Dirty Harry #7: Massacre at Russian River by Dane Hartman

 

(pb; 1982: seventh book in the twelve-book Dirty Harry series. Sequel to Dirty Harry #6: City of Blood.)

From the back cover

“A lot of grass─the illegal kind─grows in the hills of Northern California. Where there’s marijuana, there’s money. Where there’s money, there’s murder. And where there’s murder, there’s ‘Dirty Harry’ Callahan. In a wilderness where even the local cops are criminal, Harry must live─and kill─by a law higher than the law of the land: his own.”

Review

MASSACRE is an entertaining, waste-no-words and action-focused read, excellent for its hyper-masculine subgenre. This is a near-impossible-to-set-down B-movie book, with its sketched-out characters (aside from Callahan), rapid-fire developments, danger-and-corruption-all-around storyline. MASSACRE does not have any egregious, troubling-in-2020 politics and social attitudes like the giallo-esque The Long Death (third book in the series). This is a blast of a read, worth your time and cash.

Followed by Dirty Harry #8: Hatchet Men.

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According to Wikipedia, Dane Hartman is the pen name of “several writers. . . [including] martial arts expert Ric Meyers and Leslie Alan Horvitz.” 

Christmas Babies by Christopher Keane and William D. Black, M.D.

 

(pb; 1991)

From the back cover

“Dr. Josh Heller can’t explain the alarming rise in difficult labors among his patients at Tampa Memorial Hospital. Many of these women─young, low risk, in perfect health at noon─are dying in the delivery room by midnight.

“And then there are the babies, tiny infants distinguished by wisps of red hair and luminescent green eyes.

“Pat Heller, Josh’s wife and a seasoned medical reporter, begins to unravel the enigma of ‘Christmas Babies,’ and uncovers a dangerous alliance between a Florida senator and a brilliant, psychopathic doctor. They share a deadly secret: a genetic experiment utopian in premise but horrifying in practice. From the seeds of corruption, greed and madness, their fearsome creations are entering the world.”

Review

Christmas is an entertaining, solidly written if melodramatic and largely by-the-numbers medical thriller. Keane and Black deliver a burn-through read, with plot-convenient dumb characters (particularly Josh Heller, who deserves a Bad Parent of the Decade award for leaving his kid with a woman he barely knows─I haven’t seen such dumbf**k parenting since the storyline of M. Night Shyamalan’s 2015 crap-film The Visit).

Christmas sports sly humor as well, e.g., the headquarter address of the ethically questionable, computer-hacking DNA, Inc. is 405 Border Lane. Cute, yes, but still an indication of playfulness.

This thoroughly familiar but fun medical thriller is worth the two dollars I paid for it, a two-hour distraction while I waited for my sleeping pills to kick in─a solid work by a solid writer (or writers, if Black provided more than medical information).

Twins by Bari Wood and Jack Geasland

 

(pb; 1977)

From the back cover

“A . . . novel of the bizarre lives of twin doctors─bound together by more-than-brotherly love, damned together to a private hell of unspeakable obsessions.”

Review

Twins is one of the creepiest, ickiest novels I have read in a long time. It’s also one of the most memorable. The twin doctors, the outgoing, possibly sociopathic David and the quiet, sensitive Michael, have a relationship that goes to made-this-reader-squirm extremes, especially at the end, which is hauntingly sad after the (morally) stomach-churning events pass.

I read this excellent book in one sitting, staying up late into the a.m. hours─not something I normally do─to see what came next, even though much of the outcome was shown at the outset of Twins. Wood and Geasland did a great job of imbuing even the most extreme characters with a relatable and often-bleak humanity (especially the twins), with events and pacing that made this near-impossible to put down (much like Wood’s 1984 novel The Tribe, which was equally addictive).

This is a great book if sexual taboos don’t put you off too much, with characters you won’t soon forget, and further proof that Wood and (possibly) Geasland are writers to put at the top of your reading list if you like your thriller/horror kicks thoughtful, unsettling and morally icky.

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The resulting film, retitled Dead Ringers, was released stateside on September 23, 1988. Directed and co-scripted by David Cronenberg. Co-scripted by Norman Snider.

Jeremy Irons played Elliot and Beverly. Genevieve Bujold played Claire. Heidi von Palleske played Cary. Barbara Gordon played Danuta.

Stephen Lack played Anders Wolleck. An uncredited David Cronenberg played Obsetrician.

Saga, Volume One by Brian K. Vaughn, Fiona Staples and Eric Stephenson

 

(pb; 2016: graphic novel, collecting issues 1-6 of Saga)

From the back cover

“When two soldiers from opposite sides of a never-ending galactic war fall in love, they risk everything to bring a fragile new life into a dangerous old world. Fantasy and science fiction are wed like never before in the first volume of this sexy, subversive ongoing epic.”

Review

Saga, thus far, is an impressively imaginative story with equally imaginative and distinctive characters, taking science fiction and fantasy tropes and turning them on their heads with impressive ease. Its balance of humor, romance, action, strangeness and heart is deftly handled and shown, the artwork solid and not off-putting, and its tone relatively light, making for a landmark comic book/graphic novel read. Worth owning, this.

Followed by Saga, Volume Two.

Night of the Juggler by William P. McGivern

 

(pb; 1975)

From the back cover

“Gus Soltik can’t read, can’t even think straight, but he knows it’s October 15^th, the fifth anniversary of his mother’s death. On this day Gus will kill again─slashing young Kate Boyd’s throat. Two men have precious few hours to stop him. But first they must fight each other.”

 

Review

Juggler is an immediately immersive and excellent police procedural, with characters who are, for the most part, well-developed, driving the action with their personalities and actions. A few characters are narrowly defined and/or odd, probable cannon fodder-type figures by today’s “woke” standards, but in the mid-Seventies they were standard fare (McGivern’s handling of Manolo is a bit over-the-top; that said, Manolo is more than a flashy homosexual, and this is crime novel, not a melodramatic character study.) The action is constant, the pace never lags, and the writing is focused, with a great ending scene between two of the main characters. Worth reading and owning, this.

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The resulting film was released stateside on June 6, 1980. Robert Butler and an uncredited Sidney J.Furie directed it, from a screenplay by William W. Norton (billed as Bill Norton Sr.) and Rick Natkin.

Cliff Gorman played Gus Soltic. Richard S.Castellano, billed as Richard Castellano, played Lt. Tonelli. James Brolin played Sean Boyd (cinematic stand-in for Luther Boyd). Linda Miller, billed as Linda G. Miller, played Barbara Boyd. Abby Bluestone played Kathy Boyd.

Dan Hedaya played Sgt. Otis Barnes. Mandy Pantinkin played Allesandro the Cabbie. Richard Gant played “Hospital Cop.” Sharon Mitchell played Susie. John Randolph Jones played “Truck Driver.”