I've been on a bit of Gil Brewer tear as of late thanks to
Stark House and Hard Case. As a result I have a renewed
appreciation for him. I think that, at his best, his books
are the equal of Harry Whittington's and Charles Williams',
although not as consistent as either of those writers.
The two books in the Stark House reprint, Wild to Posses and
A Taste for Sin are non-stop action. They move at Whittington
pace with Williams-style plot twists. They grab you by the
throat from the opening pages and don't let up til the end. I
couldn't put them down, especially since Brewer ends the
chapters at dramatic moments. He creates a rhythm through out
both books with sentences of varying length, especially at
the end of each chapter leading up to the dramatic moments.
He'll end a paragraph with shorter and shorter sentences--in
some cases one-word sentences.
In A Taste for Sin, he creates the most wicked femme fatale
I've yet come across in all my years of reading. More evil
than even the best--or I should say--the worst of Williams,
i.e, Madelon Butler (A Touch of Death), Cathy Dunbar (Nothing
in Her Way), Julia Cannon (The Big Bite) and Dolly
Harshaw
(Hell Hath No Fury). Someone had already mentioned the
ballpeen hammer scene. I won't repeat it. The best femme
fatales would be an interesting thread in itself.
The HCC reprint, The Vengeful Virgin reminded me of some of
the Brewer I had read such as 13 French Street and The Red
Scarf and is every bit as good as the latter, which is one of
his best books. It moves at a much slower pace, but a good
read nonetheless. If you haven't read Brewer or at least
these particular novels I really recommend them. If you like
Williams and Whittington I would suggest grabbing copies of
these as quickly as you can get your hands on them.
Jeff
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