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The Hunger and the Hate
He climbed high and hard and fast, this Dean Holt, this ruthless young man ina hurry to conquer a world - and not caring whom he ruined on the way. And he was almost up thee, almost on the top run, the dizzying heights where a man could stand with and empire at his feet - the whole Salinas Valley, the rich, turbulent young lettuce industry, bought and paid for and his.
He had the most beautiful women, the biggest cars, the most lavish home - but the top rung of the ladder was just out of Dean Holt’s reach.
He set out to make it, with the same hungry toughness that had driven him so far.
Then, for the first time in his life, Dean Holt fell in love.
With the girl who occupied the ladder’s top rung - and would destroy Dean Holt rather than let him reach it.
He had the most beautiful women, the biggest cars, the most lavish home - but the top rung of the ladder was just out of Dean Holt’s reach.
He set out to make it, with the same hungry toughness that had driven him so far.
Then, for the first time in his life, Dean Holt fell in love.
With the girl who occupied the ladder’s top rung - and would destroy Dean Holt rather than let him reach it.
100 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 4, 2012
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
July 1, 2017
Without question, this is a five star read. I also think it could have broad appeal to readers looking for noir-era reading to romance readers. Despite its placement in Prologue's crime fiction category, it is
not a crime novel.
H. Vernor Dixon grew up in Sacramento and produced fourteen novels between 1950 and 1966, nine of them were
published in the 50's by Fawcett with the typical dime store lurid covers of that period.
This 1955 novel reminds me both of the movie Giant starring James Dean and the Steinbeck novels about the Salinas Valley. Dean Holt is a self made man who came up from a shotgun shack in a field to be one of the top lettuce growers/packagers in the
Valley. He's a tough guy who doesn't like to lose and he's out to make his place with the other top growers and landowners of the Salinas Valley and Monterey Peninsula. His home is among the Pebble Beach
elite but he knows he is not one of them.
The story is about the rough and tumble business of growing in that area in the 50s and the extravagant lifestyles the growers led. As the story opens, Dean is not the top grower. That's old Tom Moore and his whiz of a manager Freeman. But Dean is out to undercut Moore and increase his share.
He carries on with Ruth, a young widow also from humble beginnings, and Jan, who is available when Husband Sam is out of town.
The writing is crisp and some of the descriptions are really so spot on. Highly recommended.
not a crime novel.
H. Vernor Dixon grew up in Sacramento and produced fourteen novels between 1950 and 1966, nine of them were
published in the 50's by Fawcett with the typical dime store lurid covers of that period.
This 1955 novel reminds me both of the movie Giant starring James Dean and the Steinbeck novels about the Salinas Valley. Dean Holt is a self made man who came up from a shotgun shack in a field to be one of the top lettuce growers/packagers in the
Valley. He's a tough guy who doesn't like to lose and he's out to make his place with the other top growers and landowners of the Salinas Valley and Monterey Peninsula. His home is among the Pebble Beach
elite but he knows he is not one of them.
The story is about the rough and tumble business of growing in that area in the 50s and the extravagant lifestyles the growers led. As the story opens, Dean is not the top grower. That's old Tom Moore and his whiz of a manager Freeman. But Dean is out to undercut Moore and increase his share.
He carries on with Ruth, a young widow also from humble beginnings, and Jan, who is available when Husband Sam is out of town.
The writing is crisp and some of the descriptions are really so spot on. Highly recommended.
April 29, 2023
It seems the last part of this book was lost on the way to the printer. How else to explain such an abrupt ending? Try to imagine how Lord of the Rings would be if the third book went missing and you will get the idea.
It is such a pity because this book is really a five star read. I would like to know if the author intended to end it this way. But that seems unlikely.
It is such a pity because this book is really a five star read. I would like to know if the author intended to end it this way. But that seems unlikely.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews