boredom was killing me. Spontaneously, I started writing.

Three months later I was at a new gig, one that involved regular travel to Asia. I sat on a jet over the Pacific Ocean, hunched over my notebook, typing like a mad man. The paragraph I had written while employed at the now defunct company had become a novel, and the first draft was nearly finished.
Many of the characters and situations I write about come from a time when my companions were irreverent and reckless, and I participated willingly in endeavours that for a few had permanent consequences. These episodes occurred in places like Sacramento, Reno, Salt Lake City, and Ely, Nevada. Some of my old friends are respectable citizens today, others are in and out of jail, and some didn’t make it.

I hope you enjoy STATELINE. Please feel free to e-mail me at dave@DanRenoNovels.com.



Dark Ice (2015)

Two murdered girls, and no motive… While skiing deep in Lake Tahoe’s backcountry, Private Eye Dan Reno finds the first naked body, buried under fresh snow. Reno’s contacted by the grieving father, who wants to know who murdered his daughter, and why? And how could the body end up in such a remote, mountainous location? The questions become murkier when a second body is found. Is there a serial killer stalking promiscuous young women in South Lake Tahoe? Or are the murders linked to a different criminal agenda? Searching for answers, Reno is accosted by a gang of racist bikers with a score to settle. He also must deal with his pal, Cody Gibbons, who the police consider a suspect. The clues lead to the owner of a strip club and a womanizing police captain, but is either the killer? The bikers up the ante, but are unaware that Cody Gibbons has Reno’s back at any cost. Meanwhile, the police won’t tolerate Reno’s continued involvement in the case. But Reno knows he’s getting close. And the most critical clue comes from the last person he’d suspect…

Hard Prejudice (2015)

The DNA evidence should have made the rape a slam dunk case…

But after the evidence disappeared from a police locker, the black man accused of brutally raping a popular actor’s daughter walked free. Hired by the actor, private detective Dan Reno’s job seemed simple enough: discover who took the DNA, and why. Problem is, from the beginning of the investigation, neither Reno, the South Lake Tahoe police, nor anyone else have any idea what the motivation could be to see ghetto thug Duante Tucker get away with the crime. Not even Reno’s best friend, fellow investigator Cody Gibbons, has a clue.

When Reno and Gibbons tail Tucker, they learn the rapist is linked to various criminals and even a deserter from the U.S. Marine Corps. But they still can’t tell who would want him set free, and for what reason?

Things get murkier when Tucker visits an Arabic restaurant whose owners are suspected terrorists. Then Cody’s ex-boss, a San Jose police captain, is found to be dallying with Tucker’s sister.

The clues continue to build until Reno and Cody find themselves targeted for death. That tells Reno he’s getting close, so he and Gibbons put the pedal to the metal. The forces of evil are running out of time, and the action reaches a boiling point before an explosive conclusion that reveals a sinister plot and motivations that Reno never imagined.


Monday 28 December 2015

LOGGING THE LIBRARY - PART SIXTY-ONE

Another week and another 50 from the library in the loft...

Tub 60 and my size 9s!

Ben Elton, Christopher Brookmyre, Billy Idol, W. Bruce Cameron, Christian G. Appy,
Cool cover, new-to-me author!

Jim Nisbet, Chris Haslam, Robert Littell, Mark SaFranko x 2,

Littell's debut from 1973.

Blog fav - SaFranko!

Ditto above - the second Max Zajack adventure!

Jim Nisbet - The Octopus on My Head!

Graham Greene, Tony Hawks, David Goodis, Clarence Cooper Jr. x 2, 

50s crime!

Clarence two-fer! 

David Peace, Charles Bukowski, Philip Kerr, Robert Lewis, plus a short story collection,

Bernie Gunther series book!

Welsh crime!

Sam Torrington, Olen Steinhauer, Richard Stark, Horace McCoy, John Wilcockson, 

30s crime!

Milo Weaver book one!

Parker series book 19-something!

Bill Bryson, Danny Wallace, Alan Furst, Tess Gerritsen, Michael Moore/Kathleen Glynn,

John LeCarre, Sean Black, Nick Hornby, Iceberg Slim, Ernesto Mallo,

Iceberg Slim

Stuart Browne - an author who sadly passed before his book was published!

Argentinian crime!

Pete Dexter, Margery Allingham, James W. Hall, Edward Bunker,
Eddie Bunker,

Pete Dexter.

Jeff Lindsay, Peter Robinson x 2, Peter James, Nick Gaitano,

Nick Gaitano aka Eugene Izzi.

Martina Cole, Quintin Jardine, Christopher Brookmyre, Nelson DeMille, Peter Robinson,

Essex crime!

Tub 61, put to bed!


HIGHLIGHTS.....2 from Mark SaFranko to look forward to. Nick Gaitano (aka Eugene Izzi), Richard Stark, Edward Bunker (a re-read), W. Bruce Cameron, Robert Lewis,

LOWLIGHTS......nothing especially, maybe a bit intimidated by the thickness of the Peter James book!

FULL LIST OF 50 AS FOLLOWS:


AUTHOR TITLE YEAR SERIES
ALLINGHAM MARGERY THE TIGER IN THE SMOKE 1952 AC14
APPY CHRISTIAN G. PATRIOTS: THE VIETNAM WAR REMEMBERED FROM ALL SIDES 2003
BLACK SEAN DEAD LOCK 2010 RL2
BROOKMYRE CHRISTOPHER ALL FUN AND GAMES UNTIL SOMEBODY LOSES AN EYE 2004
BROOKMYRE CHRISTOPHER A BIG BOY DID IT AND RAN AWAY 2001 ADX1
BROWNE STUART DANGEROUS PARKING 2000
BRYSON BILL A WALK IN THE WOODS 1998
BUKOWSKI CHARLES RUN WITH THE HUNTED 1962
BUNKER EDWARD LITTLE BOY BLUE 1981
CAMERON W. BRUCE THE MIDNIGHT PLAN OF THE REPO MAN 2014
COLE MARTINA THE GRAFT 2004
COOPER JR. CLARENCE WEED 1961
COOPER JR. CLARENCE THE SYNDICATE 1997
DEMILLE NELSON PLUM ISLAND 1997 JC1
DEXTER PETE PARIS TROUT 1984
ELTON BEN THE FIRST CASUALTY 2005
FURST ALAN KINGDOM OF SHADOWS 2000 NS6
GAITANO NICK SPENT FORCE 1996
GERRITSEN TESS VANISH 2005 JR+MI5
GOODIS DAVID SHOOT THE PIANO PLAYER 1956
GREENE GRAHAM THE CAPTAIN AND THE ENEMY 1988
HALL JAMES W. MEAN HIGH TIDE 1994 TPI3
HASLAM CHRIS EL SID 2006
HAWKS TONY ONE HIT WONDERLAND 2002
HORNBY NICK HIGH FIDELITY 1995
IDOL BILLY DANCING WITH MYSELF 2014
JAMES PETER NOT DEAD ENOUGH 2007 RG3
JARDINE QUINTIN ALARM CALL 2004 OB8
KERR PHILIP THE ONE FROM THE OTHER 2006 BG4
LE CARRE JOHN THE MISSION SONG 2006
LEWIS ROBERT SWANSEA TERMINAL 2007 RL2
LINDSAY JEFF DEARLY DEVOTED DEXTER 2005 D2
LITTELL ROBERT THE DEFECTION OF A.J. LEWINTER 1973
MALLO ERNESTO NEEDLE IN A HAYSTACK 2011 IL1
MARAVELIS PETER SAN FRANCISCO NOIR (ed.) 2005
McCOY HORACE NO POCKETS IN A SHROUD 1937
MOORE/GLYNN MICHAEL/KATHLEEN ADVENTURES IN A TV NATION 1998
NISBET JIM THE OCTOPUS ON MY HEAD 2007
PEACE DAVID OCCUPIED CITY 2009 TT2
ROBINSON PETER IN A DRY SEASON 1999 IB10
ROBINSON PETER DRY BONES THAT DREAM 1994 IB7
ROBINSON PETER PIECE OF MY HEART 2005 IB16
SAFRANKO MARK LOUNGE LIZARD 2007 MZ2
SAFRANKO MARK HOPLER'S STATEMENT 1998
SLIM ICEBERG PIMP: THE STORY OF MY LIFE 1969
STARK RICHARD FLASHFIRE 2000 P19
STEINHAUER OLEN THE TOURIST 2009 MW1
TORRINGTON JEFF SWING HAMMER SWING! 1992
WALLACE DANNY JOIN ME 2012
WILCOCKSON JOHN 23 DAYS IN JULY 2004

Tuesday 22 December 2015

2 BY PATRICIA HIGHSMITH

Patricia Highsmith – who is she? Never read her!

She's only "The No. 1 Greatest Crime Writer" according to The Times  

Well I did try a Ripley book a few years ago and gave up on it – probably a case of wrong book at the wrong time. So she is definitely someone I need to get back to.

Highsmith, an American author wrote 5 books in the Tom Ripley series and 17 other novels – possibly the most famous of which is Strangers on a Train (1950)




















I have 4 of the Ripley’s and the Strangers on the Train book in the library with possibly more to be discovered as I catalogue my tubs of books.

She died in 1995.





THE GLASS CELL (1964)


At last back in print, one of Patricia Highsmith's most disturbing works. Rife with overtones of Dostoyevsky, The Glass Cell, first published forty years ago, combines a quintessential Highsmith mystery with a penetrating critique of the psychological devastation wrought by the prison system. Falsely convicted of fraud, the easy going but naïve Philip Carter is sentenced to six lonely, drug-ravaged years in prison. Upon his release, Carter is a more suspicious and violent man. For those around him, earning back his trust can mean the difference between life and death. The Glass Cell's bleak and compelling portrait of daily prison life-and the consequences for those who live it-is, sadly, as relevant today as it was when the book was first published in 1964.


THOSE WHO WALK AWAY (1967)

The honeymoon is over; the bride dead by her own hand. Ray Garrett, the grieving husband, convinces the police in Rome of his innocence, but not his father-in-law, Ed Coleman, who shoots him at point-blank range and leaves him for dead. Ray survives and follows Coleman to Venice, where the two fall into an eerie game of cat-and-mouse - Coleman obsessed with vengeance and Ray determined to save his reputation, and himself. Each is at once the hunter and the hunted in a tense duel that, as each manages to walk away, draws them nearer to death.

Monday 21 December 2015

LOGGING THE LIBRARY - PART SIXTY

Tub 60 and 3000 books in the database, with many more still to go.....I'm starting to realise I may have bitten off a bit more than I can chew....

Tub 60!

Bernard Cornwell, Scott Sigler, Ross MacDonald, Ian Fleming x 2,

Ian Fleming - yet to be tried!

Vince Flynn x 2, Peter Spiegelman, Christopher Fowler, Franklin Allen Leib,

Vince Flynn - Mitch Rapp series!

Vince Flynn x 4, Joseph Finder,

Another Mitch Rapp book,

Robert Ludlum, Andrew Vachss, Jon Steele, John Connolly, John Grisham,

Non-fiction

John Grisham - not picked him up for a few years - overdue a read!

Charles Williams, Greg Rucka, Val McDermid, Ken Follett, Greg Rucka,

Charles Williams - made into an amazing film with Nicole Kidman!

Vince Flynn, Carl Hiaasen, Peter James, Brian Freeman, Ian Fleming,

One of the funniest books I've ever read - Carl Hiaasen!

Brian Freeman!

Christopher Fowler x 3, Dan Fesperman, Bill Fitzhugh,

Bill Fitzhugh - comedy crime!
Bryant & May series book!

Another untried author - Dan Fesperman!

Alan Furst, Eric Ambler, Bill Fitzhugh, Jim Harrison, Zygmunt Miloszewski,

Polish author!

James Frey, Vince Flynn, Dan Fante x2, Anthony Frewin, 

Anthony Frewin - he's been compared to Derek Raymond previously!

Dan Fante - RIP!

Ditto - another Bruno Dante adventure!

G. M. Ford - Leo Waterman book!

G. M. Ford - Leo Waterman book!

Derek Raymond - Factory book!

Jasper Gibson!

Jesse Kellerman!

