A review by steveb0b72a
Fifty-to-One by Charles Ardai

4.0

I really enjoyed this, but the first thing you need to know is: it's not a typical novel, it's an extended joke. Hard Case Crime had published 50 books, so to celebrate the publisher wrote a story which uses those titles IN ORDER to make a plot. It's great fun, and the author even drops each name into each chapter with a giant clang so that everyone is in on it. Somehow, despite needing to wrestle each few pages into hitting the novel title required, there's a great pulp tale which comes out of it - a frantic chase starring mobsters, nightclubs, gunfights and a naive young woman from the countryside who has to learn mean city ways real fast. It's silly, it knows it, but as a celebration of Hard Case Crime it'll still leave you smiling. The gallery of awesome pulp book covers (the actual covers of 1-50) is great as well.