What do you think?
Rate this book
The Vengeful Virgin
HER WEALTHY STEPFATHER WAS DYING – BUT NOT QUICKLY ENOUGH
What beautiful 18-year-old would want to spend her life taking care of an invalid? Not Shirley Angela. But that’s the life she was trapped in – until she met Jack.
Now Shirley and Jack have a plan to put the old man out of his misery and walk away with a suitcase full of cash. But there’s nothing like money to come between lovers – money, and other women…
What beautiful 18-year-old would want to spend her life taking care of an invalid? Not Shirley Angela. But that’s the life she was trapped in – until she met Jack.
Now Shirley and Jack have a plan to put the old man out of his misery and walk away with a suitcase full of cash. But there’s nothing like money to come between lovers – money, and other women…
224 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1958
27 people are currently reading
798 people want to read
About the author
Gil Brewer
139 books58 followersFlorida writer Gil Brewer was the author of dozens of wonderfully sleazy sex/crime adventure novels of the 1950's and 60's, including Backwoods Teaser and Nude on Thin Ice; some of them starring private eye Lee Baron (Wild) or the brothers Sam and Tate Morgan (The Bitch) . Gil Brewer, who had not previously published any novels, began to write for Gold Medal Paperbacks in 1950-51. Brewer wrote some 30 novels between 1951 and the late 60s – very often involving an ordinary man who becomes involved with, and is often corrupted and destroyed by, an evil or designing woman. His style is simple and direct, with sharp dialogue, often achieving considerable intensity.
Brewer was one of the many writers who ghost wrote under the Ellery Queen byline as well. Brewer also was known as Eric Fitzgerald, Bailey Morgan, and Elaine Evans.
http://www.gilbrewer.com/
Brewer was one of the many writers who ghost wrote under the Ellery Queen byline as well. Brewer also was known as Eric Fitzgerald, Bailey Morgan, and Elaine Evans.
http://www.gilbrewer.com/
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 115 reviews
November 14, 2011
Well, she was a virgin at some point...
The story is straight out of the James M. Cain playbook. Jack Ruxton, a broke TV repairman, hooks up with a teenage temptress, Shirley Angela. Shirley and Jack plot to rid Shirley of her invalid stepfather and get her vast inheritance. Almost immediately, things get shot to hell...
The Vengeful Virgin is a thrill ride of conspiracy, murder, sex, and insanity. Gil Brewer's prose is similar to Lawrence Block's and the suspense and desperation is very well done. Things start off wrong and just keep getting worse.
The characters are pretty reallistic. Even though officially I'm appalled by the idea of a thirty-ish guy and a teenage vixen, as a red-blooded male... I can see how things went the way they did. In the beginning, Shirley's a sympathetic character. You feel for her, having her teenage years spent cooped up and caring for her dying stepfather.
The Vengeful Virgin is a gripping tale with a lot of twists and turns. If I wanted to get someone started on the Hard Case series, this is one of the ones I'd point them at first.
The story is straight out of the James M. Cain playbook. Jack Ruxton, a broke TV repairman, hooks up with a teenage temptress, Shirley Angela. Shirley and Jack plot to rid Shirley of her invalid stepfather and get her vast inheritance. Almost immediately, things get shot to hell...
The Vengeful Virgin is a thrill ride of conspiracy, murder, sex, and insanity. Gil Brewer's prose is similar to Lawrence Block's and the suspense and desperation is very well done. Things start off wrong and just keep getting worse.
The characters are pretty reallistic. Even though officially I'm appalled by the idea of a thirty-ish guy and a teenage vixen, as a red-blooded male... I can see how things went the way they did. In the beginning, Shirley's a sympathetic character. You feel for her, having her teenage years spent cooped up and caring for her dying stepfather.
The Vengeful Virgin is a gripping tale with a lot of twists and turns. If I wanted to get someone started on the Hard Case series, this is one of the ones I'd point them at first.
February 10, 2020
I knew I'd never get enough of her. She was straight out of hell.
A TV repairman knocks at the door of the house, only to have it answered by a hot, sexy young woman.
Cue the 70's porno music!
This one ran hot and cold for me. One minute I'm impressed by Brewer's spicy, suggestive dialogue - though the talk is about installing some new TVs it seems like they might have something else on their minds . . .
"I'll bring some stuff along. You can decide what you want."
"If we started anything tonight, we'd never get finished."
But, mere pages later, the conversation is so sappy, I thought I was reading one of my mom's old True Romance magazines. And . . . it was pretty much like that the entire book - equal parts intrigue, AND annoyance.
As many reviewers have mentioned, this seems fairly well ripped from the pages of James. M. Cain. Here, though, there are the delightful additions of a nosy neighbor, and a jealous ex-girlfriend with the greatest (or worst, depending on your perspective) sense of timing in the world. I feel weird giving this one only three stars as it was quite the page-turner, but the irritating main characters did me in. Karma can be a bitch, and this time around, I was rooting for her.
A TV repairman knocks at the door of the house, only to have it answered by a hot, sexy young woman.
Cue the 70's porno music!
This one ran hot and cold for me. One minute I'm impressed by Brewer's spicy, suggestive dialogue - though the talk is about installing some new TVs it seems like they might have something else on their minds . . .
"I'll bring some stuff along. You can decide what you want."
"If we started anything tonight, we'd never get finished."
But, mere pages later, the conversation is so sappy, I thought I was reading one of my mom's old True Romance magazines. And . . . it was pretty much like that the entire book - equal parts intrigue, AND annoyance.
As many reviewers have mentioned, this seems fairly well ripped from the pages of James. M. Cain. Here, though, there are the delightful additions of a nosy neighbor, and a jealous ex-girlfriend with the greatest (or worst, depending on your perspective) sense of timing in the world. I feel weird giving this one only three stars as it was quite the page-turner, but the irritating main characters did me in. Karma can be a bitch, and this time around, I was rooting for her.
September 14, 2016
She looked hot enough to catch fire, but too lazy to do anything but just lie there and smoke.Whoa! Talk about having serious girl problems!!
A month ago I read another tight Gil Brewer pulp called The Red Scarf and got a kick out of it. But this awesomely-titled little gem rocked! Brewer takes a cue from the James M. Cain Holy Book of Noir, and weaves a tale of a TV sales-and-repairman whose business is less than stellar, and to top it off he has a psycho-stalker ex-girlfriend that won't leave him alone. Things change when he places a house call to a red-headed, little rich virgin who takes care of her ailing stepdad, and he immediately starts catching feelings. But then he starts catching ideas instead when:
1) he finds out the fun way that she's definitely NOT a virgin
and
2) she begins to drop hints that maybe her rich old man should die a bit quicker...
The book starts off at a leisurely pace, as the main characters flirt not only with each other but also with their murderous intents. But once they pass the point of no return, things get ratcheted up to a nail-biting intensity! Obstacles pile and pile and there's almost no letting up as Jack, the main character, tries to stay ahead of the hurdles and get away scot-free, while also trying to keep a lid on his increasing paranoia. It makes for an entertaining read, where you know that it won't end well (as it is with most of these stories), but your eyes stay glued to the page to see how the tragedy will play itself out. And if you're one of those people who needs their fiction to have fancy, lofty themes, here's one theme that sums up this book. 90's R&B group BellBivDevoe said it best in their hit song: "Never trust a big butt and a smile. That girl is Poison!!"
"Her aqua dress was all roped up around her middle, and her hair was snarled, and she just lay there, like some glorious whore, glorifying her whoring, happy as hell."
February 21, 2020
“Him?” they’d say. “Oh, that was Jack Ruxton. Yeah, too bad. Used to run a TV and radio store. Yeah. Flipped his wig over a screwy teenage broad.”
I believe Gil Brewer was born a couple of decades too late. By the time he was ready to make a splash on the literary pulp trail, the territory was well mapped out and the paths well trodden by the likes of Chandler, Hammett, Cain and Woolrich. Brewer writes well, he makes the dialogues and the internal monologues snappy, his women are steamingly hot blooded and his criminals tougher than boiled leather. But he doesn’t really explores new avenues in terms of plot or characters. He stays safely within the bounds of what is expected of a classic noir novel and, while he is definitely above the fanfic level, he doesn’t quite reach the quality of those big names I’ve dropped earlier.
“The Vengeful Virgin” is my first foray into Gil Brewer fiction, and I liked it plenty, but I had right from the start the feeling that I’ve read something exactly like it before: a traveling craftsman/salesman comes to a rich man’s house and starts drooling over his sexy teenage daughter (adopted). She makes it clear that she has the hots for him, some torrid sex scenes ensue, to be followed very soon by plans to kill the old man, take his money and fly into the sunset together. There’s no postman to ring twice at the door, but there’s a suspicious doctor, an ex-flame of the tough guy who still creeps about and the usual problems of how to do the dirty deed without going directly to the electric chair.
You’re a swimmer in a riptide, fighting toward a receding shore.
As I’ve said already, this is a classic noir story, and if there’s one thing you can be sure about in such a plot, is that it will end up badly for the crooks. Jack Ruxton is well aware of the risks, but a combination of greed and of lust makes of him an easy target for the conniving Shirley Angel, whose ample charms are described in lurid, almost cringe worthy detail by Jack, but who hardly looks, talks or acts virginal:
‘If it didn’t look as if it would work out right, then I’d try another place, until I found what I wanted. I didn’t imagine it would be too difficult, if I made things obvious. Only you were different. I would have waited a long time.’
Jack Ruxton, as the first person narrator of the novel, is understandably trying to stir up the reader’s sympathy and paints himself as a victim of a teenage temptress and of bad luck. Sorry, I didn’t buy into it at all. Jack’s actions speak louder than his exculpatory monologues on bad luck.
I hit her. I hit her so hard she ran sideways off across the lawn, and fell in a heap. I went over and yanked her to her feet. I hit her again. I let her have it hard.
I know that violence towards women was casually dismissed with sordid excuses like ‘She asked for it!’ back in those early pulp years, but even in this historic context, I felt Jack was a sordid, cheap character who deserves all the bad luck Fate is sending his way. I would also mention that he is also one of the stupidest criminals to ever plan a murder, he makes so many obvious mistakes, it makes me wonder why Brewer even tried to make him sound tough and resourceful at the beginning of the story. Jack talks in the right hard-boiled staccato short sentences, but he doesn’t walk the walk of the true tough guy. He’s an impostor, but it is possible Brewer deliberately set out to subvert the classic portraits of the femme fatale and of the crook with a tale that is closer to the real police cases that inspired the tales in the first place. Most of these real criminals are easily caught, too.
The sensation of being trapped was very bad now. Of what we had done. Of what I was doing. There was a moment of realization of how life had been before I’d met Shirley Angela, and I lay there on the muddy bank, and began to laugh. The laughter was bad, and it stopped as abruptly as it had begun.
I got sick.
also,
Suppose Shirley and Miraglia were together on something, trying to screw me? Set me up for a patsy. Sure. It was crazy thinking. But you think that way just the same, because you don’t really know. You never know till you’ve got that money in your hands.
or,
Her face had that look women get. Like you’re dead a long time and smell pretty bad, and they want to make sure they don’t step on you.
These last quotes are my submission to the argument that Gil Brewer is indeed a talented writer, who knows how to describe passion, paranoia, hatred, etc. I might read more from his list of pulp crime novels, but not as a priority.
July 13, 2022
According to Mickey Spillane "The first chapter sells the book; the last chapter sells the next book." The Vengeful Virgin is a pretty good example of this kind of writing. The book begins with Jack Ruxton, a lowlife TV repairman and Shirley Angela, an attractive 18 year old forced to take care of her cantankerous bed ridden stepfather, getting acquainted at a house by the sea. There is an immediate erotic epiphany for Jack and Shirley which leads them into a path of murder, greed, unfulfilled sexual desire and deceit. It is a sleazy little novel that unfortunately falls a bit short in the middle (mainly due to lack of attention to detail) but more than makes up for it due to the sensational and shocking end. The end when the two wounded and unfulfilled main characters, far from the constricting boundaries of society, let themselves go in a self-destructive orgy of sex, alcohol, hard cash and paranoia is where Gil Brewer shows his mettle. I got the impression that Brewer had already visualized the ending and was eager to write it and in the process left the previous chapters a bit half baked. But it is still a great entertaining read, I finished this in a day. I cannot remember the last time I finished a book in a day. And this book would actually make a great movie. I can see Mickey Rourke as Jack Ruxton. Emma Roberts as Shirley Angela. Gina Gershon as Jack's ex-wife. Phil Janou to direct, maybe.
September 23, 2020
As research for a novel I'm writing, I'm reading detective fiction and ripping off everything of value. After reading a cozy mystery with a "soft case" crime, I crossed the tracks and headed for the dark side of the town with a Hard Case Crime publication. This was my introduction to the fiction of Gil Brewer. I was lured in by the deadly cover art and had no real expectations. This car ride was about as wild or thrilling as a school zone with Johnny Law monitoring me. It wasn't a wreck and I did finish the novel easily, compelled by what disaster would visit the horndog hero, but nowhere near enough to recommend.
In a story that could be written out on a donut box, Jack Ruxton is the owner of a TV repair shop (remember those?) in the type of Gulf Coast Florida town that just cries out for sleazy enterprise. He makes a house call on Shirley Angela, a girlish redhead with plenty of sock. Shirley has been tasked with the care of her terminally ill stepfather, a bastard who's too proud to be taken care of in a hospital and who Ruxton later determines is worth too much money for Shirley to want to get healthy. Thinking with the wrong antenna, Ruxton conspires with Shirley to use his electrical knowledge to kill Shirley's stepfather and split his fortune with her.
I pulled over to the curb and stopped the car, and sat there gripping the steering wheel, knowing I would go through with this thing. All my life I'd been waiting for a chance like this. Keep your eyes and ears open and stay tuned in, and one day there it is. If you don't want it, you don't have to touch it. And it's not half frightening, or anything like that. Shirley and I generated something together that drowned out conscience. This was just something we were going to do together. And, of course, the money. I wanted it. I would get it. All I had to do was make him die in a way that looked natural, and make the whole thing look legitimate. And there would be Shirley, too.
Thinking that made it better still. Shirley Angela was under my skin like the itch and it was going to take a lot of scratching.
Ruxton comes unglued when his plan doesn't go the way he drew it up. A psycho ex-girlfriend, a horny neighbor and a suspicious family doctor are involved. Brewer applies some electrical know-how to the tale that I appreciated, but this 1958 novel doesn't live up to its new cover. Through no fault of Brewer's, cable guy getting it on with jailbait brings to mind Logjammin', the porn movie in The Big Lebowski. Brewer doesn't help his cause by sketching his characters so thinly. Ruxton and Shirley are simply acting out a plot. None of it's believable. Without caring about these two, I wasn't invested in their problems.
Illustrator Gregory Manchess read the book.
In a story that could be written out on a donut box, Jack Ruxton is the owner of a TV repair shop (remember those?) in the type of Gulf Coast Florida town that just cries out for sleazy enterprise. He makes a house call on Shirley Angela, a girlish redhead with plenty of sock. Shirley has been tasked with the care of her terminally ill stepfather, a bastard who's too proud to be taken care of in a hospital and who Ruxton later determines is worth too much money for Shirley to want to get healthy. Thinking with the wrong antenna, Ruxton conspires with Shirley to use his electrical knowledge to kill Shirley's stepfather and split his fortune with her.
I pulled over to the curb and stopped the car, and sat there gripping the steering wheel, knowing I would go through with this thing. All my life I'd been waiting for a chance like this. Keep your eyes and ears open and stay tuned in, and one day there it is. If you don't want it, you don't have to touch it. And it's not half frightening, or anything like that. Shirley and I generated something together that drowned out conscience. This was just something we were going to do together. And, of course, the money. I wanted it. I would get it. All I had to do was make him die in a way that looked natural, and make the whole thing look legitimate. And there would be Shirley, too.
Thinking that made it better still. Shirley Angela was under my skin like the itch and it was going to take a lot of scratching.
Ruxton comes unglued when his plan doesn't go the way he drew it up. A psycho ex-girlfriend, a horny neighbor and a suspicious family doctor are involved. Brewer applies some electrical know-how to the tale that I appreciated, but this 1958 novel doesn't live up to its new cover. Through no fault of Brewer's, cable guy getting it on with jailbait brings to mind Logjammin', the porn movie in The Big Lebowski. Brewer doesn't help his cause by sketching his characters so thinly. Ruxton and Shirley are simply acting out a plot. None of it's believable. Without caring about these two, I wasn't invested in their problems.
Illustrator Gregory Manchess read the book.
May 9, 2023
Another delicious slice of sleazy crime writing.
'She was like a hunk of marble. The only thing that gave away what was going on inside her was her eyes.'
I know the Hard Case Crime books will not be for everyone due to what some might see as outdated values and views but I for one love them, and this book continued that trend.
This effort follows a common theme for pulp crime novels, a tale of greed, seduction, murder, love and of course a shit load of cash and it's executed by Gil Brewer with such ease and flair.
This one had me hooked from the start, it may be cheap and sleazy, but it's sure a good kind of cheap and sleazy.
'Doom. You recognize Doom easily. It’s a feeling and a taste, and it’s black, and it’s very heavy. It comes down over your head, and wraps tentacles around you, and sinks long dirty fingernails into your heart. It has a stink like burning garbage.'
This series is my guilty little secret! Don't judge me.
'She was like a hunk of marble. The only thing that gave away what was going on inside her was her eyes.'
I know the Hard Case Crime books will not be for everyone due to what some might see as outdated values and views but I for one love them, and this book continued that trend.
This effort follows a common theme for pulp crime novels, a tale of greed, seduction, murder, love and of course a shit load of cash and it's executed by Gil Brewer with such ease and flair.
This one had me hooked from the start, it may be cheap and sleazy, but it's sure a good kind of cheap and sleazy.
'Doom. You recognize Doom easily. It’s a feeling and a taste, and it’s black, and it’s very heavy. It comes down over your head, and wraps tentacles around you, and sinks long dirty fingernails into your heart. It has a stink like burning garbage.'
This series is my guilty little secret! Don't judge me.
January 18, 2020
Vengeful Virgin might at first glance appear to be just another Postman Rings Twice triangle of lust, passion, greed, and self- destruction. It's got the mean old man who won't die, the young sexy nympho who can't leave the old man, the money she stands to get when he goes six feet under, and the character who is seduced by the young woman and loses his mind over her. But: this is Gil Brewer's take on this seductive tale and it is red hot noir like you've never read before.
How good is Brewer's writing. Well, he grabs with the first paragraph and never lets go of his death-grip on your throat. "She wasn't what you would call beautiful. She was just a red-haired girl with a lot of sock," is what he opens with. Shirley Angela is her name and she is the eighteen-year-old stepdaughter of a rich, old man confined ninety percent of the time to a hospital bed in his home. She has spent three years tending to his every need and can't walk away because he has $400,000 socked away in the bank and she stands to inherit it if she survives.
Jack Ruxton is the tv repairman. She, it seems, hires him to install televisions and remote controls and intercoms in every room. "She was a puzzler. I knew she was in her teens, yet she had the poise and direct and deadly poise of a woman beyond her years." He couldn't keep his eyes off legs and she knew it. As she helped the old man, Jack watched her across the bed and knew she knew what he had been thinking- what if the bed were empty and he wasn't there. As he leaves there, he thinks about the feeling you get, just a little tight in the chest, not quite enough air.
The next day, Jack realizes that she isn't even looking at the brochures he brings. She came up against him, "watching [him] with big round eyes." And, he went "nuts for her." "She began to groan and moan, writhing wildly. She was a tiger." He explains: "I knew I'd never get enough of her. She was straight out of hell." Wow. Doesn't Brewer just say it all there. This femme fatale is no innocent babe in the woods. Nope, she is "straight out of hell." And, she is going to drag him with her back into hell, isn't she?
The third day, Jack comes over and she tells him, "I wish he was dead." When he tells her that she doesn't want the old man in the hospital because the doctors might just keep him alive forever, she wrenches her hands loose and rakes her nails down the side of Jack's neck. "She squirmed and writhed and kicked." There is nothing but raw red hot emotion in Brewer's stories and the people are filled with passion so scorching that their guts are just ripped apart inside and they never can find peace.
Brewer does an amazing job of letting the reader see the world through Jack's eyes, feeling his pain and his desperation. But, maybe that was the point. This is his story -- his confession. He is a womanizer. He beats his girlfriend Grace like she's a punching bag. He seduces a barely legal teen and convinces her to kill her stepfather so he can get his hands on the money. And, throughout the story, it's not his fault. This temptress from the gateway of hell made him crazy, made him sick in the head. Grace wouldn't leave him alone do he had to teach her a lesson. The old man was taking advantage of his stepdaughter rather than spending money on a nurse. The nosy neighbor can't stay out of it, won't leave him alone, Is he the devil or just another hard luck case?
This is one terrific noir story on do many levels. It's worth reading more than once.
How good is Brewer's writing. Well, he grabs with the first paragraph and never lets go of his death-grip on your throat. "She wasn't what you would call beautiful. She was just a red-haired girl with a lot of sock," is what he opens with. Shirley Angela is her name and she is the eighteen-year-old stepdaughter of a rich, old man confined ninety percent of the time to a hospital bed in his home. She has spent three years tending to his every need and can't walk away because he has $400,000 socked away in the bank and she stands to inherit it if she survives.
Jack Ruxton is the tv repairman. She, it seems, hires him to install televisions and remote controls and intercoms in every room. "She was a puzzler. I knew she was in her teens, yet she had the poise and direct and deadly poise of a woman beyond her years." He couldn't keep his eyes off legs and she knew it. As she helped the old man, Jack watched her across the bed and knew she knew what he had been thinking- what if the bed were empty and he wasn't there. As he leaves there, he thinks about the feeling you get, just a little tight in the chest, not quite enough air.
The next day, Jack realizes that she isn't even looking at the brochures he brings. She came up against him, "watching [him] with big round eyes." And, he went "nuts for her." "She began to groan and moan, writhing wildly. She was a tiger." He explains: "I knew I'd never get enough of her. She was straight out of hell." Wow. Doesn't Brewer just say it all there. This femme fatale is no innocent babe in the woods. Nope, she is "straight out of hell." And, she is going to drag him with her back into hell, isn't she?
The third day, Jack comes over and she tells him, "I wish he was dead." When he tells her that she doesn't want the old man in the hospital because the doctors might just keep him alive forever, she wrenches her hands loose and rakes her nails down the side of Jack's neck. "She squirmed and writhed and kicked." There is nothing but raw red hot emotion in Brewer's stories and the people are filled with passion so scorching that their guts are just ripped apart inside and they never can find peace.
Brewer does an amazing job of letting the reader see the world through Jack's eyes, feeling his pain and his desperation. But, maybe that was the point. This is his story -- his confession. He is a womanizer. He beats his girlfriend Grace like she's a punching bag. He seduces a barely legal teen and convinces her to kill her stepfather so he can get his hands on the money. And, throughout the story, it's not his fault. This temptress from the gateway of hell made him crazy, made him sick in the head. Grace wouldn't leave him alone do he had to teach her a lesson. The old man was taking advantage of his stepdaughter rather than spending money on a nurse. The nosy neighbor can't stay out of it, won't leave him alone, Is he the devil or just another hard luck case?
This is one terrific noir story on do many levels. It's worth reading more than once.
October 19, 2013
If this novel teaches us anything, it’s this: Virgins are Dangerous. Very Dangerous. Sure, the prospect of bedding a virgin sounds glamorous, but let’s face it: It’s not really the stupendously fantastic experience that it might appear to be on first glance. Unless you’re a suicide bomber with a severe mental illness and the prospect of a twenty year lifespan to be followed by a severe and violent death appeals to you and you’re under the rather misguided notion that the pearly white gates hold forty virgins in white wedding dresses waiting to fulfill every one of your wildest fantasies, the thought quickly loses luster.
And as THE VENGEFUL VIRGIN aptly proves, these beautiful rosebuds can turn into what we in the medical community like to refer to as a “Stage Five Clinger.” When that happens, run, do not walk to the nearest exit, even if you’re missing a few clothes and possibly even your car keys. You can send the police back for the rest of your stash later, after the threat of imminent demise has worn off. If you’re lucky enough to have your car keys handy, and even luckier to have a buddy present, have him discreetly move toward the nearest exit right before you both run like hell.
The pages and my Kindle burst with dames and broads and TVs rammed into the ceiling and dialogue punctuated with colorful language. The pages overflowed with poignant prose and distressed damsels. But I like my hard-boiled novels filled with PIs and detectives, and these folks were relegated to secondary status. While I continuously flipped the pages and devoured this little gem rather quickly, I did feel a bit unfulfilled in the end, even with more than one dead body gracing the pages.
