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Devil May Care
DEVIL MAY CARE
Biggo is a guy you should meet - once. He is a fast-talking, heavy-fisted Biggo - fast with a small cannon, fast with a buck, fast with a girl. He did all right on all counts until he saw an easy $20,000 to be had in Ensenada, Mexico. It never occurred to him that there would be any difficulty getting the money, until he picked up a hungry blonde in a bar - hungry for Biggo, that is.
By Wade Miller, famous author of GOLD MEDAL'S best-selling THE TIGER'S WIFE, STOLEN WOMAN and THE KILLER.
Biggo is a guy you should meet - once. He is a fast-talking, heavy-fisted Biggo - fast with a small cannon, fast with a buck, fast with a girl. He did all right on all counts until he saw an easy $20,000 to be had in Ensenada, Mexico. It never occurred to him that there would be any difficulty getting the money, until he picked up a hungry blonde in a bar - hungry for Biggo, that is.
By Wade Miller, famous author of GOLD MEDAL'S best-selling THE TIGER'S WIFE, STOLEN WOMAN and THE KILLER.
181 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1950
About the author
Wade Miller
135 books12 followersSee also Bob Wade
Wade Miller is a pen name of two authors, Robert Allison “Bob” Wade (1920-present) and H. Bill Miller (1920-61). The two also wrote under several other pseudonyms, including Whit Masterson and Will Daemer.
Received the Shamus Award, "The Eye" (Lifetime achievment award) in 1988.
Wade Miller is a pen name of two authors, Robert Allison “Bob” Wade (1920-present) and H. Bill Miller (1920-61). The two also wrote under several other pseudonyms, including Whit Masterson and Will Daemer.
Received the Shamus Award, "The Eye" (Lifetime achievment award) in 1988.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
January 25, 2021
"Devil May Care" was originally published in 1950, one of the earlier novels by the tag team writing duo of Robert Wade and Bob Miller, who published as Wade Miller and sometimes as Whit Masterson. If you were one of the lucky ones to grab this paperback off the racks at your local dimestore in 1950, you would find a "soldier of fortune" story. Well, what they describe as a soldier of fortune is not exactly a mercenary warrior off to battle, but a criminal, a conman, a guy getting paid for making something happen, hopefully without too much blood on the ground and too long a trail of bread crumbs. Biggo was one of these independent contractors, not tied to a mob, not one of someone's crew, and he was getting a little older and a little slower, but, as usual, one last job presented itself, one that promised to be easy peasy. But, anyone who has read these old novels knows that any job presented as easy, ain't, and more often than not, is just a full-on mess that one is barely able to scrape one's self out of alive, let alone get the prize.
Set in 1950's Ensenada, Mexico, at the time a small fishing town with only major hotel, despite the setting, all the major players in this tale are American. They are just playing out their schemes down there. And, like in many a novel, there's a fabulous prize that all the players are after, a kind of maltese falcon of incalcuable value, although here the value is stated quite clearly as $20,000, which in those days it appears was a major stake.
What makes this novel so searingly good is that, in typical pulp fashion, no one's a good guy, not even Biggo, our lead character, who is a mercenary criminal, slaps women around, gets in fights with his old pals, and trusts no one much. Nevertheless, he has a spark of noblesse oblige and his own code and, when that code is violated, he is a force to be reckoned with. Biggo is a down on his luck old coot of a guy who has staked everything on this one last score. Jinny, the barmaid he meets up with, is even more down in the dumps, practically has given up on smiling, and sees the world as one sour empty place.
This is a short action-packed novel that is greatly entertaining, filled with characters who are morally challenged and is a great example of Wade Miller's team writing at its best.
Set in 1950's Ensenada, Mexico, at the time a small fishing town with only major hotel, despite the setting, all the major players in this tale are American. They are just playing out their schemes down there. And, like in many a novel, there's a fabulous prize that all the players are after, a kind of maltese falcon of incalcuable value, although here the value is stated quite clearly as $20,000, which in those days it appears was a major stake.
What makes this novel so searingly good is that, in typical pulp fashion, no one's a good guy, not even Biggo, our lead character, who is a mercenary criminal, slaps women around, gets in fights with his old pals, and trusts no one much. Nevertheless, he has a spark of noblesse oblige and his own code and, when that code is violated, he is a force to be reckoned with. Biggo is a down on his luck old coot of a guy who has staked everything on this one last score. Jinny, the barmaid he meets up with, is even more down in the dumps, practically has given up on smiling, and sees the world as one sour empty place.
This is a short action-packed novel that is greatly entertaining, filled with characters who are morally challenged and is a great example of Wade Miller's team writing at its best.
March 11, 2020
This is a gem of a book. It presents itself as a simple 50s thriller, but there's a lot more going on under the hood, including some subtle characterization with the aging central character and his misconceptions about himself and romance. There are subtle relationships as well, along with the expected action.
It builds speed as it unfolds, as the characters find out what's really under way and what everything, even their own relationships, really mean, until there's a moment of greatness near the book's end when all the threads and moments crystallize into a scene where you realize that the writers had true command and knew exactly what they were doing.
Usually I don't feel such a deep emotional connection to the characters in these old thrillers, and often these thrillers have a lot more over-the-top action and fisticuffs. This one bowled me over and set me on a search for the rest of the books Wade and Miller wrote together.
I've read it three times. I may read it again.
It builds speed as it unfolds, as the characters find out what's really under way and what everything, even their own relationships, really mean, until there's a moment of greatness near the book's end when all the threads and moments crystallize into a scene where you realize that the writers had true command and knew exactly what they were doing.
Usually I don't feel such a deep emotional connection to the characters in these old thrillers, and often these thrillers have a lot more over-the-top action and fisticuffs. This one bowled me over and set me on a search for the rest of the books Wade and Miller wrote together.
I've read it three times. I may read it again.
July 25, 2016
Wanted to like it but just couldn't get into it. Too melodramatic, dealing with the usual subjects (two lonesome outsiders finding each other, loyalty between fiends, aging guy who wants to get "out",...) in a pretty dull and uninspiring way. Not much of a spark, feels like it was penned out quickly to fulfill the contract with the publisher. And definitely too long. It might have worked as novella or short story but 180 pages were simply too much.
More here (review includes spoilers!):
http://a60books.blogspot.ie/2016/07/d...
More here (review includes spoilers!):
http://a60books.blogspot.ie/2016/07/d...
January 23, 2014
As I read this gritty tale of greed and betrayal, a film played out in my mind. In the lead role of soldier of fortune Biggo Venn I sometimes saw Robert Mitchum (if the film was in that cheesy washed-out color the studios used for B-films in the 50s), and sometimes as Jack Holt (if the film was in glorious black & white). The bad girl was Lana Turner or Rita Hayworth, maybe Ann Savage. In the role of the "good girl" was Diana Dors...yeah, I know, she was no angel, but neither was this dame, in the end.
Pulled from the lecture circuit, where he's killing time between the bush wars that are his bread and butter, Biggo is given a chance by an old comrade in arms to make a quick $10,000 (great money for 1950, worth about $175,000 of our own devalued currency) simply by delivering a death-bed confession to the representative of a deported racketeer, who will then use the confession to overturn his deportation as an "undesirable alien" and set up pay-back for the crook who framed him. The exchange will take place in the Mexican border town of Ensenada. Simple. Easy. A piece of cake...until people start dropping dead...an epidemic of lead poisoning, so to speak.
Fans of crime noir fiction will certainly enjoy this overlooked gem, and fans of Wade Miller's noirish tales of San Diego private eye Max Thursday will also admire the color and energy brought to this hard-hitting non-series entry by the writing team of Robert Wade (1920-2012) and Bill Miller (1920-1961). It's out of print, but definitely worth looking for.
Pulled from the lecture circuit, where he's killing time between the bush wars that are his bread and butter, Biggo is given a chance by an old comrade in arms to make a quick $10,000 (great money for 1950, worth about $175,000 of our own devalued currency) simply by delivering a death-bed confession to the representative of a deported racketeer, who will then use the confession to overturn his deportation as an "undesirable alien" and set up pay-back for the crook who framed him. The exchange will take place in the Mexican border town of Ensenada. Simple. Easy. A piece of cake...until people start dropping dead...an epidemic of lead poisoning, so to speak.
Fans of crime noir fiction will certainly enjoy this overlooked gem, and fans of Wade Miller's noirish tales of San Diego private eye Max Thursday will also admire the color and energy brought to this hard-hitting non-series entry by the writing team of Robert Wade (1920-2012) and Bill Miller (1920-1961). It's out of print, but definitely worth looking for.
July 21, 2012
Ontuvasti käännetty, menetti varmasti paljon voimastaan sen takia.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews