BRIAN FREEMANTLE - GOODBYE TO AN OLD FRIEND (1973)

Synopsis/blurb.....

You can hardly turn the pages fast enough...

Viktor Pavel seeks asylum in Britain only a few days after his friend Bennovitch - and so completes the apparent defection of the most important research team that the Russians had ever established.

Adrian Dodds, Home-Office counter-intelligence expert, at loggerheads with his wife and his superiors interrogates both men.

Amid the menacing excitements of diplomatic intrigue and with the details of Russia's missile programme in its grasp, Whitehall grows impatient at Dodds' unwelcome suspicions...

"Post Cold-War chiller, well-paced and ingeniously staged... imponderables simmer until they explode in a blaze of anti-heroics. Grade A intrigue"  New York Times

An early Brian Freemantle novel and one penned a few years before his famous Charlie Muffin espionage series of books.

Loved it!

Secrets, duplicity, intelligence, cunning, control, manipulation, psychology, a battle of wills, loss, regrets, deception, anger, remorse, respect, pressure, results, betrayal, career, friendship, loyalty - and more. 

It's short - a bonus, with a compelling plot - a cat and mouse game unfolding between the two main protagonists and an outcome which put the final tick in all the boxes - pace, characters, setting, plot and solution. Almost makes me nostalgic for the Cold War days again, though to be fair, things presently are a bit frosty between Russia and the UK.

I really liked the set-up and the mental jousting between Pavel and Dodds in his debriefing interviews. Both have been around the block and know exactly what the other is trying to achieve. Both seem to know what the other one is thinking and often times they are right. Both are seeking to establish the upper hand in their encounters. It's a fascinating battle.

Dodds however is forced to abandon his long-established patterns and tactics and dance to another man's tune. The British PM is like a dog with two dicks and salivating at the prospect of an intelligence coup; one which when shared with the Americans will surely earn him some brownie points and increase his popularity with the public. Undue pressure is applied to Dodds to hasten the debrief, despite his concerns and suspicions that something is off about Pavel's defection.

Is Pavel genuine? Why would a devoted family man, expose his wife and adult children to the wrath of the Russian regime, who would surely enact reprisals against them for Pavel's defection and betrayal of the motherland? 

I really enjoyed seeing the various sides of Dodds. As a de-briefer and intelligence officer, he's second to none - intelligent, persuasive, insightful with razor sharp instincts. He gets a personal dressing down by the PM, hilariously echoed by the PM's lackie and secretary. Politician's as we all know too well are quick to point the finger at others and play the blame game, oblivious to their own short-comings and mistakes. Dodds initially accepts the blame, for the lack of results with Pavel, before growing a pair and sticking up for himself - turning it back on the PM. His career is effectively toast anyway.

As a husband, he's a failure and inadequate, incapable of exercising any of the assertiveness we see when he's on the job. His wife's new female lover tells him he's too nice. As a boss, he's similarly weak and spineless in endeavouring to tame his secretary. She frequently displays her disdain for him, through her gestures, her time-keeping, her attitude. I enjoyed Dodds as a character and didn't find the two different facets of his personality ambiguous at all. I was really rooting for him to best his secretary and leave his wife with a flea in her ear. 

The outcome wasn't too much of a surprise but I really bought into it. During the course of the book, we have little scenes set in Russia, with meetings and progress reports in respect of the situation, so there are hints as to what is happening. That said,the execution of the climax was brilliant.

Another post-outcome scene left me with a warm, fuzzy glow with Pavel holding Dodds' fate in his hands and deciding which way the cards would fall.

5 from 5

Charlie M, the first in Freemantle's series has been enjoyed before (another 5/5 read). Hopefully I'll get to some more of his books soon.

Read - April, 2019
Published - 1973
Page count - 144
Source - owned copy
Format - paperback

LAWRENCE BLOCK - SWEET LITTLE HANDS (2011)

Synopsis/blurb.....

“Sweet Little Hands” was written in 2000 for one of the Flesh & Blood anthologies edited by Jeff Gelb and Max Allan Collins. I included it in the omnibus collection of my own short fiction, Enough Rope, so if you already own that book, or want to acquire it in eBook form, you may not need to snap up this present offering.

It’s an edgy story, erotic and violent and perverse. I like the way it turned out, and hope you enjoy it.