Shirley Angela and Grace (no last name) proved as intriguing as Jack Ruxton, and filled with more curves than a string of back country roads. The detours proved small and short lived with the story reaching its dramatic conclusion in rather explosive fashion. And while liking this story was rather easy, really liking this story might prove to be dangerous. So, in the end, I was rather glad I found this story, and also happy that I reached the end in just a few sittings.
Cross-posted at Robert's Reads
And as THE VENGEFUL VIRGIN aptly proves, these beautiful rosebuds can turn into what we in the medical community like to refer to as a “Stage Five Clinger.” When that happens, run, do not walk to the nearest exit, even if you’re missing a few clothes and possibly even your car keys. You can send the police back for the rest of your stash later, after the threat of imminent demise has worn off. If you’re lucky enough to have your car keys handy, and even luckier to have a buddy present, have him discreetly move toward the nearest exit right before you both run like hell.
The pages and my Kindle burst with dames and broads and TVs rammed into the ceiling and dialogue punctuated with colorful language. The pages overflowed with poignant prose and distressed damsels. But I like my hard-boiled novels filled with PIs and detectives, and these folks were relegated to secondary status. While I continuously flipped the pages and devoured this little gem rather quickly, I did feel a bit unfulfilled in the end, even with more than one dead body gracing the pages.
Shirley Angela and Grace (no last name) proved as intriguing as Jack Ruxton, and filled with more curves than a string of back country roads. The detours proved small and short lived with the story reaching its dramatic conclusion in rather explosive fashion. And while liking this story was rather easy, really liking this story might prove to be dangerous. So, in the end, I was rather glad I found this story, and also happy that I reached the end in just a few sittings.
Cross-posted at Robert's Reads
February 7, 2020
This was another re-read.
I read this for the first time back in 2013 but once again I couldn't remember a thing about it until the last 50 pages and then everything came back to me: how it would end and how the murders Brewer describes seem so ...screwy.
This novel is even tawdrier than one of James M. Cain's lesser sex for murder numbers.
More pages are devoted to describing the lead character screwing the female characters than are devoted to the murders that are eventually committed.
It gets quite suspenseful for 20-30 pages halfway through the novel but it mostly makes for some
unpleasant reading.
Good for a few unintentional laughs.
July 11, 2022
From 1958
Virgin? Maybe that's what people assume the teenaged girl to be. But, no, it's a Gil Brewer novel. Sort of a Crime and Punishment situation. Guilt and fear. Quite an elaborate corpse disposal.
Virgin? Maybe that's what people assume the teenaged girl to be. But, no, it's a Gil Brewer novel. Sort of a Crime and Punishment situation. Guilt and fear. Quite an elaborate corpse disposal.
February 24, 2020
This is a very color-by-numbers crime novel from the pulp era by the nearly forgotten Brewer, who met with his own tragic end as a result of alcoholism and mental illness. There are titillating sex scenes, unbalanced immoral characters, and some sordid acts of violence stirred together with the expected racy prose. Other than the salacious cover on the Hard Crime reprint, there's nothing remarkable but just enough to please fans of the genre.
March 29, 2021
Jack calculated that he could get the girl and the dough. Jack made lists of everything, figuring loopholes. But if you're a dunce, too much figuring often makes things worse.
"Him?" they’d say. "Oh, that was Jack Ruxton. Yeah, too bad. Used to run a TV and radio store. Yeah. Flipped his wig over a screwy teenage broad."
October 23, 2014
Very gritty & well written for this type of novel, but the main characters were a bit too unreal for me, especially the girl. It was a good believable plot & everything got logically & wonderfully out of hand. Kind of depressing & I don't understand why it is titled the way it is. There wasn't a virgin to be found.
December 29, 2019
Wow, reading the last two-thirds of this book is like being zapped with a cattle prod every twenty seconds! Brewer just piles on the complications and then completely inhabits his going-out-of-his-mind narrator. The whole sequence with the murders and the disposing of the body is just a frenzy; crocodiles snapping at bait. Postman seems tame compared to this intense Brewer classic of self-destructive greed and lust.
May 14, 2024
This was a new author for me, but the gritty feel of the story was a familiar friend. The tension built with heightened paranoia was good. I liked the path the main characters were on and the challenges that presented themselves. The ending wasn't what I had expected. That enhanced my appreciation for this read. I liked it a lot. I would read another from Gil Brewer.
November 10, 2008
This reprint from Hard Case Crime was first published in 1958. Gil Brewer captures the indvidual angst of a small time TV repairman in cahoots with an 18-year-old girl trying to fleece her step-father. You sweat blood with Jack Ruxton, and you have to keep an eye on Shirley Angela, the noir's one-of-a-kind femme fatale. Mr. Brewer at the top of his game.
January 3, 2022
The first thing that came to mind after finishing The Vengeful Virgin is that not every noir tale is a detective story. For some reason I tend to forget this little fact. Maybe it's because the most prominent noir tales ARE detective stories, but it's nice to have a break from the mold every now and again.
Though The Vengeful Virgin was written in 1958, featuring more than a handful of sayings and concepts from that time period, it does possess a certain timeless quality. Sure, nobody is checking cell phones and emails, but murder for money never goes out of style.
What impresses me the most about these older stories is just how lean & mean they are. No excessive worldbuilding. No extraneous characters. No backstories adding as filler. Just the main plot, barreling along at top speed, rarely letting off the gas. Just a guy, a dame, a murder plot, and a shitload of money. It's an economy of storytelling that I wish I was more accomplished with. But we as readers, myself included, have grown to want more and more from the books we read.
As with all of my Goodreads reviews, I will attempt to keep spoilers to a minimum. That won't be too terribly difficult with The Vengeful Virgin, as it's a pretty simple story of greed and seduction. Clocking in at 224 pages, this is one that can be finished in an evening. It's also told in first-person perspective, which I wasn't expecting. But maybe that was more commonplace back in the 1950s than I thought.
Even though this isn't a detective story, there are still basic noir elements to be found. The tough-talking main character, the femme fatale, the murder plot, and the sultry elements all make appearances.
