The author, E. Richard Johnson, certainly knew the criminal
classes
first hand--he was a member of their ranks. He was sentenced
to
Stillwater State Prison in Wisconsin in 1964 (not sure what
for), where
he stayed for more than 20 years. He he won an Edgar Allan
Poe award in
1968 for his first novel, _Silver Street_, and continued to
publish
prolifically through the early 70's (8 novels between 1968
and 1975),
but only sporadically thereafter.
Here's some quotes from Kenneth D. Alley's entry on Johnson
in
_Twentieth-Century Crime & Mystery Writers_: "[Johnson]
presenteded [an]
uncompromising insider's view of the dark underbelly of
American
life--the neon-spangled world of crime, 'where cruelty of man
to man was
a matter of fact.'
"In Johnson's urban nightmare two basic themes provide the
connecting
link. First everyone is driven by compulsive needs, desires,
and social
pressures into ways of life, character, and behavior from
which there is
no escape ... Second, everyone betrays or is betrayed by his
own or
other's needs ... Johnson, working in the tradition of the
hard-boiled
genre, but adding his own unique insights to it, is
undoubtedly one of
the best talents that appeared during the 1960's and
1970's."
Even with this high praise, Johnson has been unjustly
neglected by
hard-boiled fandom. Has anyone else read anything by
him?
--
James Stephenson
Rare Books & Special Collections Cataloger
McKeldin Library
University of Maryland
College Park, MD 20742
Email: js272@umail.umd.edu
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