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Fast One: The Most Hard-Boiled Novel of the 1930s!
The Vigilante Crime Classic Pulp Paperback Edition of Fast One by Paul Cain
It’s the last days of Prohibition and the first days of the Depression and East Coast crime bosses are vying for control of Los Angeles. Caught in the middle of the intrigues is Gerry Kells, a former New York enforcer now living a life of ease on the West Coast.
As the fiercely independent Kells rejects the appeals of various crime bosses who want to make use of his talents, powerful forces align against him. Being framed for a murder turns out to be the least of his troubles and as the stakes get higher, and the odds get longer, it’s only Kells’ nerve and toughness that keep him one step ahead of the law—and the reaper. Featuring one of the most brutal finales in crime fiction history, this lost 1933 masterpiece took hard-boiled writing as far is it safely could. Some say too far.
It’s the last days of Prohibition and the first days of the Depression and East Coast crime bosses are vying for control of Los Angeles. Caught in the middle of the intrigues is Gerry Kells, a former New York enforcer now living a life of ease on the West Coast.
As the fiercely independent Kells rejects the appeals of various crime bosses who want to make use of his talents, powerful forces align against him. Being framed for a murder turns out to be the least of his troubles and as the stakes get higher, and the odds get longer, it’s only Kells’ nerve and toughness that keep him one step ahead of the law—and the reaper. Featuring one of the most brutal finales in crime fiction history, this lost 1933 masterpiece took hard-boiled writing as far is it safely could. Some say too far.
266 pages, Kindle Edition
Published November 3, 2025
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About the author
Paul Cain
48 books20 followersPaul Cain was the pen name of George Caryl Sims (1902–1966), a pulp fiction author and screenwriter. His sole novel, Fast One (1932), is considered a landmark of the hardboiled style.
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March 14, 2026
Fast One, five short stories penned and stitched together to form a novel, is generally considered the hardest of the hard-boiled, the toughest of the tough, the ultra-hard-boiled nightmare that takes the reader to the darkest of the dark alleys and mean streets. It was Cain’s only novel though he wrote many screenplays and short stories. It alone cemented Paul Cain (not to be confused with James Cain) as one of the formative voices of the genre of hard-boiled fiction.
Gerry Kells is old-style self-assured solo-operating gangster walking the streets of 1930’s Los Angeles. Everyone respects him and wants to cut him in on the latest deal. Those same strongmen want to stab him in the back and take him off the board. Cynically, Kells quips, “Sure, I’m everybody’s friend. I’m the guy they write the pal songs about.” Kells doesn’t kid himself about his popularity. He’s been out west for two months and has made some cash playing the ponies, but says: “It’s a lot more fun guessing the name of a pony than guessing what the name of the next stranger I’m supposed to have shot will be. I’m having a lot of fun. I don’t want any part of anything.”
He knows he’s a walking target and someone whether it’s Rose or Bellman wants him out if the way and will set up a nice frame for him. He tells Rose: “I’ve been framed for one caper today,” Kells went on, “and I don’t intend to be framed for another. The next one’ll be bona fide and I’d just as soon it’d be you, and I’d just as soon it’d be in the lobby of the Biltmore as any place else.”
He seems to have one soft spot for the blonde -Grandquist. “She was blonde—but darkly, warmly. Her mouth was very red without a great deal of rouge, and her eyes were shadowed and deep. She was a tall woman with very interesting curves.” Nevertheless, he finds her an interesting subject to use in place of himself for the frame. He also is ready to toss her to the wolves at any moment yet when his enemies spring her from jail and make off with her Kells is willing to tear the town apart to save her.
In a few short days, Kells takes on everyone on the west coast and is nearly the last one standing. He has so few allies you wonder how he can stand by himself with only Grandquist and a handful of loyal muscle behind him.
The pace in “Fast One” is over the top relentless. It never slows down. Kells, who never wanted to be involved in much out west, and hadn’t carried a piece in over a year, is that lone gunfighter at the Ok Corral that you can’t help rooting for.
Gerry Kells is old-style self-assured solo-operating gangster walking the streets of 1930’s Los Angeles. Everyone respects him and wants to cut him in on the latest deal. Those same strongmen want to stab him in the back and take him off the board. Cynically, Kells quips, “Sure, I’m everybody’s friend. I’m the guy they write the pal songs about.” Kells doesn’t kid himself about his popularity. He’s been out west for two months and has made some cash playing the ponies, but says: “It’s a lot more fun guessing the name of a pony than guessing what the name of the next stranger I’m supposed to have shot will be. I’m having a lot of fun. I don’t want any part of anything.”
He knows he’s a walking target and someone whether it’s Rose or Bellman wants him out if the way and will set up a nice frame for him. He tells Rose: “I’ve been framed for one caper today,” Kells went on, “and I don’t intend to be framed for another. The next one’ll be bona fide and I’d just as soon it’d be you, and I’d just as soon it’d be in the lobby of the Biltmore as any place else.”
He seems to have one soft spot for the blonde -Grandquist. “She was blonde—but darkly, warmly. Her mouth was very red without a great deal of rouge, and her eyes were shadowed and deep. She was a tall woman with very interesting curves.” Nevertheless, he finds her an interesting subject to use in place of himself for the frame. He also is ready to toss her to the wolves at any moment yet when his enemies spring her from jail and make off with her Kells is willing to tear the town apart to save her.
In a few short days, Kells takes on everyone on the west coast and is nearly the last one standing. He has so few allies you wonder how he can stand by himself with only Grandquist and a handful of loyal muscle behind him.
The pace in “Fast One” is over the top relentless. It never slows down. Kells, who never wanted to be involved in much out west, and hadn’t carried a piece in over a year, is that lone gunfighter at the Ok Corral that you can’t help rooting for.
Displaying 1 of 1 review