Main character Jack Ruxton is not exactly what readers would expect from a noir protagonist (and I use that title loosely). He's had a colorful employment history, but is currently working for a television store, selling TV's and other electronic equipment. But he's still got the hard-boozing, chain smoking archetype locked in. Because the story is told in first person, Jack is a bit of a cypher. We get a lot of thoughts as events are taking place, but not much context for why he thinks the way he does. But, as mentioned earlier, this is a lean story. So, we get what we get. And it's enough, if only just.
Shirley Angela, as the femme fatale, is appropriately fatale-ish. Eighteen, auburn-haired, and ridiculously enticing, she's the kind of girl who most guys simply can't help but gravitate towards. And she manages to curl Jack around her finger pretty quickly. Like with Jack, her character development is pretty minimal, but she captures the flighty nature of a teenager well.
Other characters come and go, but only a couple of them have pertinence to the plot itself. Keep in mind, this was written in the 50s, in very much the male wish-fulfillment vein. Women are eye-candy first, actual persons second. That was a bit of a struggle to work around, but it also wasn't unexpected. Gil Brewer is also less egregious than other authors with the subject.
The resolution of the story is appropriately bleak, as was common during the time period. And I honestly wouldn't have it any other way. When hopping into these hard-boiled classics, you kind of have to know what you're getting into.
I did, however, enjoy the not-so-subtle warnings regarding the dangers of greed and lust. Many noir tales, this one included, tend to ask some fundamental questions regarding human nature. Primarily, the question of when is enough actually enough?
Or more specifically, why are we as a species never satisfied? At first blush, Jack Ruxton seems to be living the American dream at the beginning of the novel. He’s got a place of his own, a decent job, and a good-looking gal who’s crazy about him.
But the allure of money, and the siren call of a younger gal, are too much to resist. Of course, if cooler heads prevailed, we wouldn’t have like 90% of these stories…so I guess it is what it is.
As a noir tale, The Vengeful Virgin is actually pretty good. I like that it retains some of the expected noir elements, while jettisoning others. It's a quick & dirty little tale of murder, mayhem, sin, and seduction, and that's exactly what I had hoped it would be. Recommended!
Though The Vengeful Virgin was written in 1958, featuring more than a handful of sayings and concepts from that time period, it does possess a certain timeless quality. Sure, nobody is checking cell phones and emails, but murder for money never goes out of style.
What impresses me the most about these older stories is just how lean & mean they are. No excessive worldbuilding. No extraneous characters. No backstories adding as filler. Just the main plot, barreling along at top speed, rarely letting off the gas. Just a guy, a dame, a murder plot, and a shitload of money. It's an economy of storytelling that I wish I was more accomplished with. But we as readers, myself included, have grown to want more and more from the books we read.
As with all of my Goodreads reviews, I will attempt to keep spoilers to a minimum. That won't be too terribly difficult with The Vengeful Virgin, as it's a pretty simple story of greed and seduction. Clocking in at 224 pages, this is one that can be finished in an evening. It's also told in first-person perspective, which I wasn't expecting. But maybe that was more commonplace back in the 1950s than I thought.
Even though this isn't a detective story, there are still basic noir elements to be found. The tough-talking main character, the femme fatale, the murder plot, and the sultry elements all make appearances.
Main character Jack Ruxton is not exactly what readers would expect from a noir protagonist (and I use that title loosely). He's had a colorful employment history, but is currently working for a television store, selling TV's and other electronic equipment. But he's still got the hard-boozing, chain smoking archetype locked in. Because the story is told in first person, Jack is a bit of a cypher. We get a lot of thoughts as events are taking place, but not much context for why he thinks the way he does. But, as mentioned earlier, this is a lean story. So, we get what we get. And it's enough, if only just.
Shirley Angela, as the femme fatale, is appropriately fatale-ish. Eighteen, auburn-haired, and ridiculously enticing, she's the kind of girl who most guys simply can't help but gravitate towards. And she manages to curl Jack around her finger pretty quickly. Like with Jack, her character development is pretty minimal, but she captures the flighty nature of a teenager well.
Other characters come and go, but only a couple of them have pertinence to the plot itself. Keep in mind, this was written in the 50s, in very much the male wish-fulfillment vein. Women are eye-candy first, actual persons second. That was a bit of a struggle to work around, but it also wasn't unexpected. Gil Brewer is also less egregious than other authors with the subject.
The resolution of the story is appropriately bleak, as was common during the time period. And I honestly wouldn't have it any other way. When hopping into these hard-boiled classics, you kind of have to know what you're getting into.
I did, however, enjoy the not-so-subtle warnings regarding the dangers of greed and lust. Many noir tales, this one included, tend to ask some fundamental questions regarding human nature. Primarily, the question of when is enough actually enough?
Or more specifically, why are we as a species never satisfied? At first blush, Jack Ruxton seems to be living the American dream at the beginning of the novel. He’s got a place of his own, a decent job, and a good-looking gal who’s crazy about him.
But the allure of money, and the siren call of a younger gal, are too much to resist. Of course, if cooler heads prevailed, we wouldn’t have like 90% of these stories…so I guess it is what it is.
As a noir tale, The Vengeful Virgin is actually pretty good. I like that it retains some of the expected noir elements, while jettisoning others. It's a quick & dirty little tale of murder, mayhem, sin, and seduction, and that's exactly what I had hoped it would be. Recommended!
Read
December 31, 2013A perfect one-sitting read from the corner drugstore paperback spinner, THE VENGEFUL VIRGIN reads like James M. Cain injected with nicotine and sleaze. Boy meets Girl; Boy becomes infatuated with Girl; Girl convinces Boy to do some dirty work; and it all goes south from there. You can almost smell the sweat and gin on the pages. Brewer does a great job keeping the pages turning. I'll definitely be reading more Brewer--THE VENGEFUL VIRGIN is like the platonic ideal of post-war Noir.
February 3, 2020
The way The Vengeful Virgin makes use of Double Indemnity and esp The Postman Always Rings Twice is obvious. But Brewer’s novel is still an original. Nothing could be more hair-raising that the growing entrapment in events. Jack’s laughter when he realizes there is no way out, despite all his and Shirley’s plans, is just like soldiers’ when they are racing toward a beachhead with bombs bursting over their heads. No choice, fate racing in.
It’s the laughter of hell. Jack’s recognition that he has become a cold murderer without having processed in his mind any concept of his everyday sense right and wrong is a great insight into how the need for money produces everyday viciousness. Shirley’s standing by while Victor is in his death throes is another example. Woolrich, Williams, and Goodis do this nightmare life of ordinary people who are also “normal” needy Americans. Brewer does it in his own way, while building suspense—but also maaking that part of psychic degeneration.
It’s the laughter of hell. Jack’s recognition that he has become a cold murderer without having processed in his mind any concept of his everyday sense right and wrong is a great insight into how the need for money produces everyday viciousness. Shirley’s standing by while Victor is in his death throes is another example. Woolrich, Williams, and Goodis do this nightmare life of ordinary people who are also “normal” needy Americans. Brewer does it in his own way, while building suspense—but also maaking that part of psychic degeneration.
February 2, 2021
The tension in the second half of this book was superb and the feeling of doom was written so well.
A tight story with approx only 5 characters total but it worked a charm and was a short and sharp read.
Would serve as a perfect " in-between" read, if you are reading longer books, having said that I dont mean that in a negative way for this book.
A tight story with approx only 5 characters total but it worked a charm and was a short and sharp read.
Would serve as a perfect " in-between" read, if you are reading longer books, having said that I dont mean that in a negative way for this book.
April 25, 2014
This is one of the best books in the noir genre that I have read. Published in 1958 it is hellishly violent even by today's standards and it has really stood the test of time . The tale is all raw emotion which never dates. A simple story told with an effortless grace that reinforces the fact , and it is a fact , that some of these pulp writers were true wordsmiths who very rarely gain the fame and fortune their art deserves. You hear about Hammett and chandler all the time but this guy is every bit as accomplished . I am on a mission now to seek out more of Gil brewer's work .
I have a goodreads friend who goes by the name 'Still' who really really knows his stuff and he has helped me discover some great crime fiction .thank you friend.
I have a goodreads friend who goes by the name 'Still' who really really knows his stuff and he has helped me discover some great crime fiction .thank you friend.
December 16, 2007
One of the hot'n'sweaty reprinted pulps in the Hard Case Crime series. You may wonder why the virgin of the title is called a virgin when she's doing it with a vengeance on the kitchen floor by about page 15---however, wait til the SHOCKING end and you'll see. I liked the hardboiled protagonist's voice. The book owes an obvious debt to THE POSTMAN ALWAYS RINGS TWICE in its premise of a sex-susceptible dude helping a fatale whack her sugar daddy---BUT the pace clips along, and it's rather humorous to read a caper in which questions of innocence and guilt boil down to how well a transistor is soldered into place.
May 29, 2010
This is a terrific introduction to the works of one of the more "fevered" writers of Gold Medal originals. Next to John D. MacDonald, Gil Brewer is one of my favorites of that era. Brewer's books are singular in their pacing and suspense and Vengeful Virgin is a classic example. Hard Case Crime has chosen a good one here. Hopefully more of his work will find an audience.
May 30, 2021
3.75 stars, rounded up to 4.0.
An entertaining pulp story, and as many have already commented, similar to the work of James M. Cain.
Jack Ruxton is a TV installer in the Tampa, Florida area. When he is called to the home of young lady Shirley Angela to install two TV sets and an intercom system, his life is to change forever.
Shirley is living with Victor, her invalid step-father and is hating life at their home caring for him.
Life is passing her by, she is craving freedom and excitement, but she can't leave him because she doesn't want to upset her step-father who has more than $300,000 in his bank, and she is due to inherit it on his passing. But she secretly wishes he would hurry up and die; and then take the money with her and LIVE.
When Jack comes to install TV sets in her home, she realizes she has met someone with whom she wants to have a wild exciting love affair with. Of course, Jack becomes besotted with her also.
It's not long before Jack and Shirley are planning to run away together - but not without Victor's money, and he needs to die before Shirley can get her hands on it. We now have a case of two people planning to kill, take the money and run.
An entertaining read, even though you know their plans are all doomed to fail.
Readers can suspend their disbelief in the story and have a good read.
There aren't any real surprises in the story, "clever" twists, and so on. You know how it's going to end. But this won't spoil one's enjoyment of the story - it's a page turner.
A very good book, though not great, due to the story-line showing its age.
An entertaining pulp story, and as many have already commented, similar to the work of James M. Cain.
Jack Ruxton is a TV installer in the Tampa, Florida area. When he is called to the home of young lady Shirley Angela to install two TV sets and an intercom system, his life is to change forever.
Shirley is living with Victor, her invalid step-father and is hating life at their home caring for him.
Life is passing her by, she is craving freedom and excitement, but she can't leave him because she doesn't want to upset her step-father who has more than $300,000 in his bank, and she is due to inherit it on his passing. But she secretly wishes he would hurry up and die; and then take the money with her and LIVE.
When Jack comes to install TV sets in her home, she realizes she has met someone with whom she wants to have a wild exciting love affair with. Of course, Jack becomes besotted with her also.
It's not long before Jack and Shirley are planning to run away together - but not without Victor's money, and he needs to die before Shirley can get her hands on it. We now have a case of two people planning to kill, take the money and run.
An entertaining read, even though you know their plans are all doomed to fail.
Readers can suspend their disbelief in the story and have a good read.
There aren't any real surprises in the story, "clever" twists, and so on. You know how it's going to end. But this won't spoil one's enjoyment of the story - it's a page turner.
A very good book, though not great, due to the story-line showing its age.
November 17, 2017
now and then I enjoy a good old hard-boiled, book or movie may it be. this is a classic straight from the 60s I reckon
September 29, 2011
Gil Brewer’s The Vengeful Virgin was published in 1958 and, like so many of the titles from Hard Case Crime, has been out of print for years. It’s a reasonably entertaining if hardly startling piece of noir fiction.
Jack Ruxton is in his 40s and he’s always wanted to be a success. He’s tried various methods of achieving this goal, and now as a last resort he’s decided to try earning an honest living, as a TV repairman. He hasn’t entirely given up on the idea of easy money though.
He has built up a fairly thriving business but he’s in debt to his eyeballs. Then he meets Shirley Angela. Shirley is eighteen, with the kind of body that makes men do crazy things. Especially if they’re men like Jack Ruxton, with not much judgment and even less in the way of moral scruples.
