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Blood on the Mink
Somewhere in Philadelphia, a master engraver is turning out brilliant forgeries of U.S. currency plates for an organized crime gang - and the government wants to put a stop to it. But how can they get close enough to bring down the criminal enterprise from the inside? By snatching a west coast crime boss' right-hand man and sending a federal agent undercover in the man's place. His pose as a buyer of counterfeit bills and try to get the engraver out. Which works fine - until he crosses paths with someone who knows the man he replaced... A lost masterpiece from science fiction Grandmaster Robert Silverberg, published as a complete novel for the very first time!
208 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1962
9 people are currently reading
457 people want to read
About the author
Robert Silverberg
2,342 books1,601 followersThere are many authors in the database with this name.
Robert Silverberg is a highly celebrated American science fiction author and editor known for his prolific output and literary range. Over a career spanning decades, he has won multiple Hugo and Nebula Awards and was named a Grand Master by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America in 2004. Inducted into the Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame in 1999, Silverberg is recognized for both his immense productivity and his contributions to the genre's evolution.
Born in Brooklyn, he began writing in his teens and won his first Hugo Award in 1956 as the best new writer. Throughout the 1950s, he produced vast amounts of fiction, often under pseudonyms, and was known for writing up to a million words a year. When the market declined, he diversified into other genres, including historical nonfiction and erotica.
Silverberg’s return to science fiction in the 1960s marked a shift toward deeper psychological and literary themes, contributing significantly to the New Wave movement. Acclaimed works from this period include Downward to the Earth, Dying Inside, Nightwings, and The World Inside. In the 1980s, he launched the Majipoor series with Lord Valentine’s Castle, creating one of the most imaginative planetary settings in science fiction.
Though he announced his retirement from writing in the mid-1970s, Silverberg returned with renewed vigor and continued to publish acclaimed fiction into the 1990s. He received further recognition with the Nebula-winning Sailing to Byzantium and the Hugo-winning Gilgamesh in the Outback.
Silverberg has also played a significant role as an editor and anthologist, shaping science fiction literature through both his own work and his influence on others. He lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with his wife, author Karen Haber.
Robert Silverberg is a highly celebrated American science fiction author and editor known for his prolific output and literary range. Over a career spanning decades, he has won multiple Hugo and Nebula Awards and was named a Grand Master by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America in 2004. Inducted into the Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame in 1999, Silverberg is recognized for both his immense productivity and his contributions to the genre's evolution.
Born in Brooklyn, he began writing in his teens and won his first Hugo Award in 1956 as the best new writer. Throughout the 1950s, he produced vast amounts of fiction, often under pseudonyms, and was known for writing up to a million words a year. When the market declined, he diversified into other genres, including historical nonfiction and erotica.
Silverberg’s return to science fiction in the 1960s marked a shift toward deeper psychological and literary themes, contributing significantly to the New Wave movement. Acclaimed works from this period include Downward to the Earth, Dying Inside, Nightwings, and The World Inside. In the 1980s, he launched the Majipoor series with Lord Valentine’s Castle, creating one of the most imaginative planetary settings in science fiction.
Though he announced his retirement from writing in the mid-1970s, Silverberg returned with renewed vigor and continued to publish acclaimed fiction into the 1990s. He received further recognition with the Nebula-winning Sailing to Byzantium and the Hugo-winning Gilgamesh in the Outback.
Silverberg has also played a significant role as an editor and anthologist, shaping science fiction literature through both his own work and his influence on others. He lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with his wife, author Karen Haber.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 76 reviews
April 17, 2012
A secret agent takes the place of hoodlum Vic Lowney and hits Philadelphia with one goal: taking down a counterfeiting ring. It would be dangerous enough without the counterfeiter's mistress making him a proposition of her own...
I have a confession to make. While I am a sf/fantasy fan from way back, I have somehow managed to avoid reading Robert Silverberg until now. If his usual fare is as good as the detective stories he wrote to pay the bills when the sf market was tanking, I'll have to give him a shot.
On the surface, Blood on the Mink isn't anything out of the ordinary for the Hard Case line. In fact, at first glance, it was one of the books that made me question Hard Case's selection policies. "I've got this author I like that I just found out wrote some crappy pulp novels" or "I really like this author. What book can we get the rights for for cheap?" Fortunately, it quickly laid my fears to rest.
Blood on the Mink is an endless web of double-dealing and double-crosses. You've got the two counterfeit operations, Ricky Chavez, the engraver's daughter, and Klaus's mistress, all with their own agendas. Even though the main story is only 157 pages, Silverberg drags the reader through a miles long obstacle course of plot twists. By the end, I had no idea what was going to go down.
The characters are fairly standard archetypes. Greedy hoods, for the most part. The women in noir novels are either whores or virgins. Carol Champlain and Elena fill those roles to the letter. The only variable is Nick, aka Vic Lowney. He reminds me of Roger Zelazny's man with no name in My Name is Legion more than anything else.
The writing does its job. There were a few quotable lines but Silverberg's noir prose isn't going to make anyone forget about Raymond Chandler. Like I said, it got the job done.
While I wouldn't want this to be anyone's first Hard Case, it's a worthy addition to the line. It would probably also appeal to Silverberg's longtime readers. Whether or not that value would go beyond curiosity remains to be seen. I'll give it a 3.
I have a confession to make. While I am a sf/fantasy fan from way back, I have somehow managed to avoid reading Robert Silverberg until now. If his usual fare is as good as the detective stories he wrote to pay the bills when the sf market was tanking, I'll have to give him a shot.
On the surface, Blood on the Mink isn't anything out of the ordinary for the Hard Case line. In fact, at first glance, it was one of the books that made me question Hard Case's selection policies. "I've got this author I like that I just found out wrote some crappy pulp novels" or "I really like this author. What book can we get the rights for for cheap?" Fortunately, it quickly laid my fears to rest.
Blood on the Mink is an endless web of double-dealing and double-crosses. You've got the two counterfeit operations, Ricky Chavez, the engraver's daughter, and Klaus's mistress, all with their own agendas. Even though the main story is only 157 pages, Silverberg drags the reader through a miles long obstacle course of plot twists. By the end, I had no idea what was going to go down.
The characters are fairly standard archetypes. Greedy hoods, for the most part. The women in noir novels are either whores or virgins. Carol Champlain and Elena fill those roles to the letter. The only variable is Nick, aka Vic Lowney. He reminds me of Roger Zelazny's man with no name in My Name is Legion more than anything else.
The writing does its job. There were a few quotable lines but Silverberg's noir prose isn't going to make anyone forget about Raymond Chandler. Like I said, it got the job done.
While I wouldn't want this to be anyone's first Hard Case, it's a worthy addition to the line. It would probably also appeal to Silverberg's longtime readers. Whether or not that value would go beyond curiosity remains to be seen. I'll give it a 3.
October 6, 2012
Originally published in 1962, this brief novel has been reissued as part of the Hard Case Crime series. The book also includes an afterword and a couple of short stories, all written by the book's author, Robert Silverberg.
A crime syndicate in Philadelphia is holding as prisoner a master engraver who is turning out nearly perfect copies of U.S. currency. As anyone would suspect, the Treasury Department is not happy about this. When Vic Lowney, a member of the L.A. syndicate is traveling to meet with the counterfeiters in Philly, the government takes advantage of his plane's layover in Chicago to arrest Lowney and substitute an undercover operative in his place.
