The Faster She Runs

by Robert Colby

It started like most of Marian s troubles, because of her betting the ponies - that consuming habit which she herself could hardly understand.Someone told her once that she wanted to lose. But Marian knew that was nonsense. She wanted to win, win, win!This time when Marian lost, she became desperate. Her husband, Warren Emrick, refused to give her the money - even though he had $48,000 stashed away.So when Tony Viani, an ex-playmate, turned up offering to pay her debt, Marian was in the mood to betray her husband. In a gesture of spite she took Warren s money and ran off with Tony.Only Marian didn t figure on Warren s need for revenge or Tony s lust for power. And that s when her trouble really started . . .troubles that filled her days and nights with violence and terror.

Paperback

First published October 1, 1963

About the author

American novelist and crime thriller paperback genre and short story writer. Colby wrote novels for a number of the paperback houses including Gold Medal, which published his most praised novel, The Captain Must Die. He was also a prolific contributor of short stories to Alfred Hitchcock and Mike Shayne's mystery magazines. Many of these have gathered into two published collections of his stories. Colby also wrote a non-fiction true crime book, The California Crime Book, and co-authored a 'Nick Carter' book, The Death's Head Conspiracy, with Gary Brandner. Author Ed Gorman believed "Robert Colby was one of the best of the paperback original writers".

Reviews

[Dave · Rating 3 out of 5]

Originally published in 1963 by Monarch Books, Colby’s The Faster She Runs has a great title and great cover art. The story pokes fun at suburban life with a sorta-happily married couple having marital spats because of Marion’s spending habits, particularly her habit of gambling on the ponies, a habit Warren couldn’t support. Marion though had a wild history with a hoodlum that Warren didn’t know about and, when hoodlum Tony shows up, Marion empties the joint bank accounts of the couple’s life savings, a tidy sum indeed, and grabs anything of value in the house and heads south for a new exciting life. Warren might be a schlubby stockbroker, but this woman isn’t going to waltz away with his $50,000 dollars and, she being with a connected hoodlum or no, he’s going to track down Marion and her get his money back. This chase is all set for some comedic crime story, particularly when Warren takes a quarter of a million from Tony and leaves him a note saying it’s payment for a slightly used wife. Somehow Colby doesn’t manage to make this story though anything special. For one thing, the characters are all cartoonishly drawn, cookie cutter types without any depth. Marion is not just a fallen woman, but turns out to be completely no good and a former call girl to boot. Tony and his henchmen are muscle bound thugs, nothing more. And as to Warren, as a reader, you never really feel for him. You get little sense of his emotions. Also, there’s not a whole lot of running involved.