Another short and enjoyable offering from Lawrence Block - available to purchase on it's own - and another bolster to April's reading stats.

21 pages long with maybe a bit of filler about some of Block's other books at the beginning at end and a story about a woman who sets up her husband for a fall, courtesy of her lover... or does she?

Violence, sex, control, manipulation, death, conspiracy and plans afoot for a repeat exercise.

I really liked it, though a few sensitive souls may be offended by Block's mostly inferred references to some unusual sexual practices - I say unusual, who knows they might be common around a lot of parts. Not mine anyway, almost brings tears to my eyes thinking about them.

Decent story,  interesting characters - a couple of manipulators and a patsy, and a twist which I suppose was to be expected, otherwise where else could the story go?

Entertained, job done. Everyone needs some Lawrence Block in their reading lives.

4 from 5

Read in April, 2019
Published - 2011
Page count - 21
Source - purchased copy
Format - kindle

E. MICHAEL HELMS - THE PROUD BASTARDS (1990)

Synopsis/blurb.....

A riveting memoir of one marine rifleman's journey from Parris Island through the hell of Vietnam and the Tet Offensive with the Second Battalion, Fourth Marines.

In 1967, a young E. Michael Helms boarded a bus to the legendary grounds of Parris Island, where mere boys were forged into hardened Marines—and sent to the jungles of Vietnam. It was the first stop on a journey that would forever change him—and by its end, he would be awarded the Purple Heart Medal, Combat Action Ribbon, Presidential Unit Citation, Navy Unit Citation, and the Vietnam Cross of Gallantry.

From the brutality and endurance-straining ordeals of boot camp to the endless horror of combat, Helms paints a vivid, unflinchingly realistic depiction of the lives of Marines in training and under fire. As powerful and compelling a battlefield memoir as any ever written, Helms's “grunt's-eye” view of the Vietnam War, the men who fought it, and the mindless chaos that surrounded it, is truly a modern military classic.

My second Vietnam related read this year and a much more engaging read than the last one, thankfully.

We follow Michael Helms' progress through boot camp and into the '67 hell hole of Vietnam.

Physical pain, training, friendship, regrets, excitement, competitiveness, pride, nerves, homesickness followed by shipping out and........ fear, terror, sleeplessness, combat, blood, injury, death, loss, futility, stupidity, jungle warfare, patrols, booby traps, walking point, near misses, bravery, responsibility, loyalty, foot rot, cold, damp, misery, grief, a transition from FNG status to war weary troop, calendar counting, physical beauty and appreciation of the country, offset by inherent dangers at every turn, firefights, eventual injury and hospitalisation and in time a safe return home.

I enjoyed Michael Helms' account of his time in the Marines - probably more than he did enduring the realities of an ill-thought out foreign war, as a young man in the 60s. Helms paints a memorable picture of the horror and fears of jungle combat. There's blood and death and grief and loss aplenty, but it's offset by humour - bleak and dark in places granted - and friendship and service and loyalty.

Not an experience I would wish on anyone, friend or foe. If only we all suffered from Trump-like bone spurs.

4.5 from 5

I've enjoyed E. Michael Helms' fiction before - Deadly Catch, Deadly Ruse and Deadly Dunes and still have some catching up to do with the fourth in his Mac McClellan series - Deadly Spirits.

Read in April, 2019
Published - 1990
Page count - 273
Source - review copy from author
Format - kindle

2 BY SUSAN SPANN

A couple from a new-to-me American author - Susan Spann and a bit of 16th century Japanese mystery.






















Susan Spann has written seven novels so far in her Shinobi mystery series, plus a work of non-fiction.

These are a bit of a departure from my usual reading tastes and a step out of my comfort zone, but I'm looking forward to them when time allows.

Shinobi Mystery
1. Claws of the Cat (2013)
2. Blade of the Samurai (2014)
3. Flask of the Drunken Master (2015)
4. The Ninja's Daughter (2016)
5. Betrayal at Iga (2017)
6. Trial on Mount Koya (2018)
7. Ghost of the Bamboo Road (2019)

She has her website here.



The Ninja's Daughter (2016)

Autumn, 1565: When an actor's daughter is murdered on the banks of Kyoto's Kamo River, master ninja Hiro Hattori and Portuguese Jesuit Father Mateo are the victim's only hope for justice. As political tensions rise in the wake of the shogun's recent death, and rival warlords threaten war, the Kyoto police forbid an investigation of the killing, to keep the peace--but Hiro has a personal connection to the girl, and must avenge her. The secret investigation leads Hiro and Father Mateo deep into the exclusive world of Kyoto's theater guilds, where they quickly learn that nothing, and no one, is as it seems. With only a mysterious golden coin to guide them, the investigators uncover a forbidden love affair, a missing mask, and a dangerous link to corruption within the Kyoto police department that leaves Hiro and Father Mateo running for their lives.



Betrayal at Iga (2017)

Autumn, 1565: After fleeing Kyoto, master ninja Hiro Hattori and Portuguese Jesuit Father Mateo take refuge with Hiro's ninja clan in the mountains of Iga province. But when an ambassador from the rival Koga clan is murdered during peace negotiations, Hiro and Father Mateo must find the killer in time to prevent a war between the ninja clans. With every suspect a trained assassin, and the evidence incriminating not only Hiro's commander, the infamous ninja Hattori Hanzo, but also Hiro's mother and his former lover, the detectives must struggle to find the truth in a village where deceit is a cultivated art. As tensions rise, the killer strikes again, and Hiro finds himself forced to choose between his family and his honor.

CHARLES WILLEFORD - PICK-UP (1954)

Synopsis/blurb....

Prowling the grimy streets of San Francisco, low-life Helen is a beautiful, sensuous drunk - and a pathetically easy pick-up. That is until she meets Harry, who buys her a coffee and takes her home with him. Harry just wants to help, but before long he and Helen are both adrift in a sea of alcohol - until Harry conceives the ultimate crime ......

Another re-read from long ago, sometime early 90s maybe, but certainly long enough that elements of it pricked at my consciousness without total recall spoiling the surprise element of the tale.

Alcoholic man meets alcoholic woman and almost immediately you get a sense that it isn't going to end well. Harry on his own is functional and managing his drinking. Work, drink, work, drink, run up a tab, get an advance on wages, drink more, get paid, clear tab, drink more, work, repeat ad nauseum.

Harry has failed periodically throughout his life.... as an artist, with the army, as a husband, as a father, as a teacher and here again he fails. Helen's issues and history aren't explored to the same degree...... a failed marriage, a difficult relationship with her disapproving mother and a flight to the city of San Francisco.

As a couple, at least there's some solace in not drinking alone. There are brief attempts, driven by Harry to seek help for their drinking - treatment sought and a drying out period of forced abstinence. There's an effort to establish a routine of a work life and regular domesticity, but Helen lacks the strength to persist and soon Harry is dragged back down to the gutter. One way out of their mutual misery beckons.

A dark book, a bit of a character study of lives ruined by addiction, assisted by a weakness of character. It's interspersed by the small tolerances and kindnesses shown to them throughout the book.... by their landlady, Mick the bar owner, and to Harry by his jailers later on in the book. Willeford's surprise twist two lines from the end of the book, does give you pause to reflect and reconsider everything - absolutely everything you've read before.

Not my favourite Willeford book - the Hoke Moseley series he started 30 years after this one are - but it comes close.



4.5 from 5

Read - April, 2019
Published - 1954
Page count - 196
Source - owned copy
Format - hardback omnibus edition*

* The omnibus consists of Pick-Up, The Burnt Orange Heresy and Cockfighter. I originally read the paperback version of this with the cover illustrated up top. I bought the omnibus as I couldn't find a reasonably priced copy of one of the other two in the set - The Burnt Orange Heresy from memory.

T.S. HUNTER - TAINTED LOVE (2019)

Synopsis/blurb.....

SOME RELATIONSHIPS ARE JUST MURDER 

It's 1985, and Joe Stone is excited to be joining his old school friend, and lifelong crush, Chris, for a long weekend in London's Soho—home to a vibrant, developing gay scene, and a million miles from the small town where Joe and Chris grew up. 

When Chris is found brutally murdered, the police write his death off as just another rent boy fallen foul of a bad hook up. But Joe knows his friend was killed deliberately, and joins forces with former police detective, Russell Dixon—Chris's flatmate—to find out why. 

Spiralling debt, illicit sex, blackmail, spurned lovers and hard-nosed gangsters all play their part, but who among the celebrities, fashionistas, drag queens, ex-lovers and so-called friends is Chris's killer? 

A noirish whodunnit set in 1980s London, with all the big hair, electro-pop, shoulder pads, police discrimination and lethal killers that the era had to offer. 

TAINTED LOVE IS THE FIRST BOOK IN THE SOHO NOIR SERIES OF COZY CRIME NOVELLAS.

A trip back in time to the 80s with the murder of a gay man in London's Soho; a time of police indifference, with gay-bashing as a sport and general hostility towards the LGBT community.

Chris is at home in the bright lights of London, carving out a career with his fashion designs for his partnership in a small company, confident with his celebrity friends and the life and soul of the party.

Joe, his old school friend is less assured. A visit to London to see Chris - his old crush - ends in tragedy when Chris is murdered. Chris's flatmate Russell, an ex-cop and also gay, teams up with Joe to investigate the murder, in the knowledge that the detective assigned to the case couldn't be bothered. Detective Skinner and Russell have history with no love lost between the two.

An unlikely double act, secrets, dirty cops, dodgy politicians, a West End criminal with money and influence, a powerful family, a business partnership, history, family disappointment, a falling out, a drag queen with a crush, debts, manipulation, sex for sale, arrogance, AIDS, a charity in the community under threat, jealousy, grief, ambition, loss, assault, answers.

Short and sweet at about 130 pages long. I liked it. There's a peek inside a community under siege, harassed and prejudiced against. I felt a connection to the setting and the era with the music and fashions, the cultural references to the miner's strike and the support offered by the LGBT community, the fear of the killer disease on the block and the ever-present threat of violence from the intolerant.

Along the way, Joe gains confidence in himself as a person, something that is lacking at the beginning of our tale. He gains a friend in Russell, a better investigator than Skinner ever will be, but unfortunately drummed from the force, the victim of a sex-sting arranged by Skinner.

Our victim, Chris wasn't a particularly sympathetic victim......vain, arrogant as opposed to confident, a user, a manipulator, always longing to be the centre of attention, always self-centred and never too shy about letting down a friend. If I was around at the time and knew him, I might have been tempted to do the deed myself. That said, he had friends who loved and cared for him and who missed him. He couldn't have been that bad!

Lots to like and an assured debut from T.S. Hunter. Tainted Love is the first in a planned series of novellas. I'd be interested in the second offering whenever it drops.

4 from 5


Read - April, 2019
Published - 2019
Page count - 132
Source - review copy from publisher Red Dog Press
Format - paperback







* The Buy link for Tainted Love is  mybook.to/Tainted_Love  
This will take you straight to the Amazon page for the book in your country.

2 BY DONALD GOINES

A couple this week from Donald Goines and the 70s.

Donald Goines penned 16 novels over a five year period, after he turned to writing during a prison sentence. He served in the US military during the Korean War, became addicted to heroine and turned to crime to support his habit.

He was murdered in 1974, along with his common-law wife, Shirley Sailor - both the victims of multiple gunshot wounds. The killer(s) was never caught.

Popular theories involve Goines being murdered due to his basing several of his characters on real life criminals as well as the theory that Goines was killed due to his being in debt over drugs. (Allen, Eddie (2003). Low Road: The Life and Legacy of Donald Goines. MacMillan. ISBN 0312383517)





Black Gangster (1972)

A large part of Goines' thirty nine years of life was spent being a successful pimp, a heif, an operator of corn liquor houses, an armed robber, and a small time dope dealer. He lived the life of the streets and out of that experience he created Prince, the anti-hero of Black Gangster!

It's the story of the shocking underworld of black organised crime and the fledgling black "godfather" who goes from teenager ganglord to powerful Detroit mobster. Like the gangsters of the 1920's, he begins with boot-legging and branches out into every known crime.









Dopefiend (1972)

For twenty-three years of his life Donald Goines lived in the dark, despair-ridden world of the junkie. It started while he was doing military service in Korea and ended with his murder at the age of thirty nine. He had worked up to a hundred dollars a day habit and out of the agonizing hell came Dopefiend!

It is the shocking nightmare story of a black heroin addict. Trapped in the festering sore of a major American ghetto, a young man and his girlfriend- both handsome, talented, and full of promise- are inexorably pulled into death of the hardcore junkie!