The operative, known only as "Nick" takes Lowney's place and contacts the crooks in Philadelphia, posing as Lowney. They seem to accept him and deals are done; plans are made, and double-crosses are set into play. Posing as Lowney, our intrepid hero will also be forced to have dynamite sex with a knockout blonde, but this is often the price one has to pay for serving his country. The only question is will Nick survive the operation--and the blonde--in one piece?
This is an average entry in the Hard Case series. It's a quick entertaining read, but it's not as good as a number of the others, and for me, it would have been a close call as to whether the book merited resurrection. But those who are enamored of the series as I am, will doubtless want to read it.
A crime syndicate in Philadelphia is holding as prisoner a master engraver who is turning out nearly perfect copies of U.S. currency. As anyone would suspect, the Treasury Department is not happy about this. When Vic Lowney, a member of the L.A. syndicate is traveling to meet with the counterfeiters in Philly, the government takes advantage of his plane's layover in Chicago to arrest Lowney and substitute an undercover operative in his place.
The operative, known only as "Nick" takes Lowney's place and contacts the crooks in Philadelphia, posing as Lowney. They seem to accept him and deals are done; plans are made, and double-crosses are set into play. Posing as Lowney, our intrepid hero will also be forced to have dynamite sex with a knockout blonde, but this is often the price one has to pay for serving his country. The only question is will Nick survive the operation--and the blonde--in one piece?
This is an average entry in the Hard Case series. It's a quick entertaining read, but it's not as good as a number of the others, and for me, it would have been a close call as to whether the book merited resurrection. But those who are enamored of the series as I am, will doubtless want to read it.
August 5, 2021
Blood on the Mink is a short crime novel that Silverberg wrote in 1959 for Hans Stefan Santesson for a magazine that folded before it was published. In 1959 there was a major implosion of the digest-sized magazines (all of the pulps were gone by this time) for which he had been writing an amazing amount of science fiction, so he had been broadening his output to include mysteries, straight men's adventure stories, "true" confessions, etc. The novel was eventually published in W.W. Scott's Trapped magazine in November of 1962 under the pseudonym of Ray McKensie; ironically, Trapped also went out of business and Blood on the Mink (as Too Much Blood on the Mink) appeared in the final issue. It's a hard-bitten, noir-ish crime story featuring an agent who impersonates a criminal go-between and cleverly stirs some criminal gangs to eliminate one another. It's rather dated now (the meal and hotel prices mentioned are a good chuckle!), but a nice black-and-white romp. There are two other stories included, Dangerous Doll (which was also published as by Ray McKensie) from the March, 1960 issue of Guilty (a companion magazine of Trapped), and One Night of Violence (which appeared as by Dan Malcolm) from the March, 1959 issue of Guilty. One thing that particularly struck me was how much Silverberg changed his style from the descriptive writing I was used to from his science fiction stories; he uses very short, declarative sentences. Manly Hemingway all the way. They're not mystery stories, in the context of private eyes or detectives, but rather crime stories. We learn that the weed of crime bears bitter fruit, there is no honor among thieves, sometimes crime does pay (but only for the toughest), and if you were female in the crime genre sixty years ago you were really out of luck.
June 25, 2012
Blood on the Mink comprises the full length lost classic novel, 'Blood on the Mink', an afterword by author Robert Silverberg, and two short stories previously published in the pulp magazines of yesteryear in 'Dangerous Doll' and 'One Night of Violence'. As a package, this book is dynamite – chock full of noir pulpy goodness from an author not traditionally renowned for his noir prowess (mainly Sci-Fi).
I was pleasantly surprised by ‘Blood on the Mink’ and the two short stories – each gripping and fast paced with believable characters in deadly situations. Perfect examples of the genre done right! I wish that Silverberg had written more of this stuff – as a talented sci-fi author, he mirrors the ability when taking crime to task without missing a beat.
In ‘Blood on the Mink’, a US Government agent assumes the identity of a prominent underworld figure in Vic Lowney in an attempt to thwart the distribution and production of counterfeit money. What he doesn’t expect is to be cornered by bleeding heart Elena Szekely whose father is being held captive and forced to use the counterfeit manufacturing plates. Shortly Vic (real name Nick) has more than an underworld organisation and lump sum payment driving his cause for a unique brand of justice.
Silverberg teases with the promise of further stories featuring the chameleon Government agent though I yet to track these down. There is certainly potential for further exploration of the dynamic character.
Of the short stories:
In 'Dangerous Doll' a counterfeit courier gets distracted by a blonde bombshell which lands him in all kinds of trouble. While 'One Night of Violence' sees a travelling salesman caught in the middle of a mob war which culminates in a bloody gun battle at motel turned graveyard. Pure class all the way. How did Silverberg not produce more of this? Easily a couple of the most well rounded and complete short stories I’ve read.
5 stars.
I was pleasantly surprised by ‘Blood on the Mink’ and the two short stories – each gripping and fast paced with believable characters in deadly situations. Perfect examples of the genre done right! I wish that Silverberg had written more of this stuff – as a talented sci-fi author, he mirrors the ability when taking crime to task without missing a beat.
In ‘Blood on the Mink’, a US Government agent assumes the identity of a prominent underworld figure in Vic Lowney in an attempt to thwart the distribution and production of counterfeit money. What he doesn’t expect is to be cornered by bleeding heart Elena Szekely whose father is being held captive and forced to use the counterfeit manufacturing plates. Shortly Vic (real name Nick) has more than an underworld organisation and lump sum payment driving his cause for a unique brand of justice.
Silverberg teases with the promise of further stories featuring the chameleon Government agent though I yet to track these down. There is certainly potential for further exploration of the dynamic character.
Of the short stories:
In 'Dangerous Doll' a counterfeit courier gets distracted by a blonde bombshell which lands him in all kinds of trouble. While 'One Night of Violence' sees a travelling salesman caught in the middle of a mob war which culminates in a bloody gun battle at motel turned graveyard. Pure class all the way. How did Silverberg not produce more of this? Easily a couple of the most well rounded and complete short stories I’ve read.
5 stars.
August 25, 2019
COUNTDOWN: Mid-20th Century North American Crime
BOOK 57 (of 250)
Just because Hard Case publishers has a basement full of pulp doesn't mean they SHOULD publish them all. That said, this one is a surprise: it's a good crime book, and just a very good novel.
HOOK=4 stars: An original opening page: our unnamed hero is to impersonate a character getting off a plane for a short layover. I often read just the first page or two at the library and if it's a good opener, I check it out. And even the back of the book a blurb reads, "Unavailable for half a century and never before published in book form" added to the attraction: no way this book was going anywhere but home with me. (But that "unavailable for over half a century" tagline is on many Hard Case publications, so beware.)
PACE=5: Unrelenting, blistering. Even though Silverberg uses only 47K words (a standard mystery starts at about 70K words), not a word is wasted on any single page.
PLOT=4: The central plot is about counterfeiting (not that original within the crime genre) but Silverberg keeps the double crosses coming fast and furious and the author pulls a final punch on the last page that is a great final twist.
PEOPLE=4: The central character, an imposter, must be multitalented. We're never really sure of his real name (we're given one, but I highly doubt we're given the right one) and I, like another reviewer mentions, definitely want to read more about this character who'll hopefully appear in further Silverberg crime novels. This character does odd jobs across America, so who knows, perhaps he is a character we're familiar with already. The background history of the engraver is fascinating, and that's a story in and of itself, as well as his daughter's story.
PLACE=2: Most of the action takes place in Philadelphia, but the story could have taken place pretty much anywhere, so I didn't get much of a feel of this criminal environment. I like a sense of place, I especially like to feel I'm in a world I've never experienced. Sliverberg is famous for syfy and if the element of place/atmosphere had been stronger, this would perhaps have made it into my top 50, easy.
SUMMARY: My overall average is 3.8, or 4.0 here on goodreads. I'd never have suspected such a good, solid crime novel in a non-syfy world from this author.
BOOK 57 (of 250)
Just because Hard Case publishers has a basement full of pulp doesn't mean they SHOULD publish them all. That said, this one is a surprise: it's a good crime book, and just a very good novel.
HOOK=4 stars: An original opening page: our unnamed hero is to impersonate a character getting off a plane for a short layover. I often read just the first page or two at the library and if it's a good opener, I check it out. And even the back of the book a blurb reads, "Unavailable for half a century and never before published in book form" added to the attraction: no way this book was going anywhere but home with me. (But that "unavailable for over half a century" tagline is on many Hard Case publications, so beware.)
PACE=5: Unrelenting, blistering. Even though Silverberg uses only 47K words (a standard mystery starts at about 70K words), not a word is wasted on any single page.
PLOT=4: The central plot is about counterfeiting (not that original within the crime genre) but Silverberg keeps the double crosses coming fast and furious and the author pulls a final punch on the last page that is a great final twist.
PEOPLE=4: The central character, an imposter, must be multitalented. We're never really sure of his real name (we're given one, but I highly doubt we're given the right one) and I, like another reviewer mentions, definitely want to read more about this character who'll hopefully appear in further Silverberg crime novels. This character does odd jobs across America, so who knows, perhaps he is a character we're familiar with already. The background history of the engraver is fascinating, and that's a story in and of itself, as well as his daughter's story.
PLACE=2: Most of the action takes place in Philadelphia, but the story could have taken place pretty much anywhere, so I didn't get much of a feel of this criminal environment. I like a sense of place, I especially like to feel I'm in a world I've never experienced. Sliverberg is famous for syfy and if the element of place/atmosphere had been stronger, this would perhaps have made it into my top 50, easy.
SUMMARY: My overall average is 3.8, or 4.0 here on goodreads. I'd never have suspected such a good, solid crime novel in a non-syfy world from this author.
March 26, 2020
A masterfully turned out example of hard-boiled, two-fisted, hyphenated-descriptor fiction. The men are heroes or villains, the stereotypes run plenty, and the women are virgins or showgirls. Literally. A fun quarantine read.
February 10, 2018
Всеки запознат поне малко с фантастичния жанр знае кой е Робърт Силвърбърг. Предполагам обаче, че не всеки знае, че той се е изхранвал в продължение на години с писане на разкази за десетки списания. Някой от тях чисто порно, някой умерена еротика и приключения, естествено фантастични и, да си дойдем на думата, криминални.
„Кръв по визона“ е новела, писана когато е бил на 23 години, след което публикувана в умиращо криминално списание и напълно забравена.
Точно тук идват вещите в подборката хора на поредицата „Хард кейс крайм“. Поредицата е съсредоточена в нови и изключително груби книги в жанровете ноар и ню ноар, обикновено от те първа пробиващи писатели. Романите носят една лека носталгия по пълпа от петдесетте години и нямат никакви претенции, освен да доставят удоволствие на дай хард феновете на кръвта и насилието. Има, обаче една втора линия – търсят и издават забравени или непубликувани ръкописи на автори, които не са свързани пряко с жанра. Така са се появили „Братът на убития“ на Зелазни, „Джойленд“ и „Колорадецът“ на Кинг, „Падаща звезда“ на Блох, „Градска мрежа“ на Елисън и тази книга. След половин век забвение екипът на поредицата я изравя и предлага на Силвърбърг да я преиздаде. Той отговаря положително и ето я.
Както авторът сам я определя, книгата е „гаден малък трилър“. Ник е човек-хамелион, който предоставя услугите си на държавна агенция. Работата му е да облича кожата на определени престъпници, за да предотвратява големи престъпления. Поредната задача е да се представи за известен Ню Йоркски главорез и да разплете нелегална печатница за пари във Филаделфия. Още със стъпването му в щата в историята се заплитат чикагски гангстери, фатална жена, унгарски гравьор избягал след войната и калифорнийски престъпен бос, който има общо минало с първообраза на Ник. Нашето момче е печено и ще разплете плетеницата, зад а си свърши работата. Въпросът е колко точно трупа ще остави зад себе си.
След новелата има още два кратки разказа в същия стил, включени по желание на Силвърбърг като отдаване на почит към старите, вече изчезнали, криминални списания.
„Опасна кукла“ е история за младеж, който работи като куриер към престъпен синдикат. Всичко му е на ред, докато не се запознава с изкусителна блондинка.
„Нощ на насилие“ е разказ за обикновен амбулантен търговец, който случайно е оплетен в схемите на две враждуващи банди. Тук има повече трупове от шекспирова драма.
„Кръв по визона“ е новела, писана когато е бил на 23 години, след което публикувана в умиращо криминално списание и напълно забравена.
Точно тук идват вещите в подборката хора на поредицата „Хард кейс крайм“. Поредицата е съсредоточена в нови и изключително груби книги в жанровете ноар и ню ноар, обикновено от те първа пробиващи писатели. Романите носят една лека носталгия по пълпа от петдесетте години и нямат никакви претенции, освен да доставят удоволствие на дай хард феновете на кръвта и насилието. Има, обаче една втора линия – търсят и издават забравени или непубликувани ръкописи на автори, които не са свързани пряко с жанра. Така са се появили „Братът на убития“ на Зелазни, „Джойленд“ и „Колорадецът“ на Кинг, „Падаща звезда“ на Блох, „Градска мрежа“ на Елисън и тази книга. След половин век забвение екипът на поредицата я изравя и предлага на Силвърбърг да я преиздаде. Той отговаря положително и ето я.
Както авторът сам я определя, книгата е „гаден малък трилър“. Ник е човек-хамелион, който предоставя услугите си на държавна агенция. Работата му е да облича кожата на определени престъпници, за да предотвратява големи престъпления. Поредната задача е да се представи за известен Ню Йоркски главорез и да разплете нелегална печатница за пари във Филаделфия. Още със стъпването му в щата в историята се заплитат чикагски гангстери, фатална жена, унгарски гравьор избягал след войната и калифорнийски престъпен бос, който има общо минало с първообраза на Ник. Нашето момче е печено и ще разплете плетеницата, зад а си свърши работата. Въпросът е колко точно трупа ще остави зад себе си.
След новелата има още два кратки разказа в същия стил, включени по желание на Силвърбърг като отдаване на почит към старите, вече изчезнали, криминални списания.
„Опасна кукла“ е история за младеж, който работи като куриер към престъпен синдикат. Всичко му е на ред, докато не се запознава с изкусителна блондинка.
„Нощ на насилие“ е разказ за обикновен амбулантен търговец, който случайно е оплетен в схемите на две враждуващи банди. Тук има повече трупове от шекспирова драма.
April 19, 2015
I picked up Blood on the Mink yesterday because it was cheap and I wanted something to read in a coffee shop before I went out for dinner, so I did not expect a lot from it aside from some bloody deaths and a plot too complex by five or six points on an outline. I did, luckily, get what I expected, but it was excellently done. This is about an undercover agent trying to bust a counterfeiting ring, and I'm sure that in a month, I'll struggle to bring up the specifics of the story. Still, I had fun reading it, and that counts for a lot.
What's really excellent about this paperback in particular is the author afterword, explaining the process of publishing pulp stories as the medium was fading, and the two included short stories. The first short story didn't strike me as terribly interesting, but the second, "One Night of Violence," about an insurance salesman who gets caught up in a Chicago gang battle, was good enough that if I were still in my Teaching Literature class, I'd try to shoehorn it into a syllabus.
On its own, I think I'd give Blood on the Mink three stars, but the bonus material is impressive enough for an extra star.
What's really excellent about this paperback in particular is the author afterword, explaining the process of publishing pulp stories as the medium was fading, and the two included short stories. The first short story didn't strike me as terribly interesting, but the second, "One Night of Violence," about an insurance salesman who gets caught up in a Chicago gang battle, was good enough that if I were still in my Teaching Literature class, I'd try to shoehorn it into a syllabus.
On its own, I think I'd give Blood on the Mink three stars, but the bonus material is impressive enough for an extra star.
September 7, 2019
Robert Siverberg's short novel 'Blood on the Mink' is an example of the type of crime fiction one might have seen represented in the 25 cent men's magazines of the 1950s. It contains certain tropes. Lots of guns and bullets. Sneering, smarmy, one dimensional villains. A virgin offering up same for protection. A slinky, bosomy sexpot. Poorly described vanilla sex. A first person narrative with a three color press protagonist. I speak of the three color press as those were the primary colors utilized by comic book publishers to push some dimensionality out from the cheap newsprint on which their characters were made available to the army of pre-and-barely adolescent (mainly) boys who comprised their readership. The characters were written without depth as befitted their audience. So too were certain magazines which were geared towards the older brothers, uncles and fathers of the comic book readers. One might think (hope) that as a comic book reader matured, his (her) tastes would broaden, deepen, along with insights, interests and personal mental demands. Many did; many didn't. Those that didn't were drawn to the fantasy world of men's adventure magazines. Many writers who wouldn't necessarily enjoy reading what filled those pages, wrote the text for those pages at the one to two cents per word fee they received which enabled them to feed and shelter themselves while becoming better in their chosen art form. This was Silverberg's route. If there was a market niche he wrote to fill it, as did many of my favorite authors, Ellison and Vidal included.
Silverberg is and has been one of my favorite authors of science fiction and fantasy. As a young adolescent I came to his non-fiction writing before ever leaning into the main body of his work. He fueled my interest in archaeology with his well written and easy to read 'Lost Cities and Vanished Civilizations.' At the time I read several science fiction magazines. His short stories were ubiquitous within them. But I was a reader of novels, not short stories. Each of those magazines showcased novels in serialized form. Those I read, not the stories which bookended them.
Time travel tales always captured my attention. When I came across his novel 'Hawksbill Station', it didn't matter to me it had begun its literary life as a short story. I read the novel, never the story, and permanently came into his fan fold. Throughout my years of pleasure reading, I came to know Silverberg was prolific in his writing. However I didn't know the extent of his genre fluidity until about a decade ago when I came across a YouTube video of a chat he had with fellow writer Lawrence Block. He shared he had made large bank writing pornography. He did this pseudonymously as Don Elliott for Nightstand and Midwood Books (those names speak not so esoteric volumes). He wrote dozens of them at one to two thousand dollars per volume, huge money nearly sixty years ago. This income allowed him to purchase a large mansion in New York City in the early 1960s. His fluidity extended farther than porn. Recently I became aware he published in a men's magazine in 1962 a crime novel he'd written as a 23 years old novice in 1959, 'Blood on the Mink.' My 2012 paperback edition of the book was published by Hard Case Crime, a division of Titan Books. It also contains two stories, 'Dangerous Doll' and the somewhat longer story 'One Night of Violence.' I'm reviewing neither of these.
"Blood on the Mink' has a decent, if shallow, plot. Nameless, until nearly the end of the novel, government agent takes the place of a criminal in order to infiltrate a gang of counterfeiters. His job is to identify the source of the excellent printing plates, get them, and take down the gang by whatever means necessary. All the characters were, as stated above, of the three color variety possessing little depth and less reader (me) interest. The dialogue was uneven. Silverberg had a tough time toning down his erudition to fit with his narrator's hard boiled construction. When would a Mike Hammer clone describe a chaotic scene as '...when all the foofaraw went on ...'? Or trying to be a poor man's Chandler with the following metaphor -- '... a cold job, a lonely job [that at] times you hate it like poison.' He also was a bit soft with his character continuity. In one bullet-ridden scene his protagonist narrator tries to wing an assailant rather than take an easy kill shot. He explains this mercy by saying he preferred to let the system deal justice to the thug. Then in another scene his protagonist says, having run from a gun battle after shooting thug in the throat rather than winging him, he's fine with letting them kill each other because as a tax payer he thinks it costs too much money to support them 'in the jug.' Perhaps the readers of men's magazines had different expectations back nearly sixty years ago. I didn't enjoy the flimsy characterizations. I found the first person narration style lacking the needed noir-ish zing. In the words of our current president, it was very 'low energy' for a fast paced crime novel.
Finally, the blurbs printed on the back of the paperback book are deceiving. Having read them, the reader comes away this book was well received by Michael Chabon, the L.A. Times, and the Chicago-Sun Times. I believe those glowing reviews -- 'Dazzling; A master of his craft; A sure-fire page turner' -- were transplanted from other, newer books by Silverberg. Those books are surely deserving of such accolades, unlike 'Blood on the Mink.'
Silverberg is and has been one of my favorite authors of science fiction and fantasy. As a young adolescent I came to his non-fiction writing before ever leaning into the main body of his work. He fueled my interest in archaeology with his well written and easy to read 'Lost Cities and Vanished Civilizations.' At the time I read several science fiction magazines. His short stories were ubiquitous within them. But I was a reader of novels, not short stories. Each of those magazines showcased novels in serialized form. Those I read, not the stories which bookended them.
Time travel tales always captured my attention. When I came across his novel 'Hawksbill Station', it didn't matter to me it had begun its literary life as a short story. I read the novel, never the story, and permanently came into his fan fold. Throughout my years of pleasure reading, I came to know Silverberg was prolific in his writing. However I didn't know the extent of his genre fluidity until about a decade ago when I came across a YouTube video of a chat he had with fellow writer Lawrence Block. He shared he had made large bank writing pornography. He did this pseudonymously as Don Elliott for Nightstand and Midwood Books (those names speak not so esoteric volumes). He wrote dozens of them at one to two thousand dollars per volume, huge money nearly sixty years ago. This income allowed him to purchase a large mansion in New York City in the early 1960s. His fluidity extended farther than porn. Recently I became aware he published in a men's magazine in 1962 a crime novel he'd written as a 23 years old novice in 1959, 'Blood on the Mink.' My 2012 paperback edition of the book was published by Hard Case Crime, a division of Titan Books. It also contains two stories, 'Dangerous Doll' and the somewhat longer story 'One Night of Violence.' I'm reviewing neither of these.
"Blood on the Mink' has a decent, if shallow, plot. Nameless, until nearly the end of the novel, government agent takes the place of a criminal in order to infiltrate a gang of counterfeiters. His job is to identify the source of the excellent printing plates, get them, and take down the gang by whatever means necessary. All the characters were, as stated above, of the three color variety possessing little depth and less reader (me) interest. The dialogue was uneven. Silverberg had a tough time toning down his erudition to fit with his narrator's hard boiled construction. When would a Mike Hammer clone describe a chaotic scene as '...when all the foofaraw went on ...'? Or trying to be a poor man's Chandler with the following metaphor -- '... a cold job, a lonely job [that at] times you hate it like poison.' He also was a bit soft with his character continuity. In one bullet-ridden scene his protagonist narrator tries to wing an assailant rather than take an easy kill shot. He explains this mercy by saying he preferred to let the system deal justice to the thug. Then in another scene his protagonist says, having run from a gun battle after shooting thug in the throat rather than winging him, he's fine with letting them kill each other because as a tax payer he thinks it costs too much money to support them 'in the jug.' Perhaps the readers of men's magazines had different expectations back nearly sixty years ago. I didn't enjoy the flimsy characterizations. I found the first person narration style lacking the needed noir-ish zing. In the words of our current president, it was very 'low energy' for a fast paced crime novel.
Finally, the blurbs printed on the back of the paperback book are deceiving. Having read them, the reader comes away this book was well received by Michael Chabon, the L.A. Times, and the Chicago-Sun Times. I believe those glowing reviews -- 'Dazzling; A master of his craft; A sure-fire page turner' -- were transplanted from other, newer books by Silverberg. Those books are surely deserving of such accolades, unlike 'Blood on the Mink.'
July 21, 2017
Blood on the Mink is a terrific pulp tale that fits well within the genre in the late fifties. It has gangsters and dames and shoot-outs and undercover agents. And, most importantly, it's a damn good story that is worth reading.
The story is about a Treasury agent whose job is to go undercover and infiltrate various criminal organizations that are out to counterfeit the U.S. currency. He goes from city to city pulling off this act and, as a consequence, has no home and no family for how could one maintain such in a career as this. Here, the agent goes undercover as Vic Lowney after agents grab him as his cross-country flight makes a stopover. The agent, dressed as Lowney, takes Lowney's seat on the plane and checks into the hotel under Lowney's reservation in Philadelphia. Of course, the one thought in every reader's mind is how can he get away with this without anyone being wiser. Apparently, most East Coast gangsters didn't know the West Coast gangsters and, without cell phones or the internet, all it took was an attitude and some street smarts, and "Vic" gets away with it. He is there to make a deal with the local hoods on moving some terrific forged currency on the West Coast. The Treasury Agent ("Vic") stalls while he tries to gather information on where the engraver and the presses are.
Silverberg does well in writing about mobsters and shoot-outs and femme fatales. This book, which also includes two shorter stories to fill out the book, is well worth reading.
The second selection in this volume is "Dangerous Dame" and it is a classic old style hard boiled gangster tale about a young hood out to the west coast to make a delivery. It is also a cautionary tale about women and wine.
The final selection in this volume is "One Night of Violence" and it too is an old school gangster tale about a traveling salesman who inadvertently gets caught in the middle of a gang war.
All three stories are good stuff.
The story is about a Treasury agent whose job is to go undercover and infiltrate various criminal organizations that are out to counterfeit the U.S. currency. He goes from city to city pulling off this act and, as a consequence, has no home and no family for how could one maintain such in a career as this. Here, the agent goes undercover as Vic Lowney after agents grab him as his cross-country flight makes a stopover. The agent, dressed as Lowney, takes Lowney's seat on the plane and checks into the hotel under Lowney's reservation in Philadelphia. Of course, the one thought in every reader's mind is how can he get away with this without anyone being wiser. Apparently, most East Coast gangsters didn't know the West Coast gangsters and, without cell phones or the internet, all it took was an attitude and some street smarts, and "Vic" gets away with it. He is there to make a deal with the local hoods on moving some terrific forged currency on the West Coast. The Treasury Agent ("Vic") stalls while he tries to gather information on where the engraver and the presses are.
Silverberg does well in writing about mobsters and shoot-outs and femme fatales. This book, which also includes two shorter stories to fill out the book, is well worth reading.
The second selection in this volume is "Dangerous Dame" and it is a classic old style hard boiled gangster tale about a young hood out to the west coast to make a delivery. It is also a cautionary tale about women and wine.
The final selection in this volume is "One Night of Violence" and it too is an old school gangster tale about a traveling salesman who inadvertently gets caught in the middle of a gang war.
All three stories are good stuff.
March 24, 2012
Originally published for a pulp magazine back in the 50s, Hard Case convinced Robert Silverberg to re-release this standard caper full of sex, violence and triple crosses.
Nick is a federal agent who specializes in going undercover. He infiltrates a Philadelphia racket that is spreading high-quality funny money. Things get complicated when rivals from New York and California move in, and the Philly boss's main squeeze sees a way out.
It's a short novel - only 157 pages - but it packs a punch. Hard Case beefed up the page count some with a nifty afterword by Silverberg and two pulp short.
Nick is a federal agent who specializes in going undercover. He infiltrates a Philadelphia racket that is spreading high-quality funny money. Things get complicated when rivals from New York and California move in, and the Philly boss's main squeeze sees a way out.
It's a short novel - only 157 pages - but it packs a punch. Hard Case beefed up the page count some with a nifty afterword by Silverberg and two pulp short.
June 3, 2017
Three stories in one!
The first novel length story is a standard story of counterfeiters and the good guys out to thwart them. The story is well written with a nicely done complex web weaved by the good guy to catch a bunch of bad guys. The ladies involved are standard for a pulp tale. As is what happens to them. Overall a story to read during a rainy day.
The second tale is a throw away story. Obviously pure filler. Another counterfeiter tale of money and people. Fine to read this after the reading a story like the first.
The last is a really quick one where much happens in a few pages. Most of the story is a gun battle. I like how it was staged and the ending.
Bottom line: i recommend the book. 5 out of ten points.
The first novel length story is a standard story of counterfeiters and the good guys out to thwart them. The story is well written with a nicely done complex web weaved by the good guy to catch a bunch of bad guys. The ladies involved are standard for a pulp tale. As is what happens to them. Overall a story to read during a rainy day.
The second tale is a throw away story. Obviously pure filler. Another counterfeiter tale of money and people. Fine to read this after the reading a story like the first.
The last is a really quick one where much happens in a few pages. Most of the story is a gun battle. I like how it was staged and the ending.
Bottom line: i recommend the book. 5 out of ten points.
January 8, 2020
Well written, thrilling, top tier noir fiction. Especially good value is the afterward written in 2011 by the author detailing his history working in the industry and the curious circumstances that lead to this book being written over fifty years ago only to be published now. Two shorter pieces by the same author (in similar themes) also are presented in this book as well. Well worth a read for noir fans old and new.
