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The Crime and Corruption Novel MEGAPACK®: 4 Gritty Crime Novels
The Crime and Corruption Novel MEGAPACK® presents 4 great books by two different authors: Thomas B. Dewey and Burt Arthur. Included are:
A Season for Violence, by Thomas B. Dewey
Run, Brother, Run!, by Thomas B. Dewey
Empty Saddles, by Burt Arthur.
Kiss Me Hard is copyright © 1953 by Thomas B. Dewey.
If you enjoy this volume of classic stories, don't forget to search your favorite ebook store for "Wildside Press Megapack" to see the 270+ other entries in this series, including science fiction, fantasy, mysteries, adventure, horror, westerns -- and much, much more!
720 pages, Kindle Edition
Published January 23, 2016
3 people are currently reading
5 people want to read
About the author
Thomas B. Dewey
85 books8 followersThomas Blanchard Dewey was an American author of hardboiled crime novels. He created two series of novels: the first one features Mac, a private investigator from Chicago, the second features Pete Schofield.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
January 9, 2020
Wildside Press Megapacks are truly a great deal. Here, you get four novels for the price of one, three by Thomas B Dewey and one by Burt Arthur (a psuedonym for writing westerns??) There might not be a particular reason these were bundled together.
Two of the Dewey novels are top-notch pulp novels. Run Brother Run could use a snazzier pulpier title, but that's really the only complaint with it. It is a terrific fifties-era pulp story that is easy to read and hard to put down. The pacing is terrific and the action relentless. Dewey gives us a tale about a prison break, a group of ex-cons holed up together with no one trusting each other and for good reason, nightclubs, strippers, knife-wielding hoods, and a fortune in jewels. It's much much more than your average prison break story and it's filled with terrific characters that really come alive visually. Reminded me a little of westlake's Parker novels. Nothing -absolutely nothing not to like here.
Kiss Me Hard is another terrific pulp novel that pairs a hard-drinking piano player with a missing girl as they make their way across the country with the law and other menacing figures on their heels. They hop freight trains and sleep in hayfields and rundown hotels on the wrong side of town just like out of Kerouac's On the Road. This story is worth reading as you follow these tragic figures trying to escape their pasts and trying to get by day to day.
The third Dewey novel A Season of Violence is more of a Perry Mason type court case novel, but I thought it meandered a bit too much and lacked the raw passion that the other two Dewey novels had.
Finally, the Burt Arthur novel is a classic western.
Two of the Dewey novels are top-notch pulp novels. Run Brother Run could use a snazzier pulpier title, but that's really the only complaint with it. It is a terrific fifties-era pulp story that is easy to read and hard to put down. The pacing is terrific and the action relentless. Dewey gives us a tale about a prison break, a group of ex-cons holed up together with no one trusting each other and for good reason, nightclubs, strippers, knife-wielding hoods, and a fortune in jewels. It's much much more than your average prison break story and it's filled with terrific characters that really come alive visually. Reminded me a little of westlake's Parker novels. Nothing -absolutely nothing not to like here.
Kiss Me Hard is another terrific pulp novel that pairs a hard-drinking piano player with a missing girl as they make their way across the country with the law and other menacing figures on their heels. They hop freight trains and sleep in hayfields and rundown hotels on the wrong side of town just like out of Kerouac's On the Road. This story is worth reading as you follow these tragic figures trying to escape their pasts and trying to get by day to day.
The third Dewey novel A Season of Violence is more of a Perry Mason type court case novel, but I thought it meandered a bit too much and lacked the raw passion that the other two Dewey novels had.
Finally, the Burt Arthur novel is a classic western.
October 8, 2017
Combining my reviews from the four individual novels:
In “A Season for Violence” Dewey strays from his comfortable crime novel genre and attempts a drama involving a large cast of country club politicians and their powerful allies whose lives become unhinged during a scandal involving one of their own rich kids, and an upswing in drug trafficking. The novel starts out slowly - introducing many characters, then picks up steam a bit as the the lives of the characters begin to intertwine. Dewey manages to tie up the loose ends to a satisfying conclusion, although too many characters and an unfocused, meandering plot drag this one down.
“Run, Brother, Run!” is a terrific short novel from 1954 that was recently brought back into print by Wildside Press. Like the best of the ’50s paperback pulp fiction, the story has a lean and propulsive plot with plenty of hard-boiled dialog and violence. What set it apart for me is the originality of the plot, the well-drawn female characters, and a couple of twists that totally surprised me. A top notch gem that clearly deserves to find a bigger audience. Recommended.
Although “Empty Saddles” is clearly marketed as a Western, the novel is instead a character study of a young lawyer named Joe who has recently returned from World War II, his difficulties getting reintegrated into his former small town life, and his quest to unseat the popular, albeit corrupt, politicians running the town. Joe has two love interests, the former flame and girl-next-door type Mavis, and a young and neurotic ingenue with the wonderful name of Avril Fawcett, whose fathers both happen to be corrupt politicians. The novel is a solid small town drama, perhaps a bit slow moving, with interesting characters and prose. It wasn't what I was expecting, however I liked it a lot.
“Kiss Me Hard” starts with a bang as an alcoholic piano player inadvertently rescues a missing heiress from carnival sex slavery while being pursued by an extremely angry husband. Doubts about the authenticity of the attractive and damaged young heiress preclude an eventful trip across the country in an attempt to return her to family - who don't seem very enthusiastic about the return of the missing sister. The protagonist was exceptionally well portrayed with insights into his blatant alcoholism, self-doubt, and loneliness as his relationship with the helpless young heiress evolves from good samaritan, to responsibility, and then to love.
All four novels in this Megapack are well worth reading.
In “A Season for Violence” Dewey strays from his comfortable crime novel genre and attempts a drama involving a large cast of country club politicians and their powerful allies whose lives become unhinged during a scandal involving one of their own rich kids, and an upswing in drug trafficking. The novel starts out slowly - introducing many characters, then picks up steam a bit as the the lives of the characters begin to intertwine. Dewey manages to tie up the loose ends to a satisfying conclusion, although too many characters and an unfocused, meandering plot drag this one down.
“Run, Brother, Run!” is a terrific short novel from 1954 that was recently brought back into print by Wildside Press. Like the best of the ’50s paperback pulp fiction, the story has a lean and propulsive plot with plenty of hard-boiled dialog and violence. What set it apart for me is the originality of the plot, the well-drawn female characters, and a couple of twists that totally surprised me. A top notch gem that clearly deserves to find a bigger audience. Recommended.
Although “Empty Saddles” is clearly marketed as a Western, the novel is instead a character study of a young lawyer named Joe who has recently returned from World War II, his difficulties getting reintegrated into his former small town life, and his quest to unseat the popular, albeit corrupt, politicians running the town. Joe has two love interests, the former flame and girl-next-door type Mavis, and a young and neurotic ingenue with the wonderful name of Avril Fawcett, whose fathers both happen to be corrupt politicians. The novel is a solid small town drama, perhaps a bit slow moving, with interesting characters and prose. It wasn't what I was expecting, however I liked it a lot.
“Kiss Me Hard” starts with a bang as an alcoholic piano player inadvertently rescues a missing heiress from carnival sex slavery while being pursued by an extremely angry husband. Doubts about the authenticity of the attractive and damaged young heiress preclude an eventful trip across the country in an attempt to return her to family - who don't seem very enthusiastic about the return of the missing sister. The protagonist was exceptionally well portrayed with insights into his blatant alcoholism, self-doubt, and loneliness as his relationship with the helpless young heiress evolves from good samaritan, to responsibility, and then to love.
All four novels in this Megapack are well worth reading.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews