I'll have to call this my Indian Summer of Charles Williams.
After taking some time off to read some Donald Hamilton and
Jason's new book, I fell off the wagon and back on Charles
Williams like a bad habit. I know the day is coming soon when
I won't have any more Charles Williams to read and I hope to
God I'll find another writer I like as well (I've read almost
all of Thompson and Goodis).
The good news is that I couldn't have picked a better book of
his to read. I would say The Big Bite is Williams' best novel
and I've now read the majority of them. I was hooked from the
very beginning. Good harboiled wise-cracking dialogue, the
femme fatale--it's all there. If you read and liked Hell Hath
No Fury, A Touch of Death and Nothing in Her Way, this one is
a must.
I would go so far as to say it's the best hardboiled crime
book I've ever read. It's perfect in every way, not a single
misstep. You might even call it the definitive hardboiled
book. I liked it so much that I spent some time thinking
about the elements that went into the making of the perfect
book in this genre. This is what I came up with:
1. Tough wise-cracking dialogue 2. An unsympathetic
protagonist (who you none-the-less identify with) 3. A femme
fatale 4. Sexual tension 5. Ironic plot twists 6. A tough
brutal thug (the nemesis of the main character) 7. A sense
though out that all the characters are doomed
The Big Bite has all these elements in spades. It's what has
made Williams my favorite author. In Hardboiled America
Geoffrey O'Brien said it was his best novel and I know many
of you concur or think that it's at least one of his best
novels (it's hard to choose among the many great novels he
wrote). It was Jason Starr's suggestion for a Hard Case Crime
title. I agree with everything that's been said about the
novel. Here are some samples of the dialogue:
"Say a hundred grand." Split seventy-five,
twenty-five."
"Seventy-five for me?" He shook his head with a kind of
pained expression on his face.
"Seventy-five for me, chum."
"Back off and look again," I said. "The wind's whistling
through your head."
"How's that?"
"Who got run over that night? You, or me?"
"Is blackmail a new field for you?
"Maiden voyage."
"I must say you have a masterly grasp of its intricacies, for
a beginner."
"Thank you. I like your legs."
"You don't have any trouble with the moral aspects?"
"Why should I? I'm just a press agent in reverse. You're
paying me to keep you off the front page." The brown eyes met
mine probingly. "Never mind the comic rationalization. It
doesn't bother you in the slightest, does it?
"No. I'm a bastard. I admit it."
"Frank, to say the least."
"Look it's a jungle. They throw you into it naked, and sixty
years later they carry you off in a box. You just do the best
you can." She smiled a little mockingly. "Ah. The beginnings
of thought. You're a nihilist."
"That's out of style," I said. "Nobody's been one for
years."
"You are surprising. I didn't think you knew what it
meant."
"Duh," I said. "I saw it in a comic book."
I guess that's enough to say about one book. Jeff
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