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duparker's review against another edition
4.0
Totally old school thriller, which is exactly what I was seeking. There is a cheeky feel to it and a basic vibe at times, but it is fun B movie stuff.
dantastic's review against another edition
3.0
While hitchhiking to Norfolk to report for active duty, Navy Lieutenant David Young is smashed over the head with a tire iron and left for dead in a burning car. When he comes to, burned and bandaged in the hospital, everyone thinks he's Larry Wilson, the man who picked him up. It turns out Larry Wilson had a lot of reasons for wanting people to think he died in a fiery car crash...
Donald Hamilton is famous for the Matt Helm spy series, of which I have read none. I think this one of the Hard Case books that was reprinted because it was the cheapest of the author's works to secure the rights for.
Faking your own death with a hitchhiker's corpse is old hat in crime fiction. Hamilton puts a twist on it and has the killing botched. It was a good twist but the rest of the story didn't follow up on the promise. I never understood why Young felt the need to play along with Elizabeth Wilson, aside from her walking around in almost nothing and him being a red-blooded male, and without spoiling anything, I thought the ending was pretty far-fetched.
"But Dan," you say, "You gave it a three. What gives?" Hamilton's writing saved the day for me. The man new how to build suspense. While Elizabeth Wilson's character was fairly flat, Bunny and Doc Henshaw were pretty well done. Plus, he took a 50's plot involving communists and didn't make me laugh my ass off. Young wasn't a super hero and didn't walk around with guns blazing. That's was a huge plus.
Three stars but it could have easily been a 2 on a different day.
Donald Hamilton is famous for the Matt Helm spy series, of which I have read none. I think this one of the Hard Case books that was reprinted because it was the cheapest of the author's works to secure the rights for.
Faking your own death with a hitchhiker's corpse is old hat in crime fiction. Hamilton puts a twist on it and has the killing botched. It was a good twist but the rest of the story didn't follow up on the promise. I never understood why Young felt the need to play along with Elizabeth Wilson, aside from her walking around in almost nothing and him being a red-blooded male, and without spoiling anything, I thought the ending was pretty far-fetched.
"But Dan," you say, "You gave it a three. What gives?" Hamilton's writing saved the day for me. The man new how to build suspense. While Elizabeth Wilson's character was fairly flat, Bunny and Doc Henshaw were pretty well done. Plus, he took a 50's plot involving communists and didn't make me laugh my ass off. Young wasn't a super hero and didn't walk around with guns blazing. That's was a huge plus.
Three stars but it could have easily been a 2 on a different day.
jakewritesbooks's review against another edition
4.0
Months like this one make it tricky to continue my required monthly Hard Case Crime read. I usually skip February as HCC has done a poor job of publishing Black authors. And I’ve read all the female authors they’ve so far published (precious few). And now, reading only horror for these 31 days, I’ve read all their horror reads: the Stephen Kings and Sugar Rush.
But unlike February and March, I didn’t think this month required a departure from it. So I grabbed this one because the premise sounded horrific: a man is in a cab when he’s bashed in the head. He wakes up in a hospital to find his face swaddled in bandages. The nurse tending to him is referring to him by a different name. He has no ID, he’s supposed to be back at his naval base by a certain time, he’s in pain and petrified.
Also, the cover was evocative of a horror tale: the bandaged man screaming as a woman screams next to him while a gun goes off.
It starts as horror but quickly switches to thriller and is a lot of fun, even by HCC standards. I was invested in the story about halfway through, curious to see how Hamilton was going to bring it home.
Unfortunately, the back half is loaded with a lot of exposition that dulled the thrill of those first hundred pages. There are some interesting twists but I was happy when it was done. Still clears the 4-star bar because I really enjoyed those first hundred pages. And I’ll have to look into more of Donald Hamilton’s work.
But unlike February and March, I didn’t think this month required a departure from it. So I grabbed this one because the premise sounded horrific: a man is in a cab when he’s bashed in the head. He wakes up in a hospital to find his face swaddled in bandages. The nurse tending to him is referring to him by a different name. He has no ID, he’s supposed to be back at his naval base by a certain time, he’s in pain and petrified.
Also, the cover was evocative of a horror tale: the bandaged man screaming as a woman screams next to him while a gun goes off.
It starts as horror but quickly switches to thriller and is a lot of fun, even by HCC standards. I was invested in the story about halfway through, curious to see how Hamilton was going to bring it home.
Unfortunately, the back half is loaded with a lot of exposition that dulled the thrill of those first hundred pages. There are some interesting twists but I was happy when it was done. Still clears the 4-star bar because I really enjoyed those first hundred pages. And I’ll have to look into more of Donald Hamilton’s work.
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