Tub 60 - put to bed!
29 "F"Authors in this tub, so I obviously at some point harbored the illusion that I could sort and log the tubs alphabetically. It would be like trying to solve the world's biggest Rubik cube in the confines of a small loft, I quickly dismissed that idea as impractical. It's been difficult enough cataloging the bloody things!

HIGHLIGHTS..... the recently passed Dan Fante, Dan Fesperman,  Anthony Frewin, Carl Hiaasen and an interesting Polish author Zygmunt Milozewski

LOWLIGHTS.... not too sure how I'll get on with John Connolly - hopefully it isn't full of cooking recipes and hints and Scott Sigler's books may be great but wouldn't be high up on a list of books I'd choose to read - a bit science-fictionish for my liking, I reckon. Passed onto me from my son.

FULL LIST OF 50 AS FOLLOWS:


AUTHOR TITLE YEAR SERIES
AMBLER ERIC THE LEVANTER 1972
CONNOLLY JOHN THE REAPERS 2008 CP7
CORNWELL BERNARD SHARPE'S GOLD 1981 S9
FANTE DAN CHUMP CHANGE 1998 BD1
FANTE DAN 86'D 2009 BD4
FESPERMAN DAN THE AMATEUR SPY 2009
FINDER JOSEPH THE ZERO HOUR 1996
FITZHUGH BILL FENDER BENDERS 2001
FITZHUGH BILL PEST CONTROL 1996 PC1
FLEMING IAN QUANTUM OF SOLACE 1977 JB
FLEMING IAN THE SPY WHO LOVED ME 1962 JB10
FLEMING IAN MOONRAKER 1955 JB3
FLYNN VINCE KILL SHOT 2012 MR2
FLYNN VINCE SEPARATION OF POWER 2001 MR5
FLYNN VINCE THE THIRD OPTION 2000 MR4
FLYNN VINCE CONSENT TO KILL 2005 MR8
FLYNN VINCE EXTREME MEASURES 2008 MR11
FLYNN VINCE EXECUTIVE POWER 2003 MR6
FLYNN VINCE TRANSFER OF POWER 1999 MR3
FLYNN VINCE MEMORIAL DAY 2004 MR7
FOLLETT KEN EYE OF THE NEEDLE 1976
FORD G. M.  CAST IN STONE 1996 LW2
FORD G. M.  THE BUM'S RUSH 1997 LW3
FORD G. M.  SLOW BURN 1998 LW4
FOWLER CHRISTOPHER THE WATER ROOM 2004 B+M2
FOWLER CHRISTOPHER SEVENTY-SEVEN CLOCKS 2005 B+M3
FOWLER CHRISTOPHER BRYANT & MAY ON THE LOOSE 2009 B+M7
FOWLER CHRISTOPHER TEN-SECOND STAIRCASE 2006 B+M4
FREEMAN BRIAN IMMORAL 2005 JS1
FREWIN ANTHONY SIXTY-THREE CLOSURE 1998
FREY JAMES THE FINAL TESTAMENT OF THE HOLY BIBLE 2011
FURST ALAN DARK STAR 1991 NS2
GIBSON JASPER A BRIGHT MOON FOR FOOLS 2013
GRISHAM JOHN THE BROKER 2005
HARRISON JIM A GOOD DAY TO DIE 1973
HIAASEN CARL SKIN TIGHT 1989 MH2
JAMES PETER DEAD SIMPLE 2005 RG1
KELLERMAN JESSE THE BRUTAL ART 2008
LEIB FRANKLIN ALLEN THE FIRE DREAM 1989
LUDLUM ROBERT THE BOURNE ULTIMATUM 1990 JB3
MACDONALD ROSS THE GOODBYE LOOK 1969 LA15
McDERMID VAL BLUE GENES 1996 KB5
MILOSZEWSKI ZYGMUNT ENTANGLEMENT 2010 TS1
RAYMOND DEREK HE DIED WITH HIS EYES OPEN 1976 F1
RUCKA GREG SMOKER 1998 AK3
SIGLER SCOTT CONTAGIOUS 2008 I2
SPIEGELMAN PETER BLACK MAPS 2003 JM1
STEEL JON WAR JUNKIE 2002
VACHSS ANDREW TWO TRAINS RUNNING 2005
WILLIAMS CHARLES DEAD CALM 1963