May 26, 2022
A solid thriller outing from Silverberg paired with two short stories he sold in the late 50s and early 60s. Mostly interesting as a historical curio although the writing is solid.
March 15, 2025
Look I didn't start an old pulp novel, expecting a feminist masterpiece. But I did hope to be entertained enough to overlook some of the worse bits, and this book was not entertaining. Also the bad bits were so bad, that a master storyteller could not have made me oveglook them.
October 24, 2025
"Why settle for a simple old doublecross if you can work a triplecross as well?" :)
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 5, 2022
Book good.
July 26, 2016
Early, lesser Silverberg. Silverberg didn't really start firing on all cylinders until the mid to late 1960s, and this was published in 1962 (and written two years earlier). it's also a crime story, not what he is best known for, and with good reason. It is a competent enough, short narrative of an undercover agent trying to crack a counterfeiting ring. There's lots of violence, lots of tough guy patter, some sex, and a fair degree of technical competence, but not much in the way of spark. Silverberg's attempts at being tough and cynical seem to try too hard for the jaded noir tone; it doesn't feel like he's really invested in the genre. Enjoyable enough, but probably fairly forgettable--nice as it is to see a book published over fifty years ago brought back into print. Two short stories pad it out to full book length. One of these is a fairly by-the-numbers double-cross story. The other is rather more interesting. A travelling salesman ends up getting caught in the middle of a gang war and has to find out what he's willing to do to ensure his safety and that of his family. This one is the best of the bunch here, but even so pales beside the best work of the masters of the genre. Silverberg chose wisely by making SF his primary focus.
July 26, 2012
Blood on the Mink is the story of a government agent impersonating gangster Vic Lowney who is involved with a counterfeiting racket. He meets with men on the east coast who have a currency engraver in their custody who churn out very believable five and ten dollar bills. "Lowney"'s attitude and arrogance don't sit well with his associates, and a friend of the real Lowney and a gangster looking to get into the counterfeiting scheme throw further wrenches into the plot, making for a complicated and entertaining story.
Silverberg's writing is clear and clever, which makes this rather short novel seem much fuller than it is. The angle of the story is unusual too. The agent uses corrupt behavior and gangster-like sensibilities to bring about justice. I found myself chuckling several times, including my favorite bit toward the end:
"There weren't any anti-climaxes.
There was a big blazing climax."
Silverberg's writing is clear and clever, which makes this rather short novel seem much fuller than it is. The angle of the story is unusual too. The agent uses corrupt behavior and gangster-like sensibilities to bring about justice. I found myself chuckling several times, including my favorite bit toward the end:
"There weren't any anti-climaxes.
There was a big blazing climax."
March 22, 2020
Fantastic crime novel of a man "with no name" who is hired to impersonate a Californian gangster in Philadelphia who must stop an engraving plot by other gangsters. The situation soon gets out of control as other individuals contact him, wanting to get their hands on the plates and the money it produces. Perfect dialogue, perfect action, perfect ending. This is how crime is written!
There's an afterward by author Robert Silverberg that was very interesting, letting the reader know the history of this novel. Very cool!
There are also two short stories in this edition. The first is the very short "Dangerous Doll", telling the tale of a courier who lets his urges get the better of him, and "One Night of Violence", which was an amazing story of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Read this story and you'll never get involved in anything you hear at night.
Another one knocked out of the ballpark by Hard Case Crime. Great stuff!
There's an afterward by author Robert Silverberg that was very interesting, letting the reader know the history of this novel. Very cool!
There are also two short stories in this edition. The first is the very short "Dangerous Doll", telling the tale of a courier who lets his urges get the better of him, and "One Night of Violence", which was an amazing story of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Read this story and you'll never get involved in anything you hear at night.
Another one knocked out of the ballpark by Hard Case Crime. Great stuff!
June 14, 2017
this is a really tightly structured series of doublecrosses and triplecrosses, that, like most good crime novels, blurs the line between the good guys and the bad guys through corruption and violence. despite its title, it's a little short on the femme fatale aspect (which is fine, maybe even preferred considering the overuse and implications of that trope) but indulges in plenty of other crime novel standards: fast talking, hard drinking, gun fighting, etc.
our 'hero' is a law enforcement officer that goes undercover pretending to be someone else in order to infiltrate a counterfeit money ring. that's pretty boilerplate, but Silverberg sets a fast pace and the turns all satisfy and the plot unravels in a way that is typical but also pretty much what you look for in this sort of thing. it's a fun book that won't change the world, but will scratch a particular itch for you if you dig crime fiction.
our 'hero' is a law enforcement officer that goes undercover pretending to be someone else in order to infiltrate a counterfeit money ring. that's pretty boilerplate, but Silverberg sets a fast pace and the turns all satisfy and the plot unravels in a way that is typical but also pretty much what you look for in this sort of thing. it's a fun book that won't change the world, but will scratch a particular itch for you if you dig crime fiction.
January 14, 2013
Some Hard Case Crime books are great on their own merit; others are unique because of who wrote them. This is an early crime story written in 1959 by Robert Silverberg, who would go on to much fame and acclaim as a science fiction writer.
Despite being a little rough around the edges, this story was highly enjoyable: fast paced with a sleek, almost-plausible plot that reels you in from the first pages. The people felt like stock characters from a Crime Noir 101 textbook, but that was ok.
Much like Lawrence Block's GRIFTER'S GAME and Evan Hunter's THE GUTTER AND THE GRAVE, Robert Silverberg's BLOOD ON THE MINK reminds you of why you love these type of stories to begin with.
Despite being a little rough around the edges, this story was highly enjoyable: fast paced with a sleek, almost-plausible plot that reels you in from the first pages. The people felt like stock characters from a Crime Noir 101 textbook, but that was ok.
Much like Lawrence Block's GRIFTER'S GAME and Evan Hunter's THE GUTTER AND THE GRAVE, Robert Silverberg's BLOOD ON THE MINK reminds you of why you love these type of stories to begin with.
September 17, 2017
Robert Silverberg is an award winning Science fiction writer and SFWA (Science Fiction Writers of America) Grand Master. He is also I think, a very gracious gentleman. Blood on the Mink is definitely not the type of work Silverberg is known for-it is strictly guns and gangland. Over five decades later and this story still holds up-you are more likely to notice what is not there (cellphones for instance) than what is. The story is solid and features a dangerous masquerade and a lot of double and triple crosses. The author was good enough to write a brief afterword, and two bonus short stories are included, so you will really get your money's worth with this book.
October 9, 2017
Robert Silverberg is a name most readers associate with sophisticated sci-fi. This novel was written when he was a young man, still publishing mostly in pulp-fiction magazines. It is a typical well-done crime novel of the hard-boiled sort, a descendant of Hammett and Chandler. The protagonist is an undercover agent for a federal agency, sent to bring to justice a counterfeiting ring (we don't learn his name until almost the end of the book). As always in this sort of novel, things go from bad to worse. There is a lot of violence, and many people die, but the crime is solved.
April 1, 2020
Took me forever to get through this. It just didn't hold my attention at all, so I put it in a bedside locker and read sections when I couldn't sleep. I know the author's primarily a Sci-Fi writer so don't want to knock him. I still haven't read the two shorts at the back of the book, so may update the rating to 2 & 1/2, or 3, or reduce it to 1. For now...
