Friday's Forgotten Books, Friday, July 19, 2013

A Dram of Poison by Charlotte Armstrong

This MWA winner of the best novel of 1956 is unlike any other crime novel I've read. There is, in fact, no crime beyond an attempt at suicide and a communal effort to find the dram of poison. That the book is classified as either a mystery or a crime novel at all is odd. What it is is a love story, a story about two very nice people who find joy with each other by the story's end. It is somewhat suspenseful but what makes it shine is the originality of the writing, the sparkling dialogue, the unforgettable characters, most especially the star of the show: Mr. Gibson. The less I say about it the better. As Anthony Boucher said in writing a review of it in 1956, "Get It."

Ed Gorman ia the author of the Sam McCann and Dev Conrad series of crime novels.

THE HIDDEN by Bill Pronzini

I know, I know, since this was published not long ago, it's hardly forgotten. But it is one of those books that deserved much more promotion and notice than it received. Bill Pronzini the master of mixing shattered lives and violence and The Hidden is almost claustrophobic in its shadowy Woolrichian power.

Bill Pronzini is not only a Grand Master of the Mystery Writers of America, he's a Grand Master of the dark and sinister noir novel. He demonstrates this again in one of his finest (perhaps the finest) books in his long career.

Jay Macklin is a failed man. A career as a baseball player was ended early by injury. As were other attempts at establishing himself. His decade-plus marriage to Shelby was so solid and good for a long time but unemployment and heart trouble (the latter something she doesn't know about) have taken their toll. Shelby finds herself attracted to a doctor at the hospital where she works as a paramedic.

The novel brings Jay and Shelby together in an anxious attempt to find their old love and respect. They travel to a cottage in rugged Northern California only to meet Brian and Claire Lomax, a married couple who has even more problems than they do. They also become aware of a serial killer who has been traveling this same area. A power failure seems symbolic of their marriage's final days.

Pronzini has always been at his best dealing with smashed lives. HIs descriptions of violent weather and pitiless nature only enhance the emotional turbulence that make the drama so rich. Gripping, sinister, unpredictable, The Hidden is a sinewy novel of treachery and terror by a true master of the form.