Shirley lives with her stepfather, Victor Spondell. Victor is rich. Very rich. He’s also dying, but unfortunately he’s taking his time about it. Shirley looks after him. Not that she gives a damn about him, but he’s going to leave her all his money when he dies so for Shirley that’s sufficient incentive to keep her there acting as his nurse and housekeeper. If only he wouldn’t take quite so long to die.
She employs Jack to install a ceiling-mounted TV set in Victor’s bedroom, and an intercom system. She’s a real friendly girl and pretty soon she has Jack Ruxton eating out of her hand. She tells Jack her problems. Which mostly amount to the fact that Victor is taking so long to die. If only something could happen to speed the process up a little. Then she and Jack would have all that money, and they could be together forever. Because she really loves Jack. Does Jack have any ideas that might solve their problem?
In normal circumstances even a Jack Ruxton might think this could be leading up to a really bad idea, but Victor has an awful lot of money, and Shirley has a remarkably appealing young body. Jack would like to get his hands on both. He’d like it real bad.
The problem with this kind of story is that you pretty much know where it’s heading right from the start, and there isn’t a huge amount of scope for surprises. Especially back in the days when you couldn’t really countenance the idea of criminals getting away with their crimes.
Working within these plot limitations you really have to depend more on style than anything else. It’s the sort of thing James M. Cain did supremely well. None of his imitators ever quite equalled his ability to pull such stories off, and Gil Brewer is no James M. Cain.
That’s not to say that Brewer wasn’t a competent writer and The Vengeful Virgin is entertaining enough. If you enjoy hardboiled fiction with a side order of sleaze then this one should fit the bill well enough.
Jack Ruxton is in his 40s and he’s always wanted to be a success. He’s tried various methods of achieving this goal, and now as a last resort he’s decided to try earning an honest living, as a TV repairman. He hasn’t entirely given up on the idea of easy money though.
He has built up a fairly thriving business but he’s in debt to his eyeballs. Then he meets Shirley Angela. Shirley is eighteen, with the kind of body that makes men do crazy things. Especially if they’re men like Jack Ruxton, with not much judgment and even less in the way of moral scruples.
Shirley lives with her stepfather, Victor Spondell. Victor is rich. Very rich. He’s also dying, but unfortunately he’s taking his time about it. Shirley looks after him. Not that she gives a damn about him, but he’s going to leave her all his money when he dies so for Shirley that’s sufficient incentive to keep her there acting as his nurse and housekeeper. If only he wouldn’t take quite so long to die.
She employs Jack to install a ceiling-mounted TV set in Victor’s bedroom, and an intercom system. She’s a real friendly girl and pretty soon she has Jack Ruxton eating out of her hand. She tells Jack her problems. Which mostly amount to the fact that Victor is taking so long to die. If only something could happen to speed the process up a little. Then she and Jack would have all that money, and they could be together forever. Because she really loves Jack. Does Jack have any ideas that might solve their problem?
In normal circumstances even a Jack Ruxton might think this could be leading up to a really bad idea, but Victor has an awful lot of money, and Shirley has a remarkably appealing young body. Jack would like to get his hands on both. He’d like it real bad.
The problem with this kind of story is that you pretty much know where it’s heading right from the start, and there isn’t a huge amount of scope for surprises. Especially back in the days when you couldn’t really countenance the idea of criminals getting away with their crimes.
Working within these plot limitations you really have to depend more on style than anything else. It’s the sort of thing James M. Cain did supremely well. None of his imitators ever quite equalled his ability to pull such stories off, and Gil Brewer is no James M. Cain.
That’s not to say that Brewer wasn’t a competent writer and The Vengeful Virgin is entertaining enough. If you enjoy hardboiled fiction with a side order of sleaze then this one should fit the bill well enough.
August 1, 2019
For me, this 1958 crime novel is to the anfractuous-girl-with-money-wants-affair-with-me fantasy what PKD's A Scanner Darkly is to recreational drug use. The ending will scare the bejeebers out of you—in an intellectual don’t-challenge-the-gods kind of way—but you can't stop turning the pages. I haven’t read many books in this genre so I can’t tell you if it is superior in that way, but an underlying subtext of sincere regret and spurned grace enables us to sympathize with the protagonist and say, “There but for the grace of God go I.” (hat tip to my friend cbj: i grabbed this book off his shelf)
Here is a great summary of the ending that I borrowed from James Scott Bell at the Kill Zone blog (killzoneblog.com):
Here is a great summary of the ending that I borrowed from James Scott Bell at the Kill Zone blog (killzoneblog.com):
January 27, 2022
The Vengeful Virgin by Gil Brewer
Eighteen year old Shirley Angela is the caretaker of her ailing stepfather (Victor), a task that she finds more than unpleasant. She meets a television repairman Jack (and) falls head-over-heels for him. Blinded by love they decide to end Victor's life and live off his money, what could go wrong?
The Vengeful Virgin is an intense, suspense filled dramatic page-turner. A thrilling story of love, lust, greed, and revenge. I highly recommend to those who enjoy a gripping read.
Eighteen year old Shirley Angela is the caretaker of her ailing stepfather (Victor), a task that she finds more than unpleasant. She meets a television repairman Jack (and) falls head-over-heels for him. Blinded by love they decide to end Victor's life and live off his money, what could go wrong?
The Vengeful Virgin is an intense, suspense filled dramatic page-turner. A thrilling story of love, lust, greed, and revenge. I highly recommend to those who enjoy a gripping read.
May 22, 2024
“Doom. You recognize Doom easily. It’s a feeling and a taste, and it’s black, and it’s heavy. It comes down over your head, and wraps tentacles around you, and sinks long dirty fingernails into your heart. It has a stink like burning garbage. Doom.”
A tv repair man goes out on a call and immediately falls in love with the gorgeous young woman at the house and agrees to help her kill her sick stepfather. Snap! Just like that!
So, of course, it goes to follow that the plan is terrible and suspicion falls on them immediately. And that is the story. The end. On the positive side, it reads quickly!
A tv repair man goes out on a call and immediately falls in love with the gorgeous young woman at the house and agrees to help her kill her sick stepfather. Snap! Just like that!
So, of course, it goes to follow that the plan is terrible and suspicion falls on them immediately. And that is the story. The end. On the positive side, it reads quickly!
Displaying 1 - 30 of 115 reviews