November 4, 2018
Like many of his contemporary SF writer friends Robert Silverberg had to find new ways to make money after the SF-pulp-magazine market collapsed in the mid 50s. Since crime magazines held out a couple of years longer Silverberg made the jump into the hardboiled crime story scene quite effortlessly. One of his first forays was a series of short stories about an undercover agent called Nick who's give the most dangerous tasks infiltrating the underworld. His editor liked the stories so much he asked for a full novel, which Silverberg quickly turned out, but not quick enough to be published in the now defunct magazine. A couple of years later another editor tried to save his magazine by changing the format from short stories to full novels and asked Silverberg for a novel, written by approximately tomorrow. Silverberg remembered his Nick-novel, turned it in and got it published. It wasn't enough to save the magazine (the issue containing the novel was the last one) and was forgotten for about fifty years...
Nick is tasked with impersonating west coast gangster Victor Lowney, who's been detained by the police. Lowney had been invited to a meeting with Philly crook Klaus, who's willing to sell excellent ten-dollar plates. Nick's job is to retrieve the plates, if possible the engraver and take out Klaus' organisation. Seems quite a straight job to Nick, but it quickly gets very complicated. A New York gangster named Litwhiler approaches Lowney/Nick to form a partnership and cross Klaus, Klaus' beautiful moll attaches herself to Nick, hoping he can free her from Klaus by killing him. Elena, the engraver's daughter asks for help in freeing her father, who's held captive by Klaus, and throws herself at him, and there's the additional factor of Chavez, a rival gangster bidding for the plates, who happens to know the real Lowney, so Nick has to make up another identity on the spot, a guy called Manners who supposedly has taken out Lowney and tries to get his own operation started, suggesting a partnership with Chavez, thus setting a risky plan into motiion that depends on every party behaving, double- and triplecrossing each other exactly as Nick needs to get out of the calamity alive, with the plates and the engraver.
The 150 page novel is - of course - extremely quick, well written and exciting, full of violence and shoot-outs, taking no prisoners and making the reader fully embracing the "just one more chapter" mindset. The Hard Case Crime editon fills its pages with two more Silverberg short stories, "Dangerous Doll" about another counterfeit plot going awry, and "A Night of Violence", a brutal gang-war involving a harmless salesman caught between the lines.
A great book, even if it might not be what to expect from Silverberg, one of the more... philosophical and social aware SF grandmasters.
Nick is tasked with impersonating west coast gangster Victor Lowney, who's been detained by the police. Lowney had been invited to a meeting with Philly crook Klaus, who's willing to sell excellent ten-dollar plates. Nick's job is to retrieve the plates, if possible the engraver and take out Klaus' organisation. Seems quite a straight job to Nick, but it quickly gets very complicated. A New York gangster named Litwhiler approaches Lowney/Nick to form a partnership and cross Klaus, Klaus' beautiful moll attaches herself to Nick, hoping he can free her from Klaus by killing him. Elena, the engraver's daughter asks for help in freeing her father, who's held captive by Klaus, and throws herself at him, and there's the additional factor of Chavez, a rival gangster bidding for the plates, who happens to know the real Lowney, so Nick has to make up another identity on the spot, a guy called Manners who supposedly has taken out Lowney and tries to get his own operation started, suggesting a partnership with Chavez, thus setting a risky plan into motiion that depends on every party behaving, double- and triplecrossing each other exactly as Nick needs to get out of the calamity alive, with the plates and the engraver.
The 150 page novel is - of course - extremely quick, well written and exciting, full of violence and shoot-outs, taking no prisoners and making the reader fully embracing the "just one more chapter" mindset. The Hard Case Crime editon fills its pages with two more Silverberg short stories, "Dangerous Doll" about another counterfeit plot going awry, and "A Night of Violence", a brutal gang-war involving a harmless salesman caught between the lines.
A great book, even if it might not be what to expect from Silverberg, one of the more... philosophical and social aware SF grandmasters.
December 28, 2022
4 / 5 for 'Blood On The Mink' by Robert Silverberg
I began working my way through Silverbergs Sci-Fi output from the 1960s and 1970s, over the course of the last year, and in general, I have really enjoyed what I've read. This book, BOTM, is one of Hard Case Crime's series, written by well-known authors, with the authors sometimes being better known for writing in a different genre. I discovered this book by accident after reading 2 of Stephen King's HCC books; namely 'Later' and 'Joyland'. I was just as delighted to discover Silverberg has published HCC books, as I was when I read my first King HCC book - King is my favourite horror author (as well as my favourite author full-stop) and Silverberg is one of my favourite Sci-Fi authors, so this book was a real treat.
Overall, this was a tense and exciting potboiler, telling the tale of an undercover cop who is trying to take down a forgery crime ring from within. The cop ends up getting himself into all sorts of scrapes and up to all sorts of shenanigans along the way. The plotting was excellent, with nary an untense page throughout the whole book, and the dialogue was excellent also. Silverberg's wonderful scene-setting has come across from his sci-fi work to his crime work undiluted, so everything feels real and believable. The characterisation is a little lacklustre, but this is basically a novella told in the 1st person by the cop / narrator, so I didn't expect there to be much characterisation. The story progresses logically and swiftly through the course of the book and ends well if slightly abruptly, and the whole thing is told with a wonderfully noirish vibe, as well as including some sudden and well-written violence.
The 2 extra crime short stories after the main story were a welcome addition, even if they were only there to pad out the page count. Both were enjoyable and just as tense as the main novella, but the 2nd short story ('One Night Of Violence') was particularly excellent.
My only negatives for the whole book was that the main story's MC was occasionally ridiculously lucky / overpowered, which left some set-pieces feeling a little empty; like you always knew the MC was going to win / escape / avoid injury. Also, as mentioned, the characterisation was a bit poop, and the book is full of sexist views... but we can't really hold this against the author as it WAS written in the 1950s.
On the whole, an exciting and highly enjoyable entry in the Hard Case Crime series by one of my fave Sci-Fi authors.
4 / 5
I began working my way through Silverbergs Sci-Fi output from the 1960s and 1970s, over the course of the last year, and in general, I have really enjoyed what I've read. This book, BOTM, is one of Hard Case Crime's series, written by well-known authors, with the authors sometimes being better known for writing in a different genre. I discovered this book by accident after reading 2 of Stephen King's HCC books; namely 'Later' and 'Joyland'. I was just as delighted to discover Silverberg has published HCC books, as I was when I read my first King HCC book - King is my favourite horror author (as well as my favourite author full-stop) and Silverberg is one of my favourite Sci-Fi authors, so this book was a real treat.
Overall, this was a tense and exciting potboiler, telling the tale of an undercover cop who is trying to take down a forgery crime ring from within. The cop ends up getting himself into all sorts of scrapes and up to all sorts of shenanigans along the way. The plotting was excellent, with nary an untense page throughout the whole book, and the dialogue was excellent also. Silverberg's wonderful scene-setting has come across from his sci-fi work to his crime work undiluted, so everything feels real and believable. The characterisation is a little lacklustre, but this is basically a novella told in the 1st person by the cop / narrator, so I didn't expect there to be much characterisation. The story progresses logically and swiftly through the course of the book and ends well if slightly abruptly, and the whole thing is told with a wonderfully noirish vibe, as well as including some sudden and well-written violence.
The 2 extra crime short stories after the main story were a welcome addition, even if they were only there to pad out the page count. Both were enjoyable and just as tense as the main novella, but the 2nd short story ('One Night Of Violence') was particularly excellent.
My only negatives for the whole book was that the main story's MC was occasionally ridiculously lucky / overpowered, which left some set-pieces feeling a little empty; like you always knew the MC was going to win / escape / avoid injury. Also, as mentioned, the characterisation was a bit poop, and the book is full of sexist views... but we can't really hold this against the author as it WAS written in the 1950s.
On the whole, an exciting and highly enjoyable entry in the Hard Case Crime series by one of my fave Sci-Fi authors.
4 / 5
August 30, 2020
I really love Forbidden Planet. In addition to toys, merch and a solid collection of new release comics and a great selection of graphic novels, they have a really underrated book store. The London store’s book store, in fact, had a particularly impressive selection of sci-fi, fantasy, horror, crime and New Release US paperbacks. But I always check the sale section and without fail they have some Hard Case Crimes for tiny money. I got a hardback HCC for £1.99 and this one for only £0.99, along with some manga and other paperbacks.
This, like THE DEAD MAN’S BROTHER by Roger Zelazny, represents a crime novel reissued by HCC by a writer typically known for Sci-Fi. In both cases the books are well written and deliver the goods, albeit without a surplus of style.
The main feature here is a novella clearly inspired by RED HARVEST, but delivering the goods anyway. It’s noirish, violent and well told - all about “queer”, counterfeit money, a G Man impersonating a gangster. Not bad stuff.
Then we get a contemporary afterword with Robert Silverberg who contextualises the story and what follows, which are two other short stories which I think I liked a bit better.
The first is very simple (DANGEROUS DOLL), another story about counterfeiting, that is very short but works well - could have been a solid episode of THRILLER or Alfred Hitchcock Presents. The second, ONE NIGHT OF VIOLENCE, is longer and is a well-oiled thriller with the looming threat of violence exploding into a big gangland battle, with a Hitchcockian “wrong man” roped in. This one is very well written and perfectly paced.
Not the best book HCC ever reissued but if you’re a fan of the label it’s definitely one you should pick up.
This, like THE DEAD MAN’S BROTHER by Roger Zelazny, represents a crime novel reissued by HCC by a writer typically known for Sci-Fi. In both cases the books are well written and deliver the goods, albeit without a surplus of style.
The main feature here is a novella clearly inspired by RED HARVEST, but delivering the goods anyway. It’s noirish, violent and well told - all about “queer”, counterfeit money, a G Man impersonating a gangster. Not bad stuff.
Then we get a contemporary afterword with Robert Silverberg who contextualises the story and what follows, which are two other short stories which I think I liked a bit better.
The first is very simple (DANGEROUS DOLL), another story about counterfeiting, that is very short but works well - could have been a solid episode of THRILLER or Alfred Hitchcock Presents. The second, ONE NIGHT OF VIOLENCE, is longer and is a well-oiled thriller with the looming threat of violence exploding into a big gangland battle, with a Hitchcockian “wrong man” roped in. This one is very well written and perfectly paced.
Not the best book HCC ever reissued but if you’re a fan of the label it’s definitely one you should pick up.
September 21, 2022
It was the kind of book I would give sidelong glances to on the bookshelf but never had the nerve to read. It had a colorful cover, maybe too colorful, with an action-packed illustration of a man with a gun pointed toward a car racing away, while a dame with a mink bled on the ground. The prose was direct, efficient, to the point. The hero – an investigator with a shallowly-explored identity crisis who must take on the role – and lives – of underworld thugs and criminals. The job got into him but he never lost his soul. The crime: counterfeiting – bills so good even experts would be fooled. The mink? That would be telling – it could be the latest girlfriend of crime boss Klaus. It could also be daughter of the engraver – lured from Hungary to dwell in the sewer of the Philadelphia criminal underworld.
You likely have had enough poor emulation of crime novel writing. I’ve never read a crime novel (more like novella here) and this one reads like a script for a film noir but without any twists. It’s pretty straight forward and will take you anywhere from three to four hours to read. There are also two bonus short stories included, one on a counterfeiting delivery with a small man and a small twist and another on a travelling salesman family man who should keep to himself. All of this is fun enough to cleanse your pallet between reading other things. As a side note, the author makes fun of Philadelphia quite a bit, both directly and indirectly. There’s also some new vocabulary to learn, like “foofaraw.”
You likely have had enough poor emulation of crime novel writing. I’ve never read a crime novel (more like novella here) and this one reads like a script for a film noir but without any twists. It’s pretty straight forward and will take you anywhere from three to four hours to read. There are also two bonus short stories included, one on a counterfeiting delivery with a small man and a small twist and another on a travelling salesman family man who should keep to himself. All of this is fun enough to cleanse your pallet between reading other things. As a side note, the author makes fun of Philadelphia quite a bit, both directly and indirectly. There’s also some new vocabulary to learn, like “foofaraw.”
November 11, 2022
This thriller started off slow—for about two paragraphs. The unnamed main character is a specialist in impersonations; here, he’s impersonating Los Angeles mobster Vic Lowney, in Philadelphia to negotiate the purchase of counterfeit money. His goal: find the plates and find the engraver, because these counterfeits are far too good.
His plan is a complicated one, and mostly made up on the fly. And, of course, life has to throw curveballs at him. So there is a lot of bluffing, a lot of gunplay, and even a bit of romancing—who do you think is wearing the mink that eventually gets blood on it?
Lowney is not a likable guy, and his impersonator doesn’t exactly make any friends in Philly.
Silverberg is mostly known as a science fiction writer. But in 1959 (just after the Dodgers moved to Los Angeles!), he was a mostly out of work science fiction writer: “the science fiction business had just tanked”. So he also wrote erotic fiction and crime fiction to keep the paychecks coming in. That’s where this came from. He wrote it as a novel-length (or novella) for a publisher who wanted to try out publishing a single full-length story per issue instead of a collection of short stories. Hard to tell if it worked: Silverberg’s was the first test, and appeared in the final issue of Trapped.
The book also includes two short stories at the end, as better examples of what such magazines were looking for. Both appeared in Guilty in 1959 and 1960. Neither are as impressive as Blood on the Mink.
His plan is a complicated one, and mostly made up on the fly. And, of course, life has to throw curveballs at him. So there is a lot of bluffing, a lot of gunplay, and even a bit of romancing—who do you think is wearing the mink that eventually gets blood on it?
Lowney is not a likable guy, and his impersonator doesn’t exactly make any friends in Philly.
Silverberg is mostly known as a science fiction writer. But in 1959 (just after the Dodgers moved to Los Angeles!), he was a mostly out of work science fiction writer: “the science fiction business had just tanked”. So he also wrote erotic fiction and crime fiction to keep the paychecks coming in. That’s where this came from. He wrote it as a novel-length (or novella) for a publisher who wanted to try out publishing a single full-length story per issue instead of a collection of short stories. Hard to tell if it worked: Silverberg’s was the first test, and appeared in the final issue of Trapped.
The book also includes two short stories at the end, as better examples of what such magazines were looking for. Both appeared in Guilty in 1959 and 1960. Neither are as impressive as Blood on the Mink.
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