The Thrill Kids

by Vin Packer, James Meese (Cover painting)

A Classic Novel of Juvenile Delinquency from 1955.

Four kids from decent homes, roaming the streets and looking for kicks. Four kids who--one lovely summer night--wandered into Central Park, first molested a girl, and then brutally murdered an old vagrant they found asleep in a gully there!
Author of Spring Fire and Look Back to Love

143 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1955

About the author

Marijane Meaker (born May 27, 1927) is an American novelist and short story writer in several genres using different pen names. From 1952 to 1969 she wrote twenty mystery and crime novels as Vin Packer, including Spring Fire which is credited with launching the genre of lesbian pulp fiction (although few of Packer's books address homosexuality or feature gay characters). Using her own observations of lesbians in the 1950s and 1960s, she wrote a series of nonfiction books as Ann Aldrich from 1955 to 1972. In 1972 she switched genres and pen names once more to begin writing for young adults, and became quite successful as M.E. Kerr, producing over 20 novels and winning multiple awards, including the American Library Association's lifetime award for young-adult literature (Edwards Award). She was described by The New York Times Book Review as "one of the grand masters of young adult fiction." As Mary James, she has written four books for younger children.

Regardless of genre or pen name, Meaker's books have in common complex characters that have difficult relationships and complicated problems, who rail against conformity. Meaker said of this approach, "I was a bookworm and a poetry lover. When I think of myself and what I would have liked to have found in books those many years ago, I remember being depressed by all the neatly tied-up, happy-ending stories, the abundance of winners, the themes of winning, solving, finding — when around me it didn't seem that easy. So I write with a different feeling when I write for young adults. I guess I write for myself at that age."

Reviews

[Dave · Rating 5 out of 5]

Four young men from reputable upstanding families wander the streets causing havoc. Years before A Clockwork Orange, this band of young men got thrills from violence, Step back into the early 50s, a far more innocent time. Heine, johnny, and Manny spend their summers hanging out at the pop shop, playing pinball and drinking root beer. Bardo comes into town after a year at military school and things begin to heat up. Meaker, writing under the pen name Vin Packer, does an excellent job creating the characters. This book builds from mere locker room antics to a climax.

[Hank · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book itself, Thrill Kids, is a funky little pulp piece about a small gang of city kids who terrorize homeless guys, molest women in parks, and throw around a lot of "jazz slang". A quick, fun read if you like that sort of thing (and I do).

But even more interesting to me is the story of the author, Vin Packer. I got this book out of a box of discards after a garage sale run by one of my bosses. Read it, shelved it, didn't think about it for years. Next time I picked it up, I got curious, so I looked up Packer. Well, turns out that was just a pen name for Marijane Meaker/M.E. Kerr, who wrote both young adult books and some of the earliest lesbian pulp fiction. She was also briefly involved with Patricia Highsmith. Knowing that makes Thrill Kids even more homoerotic than it already seemed.