Big Man

by Richard Marsten (Pseudonym), Ed McBain

paperback

Genres: Mystery

166 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1959

About the author

Born and raised as Salvatore Lombino in New York City.
Legally changed name to his pseudonym Evan Hunter.
Best known by his pseudonym Ed McBain.

Reviews

[Oliver Clarke]

An enjoyably punchy mob novel.

[David]

A direct descendant of W. R. Burnett's Little Caesar (1929), Ed McBain's Big Man tells the story of Frankie Taglio, a young man in New York who falls in with the wrong crowd (or right crowd, depending on your point of view) and soon finds himself a career mobster. Frankie's rise through the mob hierarchy is somewhat difficult to explain: There are strangely few gangsters between him and the top, and Frankie doesn't seem to have much going for him other than a bit of intelligence and the willingness to use a gun. (Then again, maybe that's all any gangster really needs.) Big Man has a fair amount of action, but its drama is driven less by the crimes that Frankie commits than by the changes in his character as he ascends the mob ladder.

[Michael Fredette]

A 1959 pulp novel (originally published under the pseudonym Richard Marsten) about organized crime in NYC that holds up remarkably well. The protagonist and narrator, Frankie Taglio, is a small-time criminal (if that) when the novel opens. One summer night, his friend Jobbo talks him into ripping off unsecured goods from people's cars. After stealing a .45 they have an encounter with the police, and Frankie makes a desperate decision to shoot the two cops, which inadvertently establishes his underworld reputation. From there, Frankie rises through the ranks of organized crime and becomes increasingly cold-blooded...Great novel; lean, muscular, and well-plotted!

[GhostofMyrtle]

Evan Hunter, most commonly known under his pseudonym Ed McBain, originally wrote this novel under another pen name: Richard Marsten. Don't expect a police procedural a la The 87th precinct novels. This novel is about a small time hood who enters a criminal gang and works his way to the top only to find it isn't all that it is cut out to be. A good yarn, somewhat reminiscent, albeit updated to the late '50's of the gangster crime films of the '30's.

[Andrew Grisdale]

A solid little McBain crime thriller. Short, sweet and full of the hard boiled prose you'd expect out of a book from this era. If you like McBain you'll like this.

[Brian]

Very disappointing. I've read non-87th Precinct McBain novels before, but even judging this on its own merits it was poor. Apparently some imprints are worth a few quid though...