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Noir: Three Novels of Suspense
Noir contains three long-lost thrillers by Richard Matheson, the grand master of suspense. Originally published in the 1950s, at the very beginning of Matheson's distinguished career, these page-turning classics have been largely out-of-print for decades. Now readers everywhere can savor three unforgettable tales of crime, corruption, and cold-blooded murder. . . .
Someone Is Bleeding--Dave Newton has fallen hard for Peggy, a leggy blonde with a lurid past and a heartbreaking smile. But as bloody corpses begin to litter his path, Dave is forced to confront the terrifying possibility that the woman he loves is a deranged killer!
Fury on Sunday--In the wee hours of one fateful Sunday morning, a homicidal maniac embarks on a rampage of terror and violence that threatens everyone who crosses his path, culminating in a deadly confrontation in a Manhattan apartment building.
Ride the Nightmare--Chris and Helen had the perfect suburban life--until Helen discovers her husband's guilty secret. Overnight, their peaceful existence descends into a vortex of fear and brutality that may cost them the life of their only child!
Someone Is Bleeding--Dave Newton has fallen hard for Peggy, a leggy blonde with a lurid past and a heartbreaking smile. But as bloody corpses begin to litter his path, Dave is forced to confront the terrifying possibility that the woman he loves is a deranged killer!
Fury on Sunday--In the wee hours of one fateful Sunday morning, a homicidal maniac embarks on a rampage of terror and violence that threatens everyone who crosses his path, culminating in a deadly confrontation in a Manhattan apartment building.
Ride the Nightmare--Chris and Helen had the perfect suburban life--until Helen discovers her husband's guilty secret. Overnight, their peaceful existence descends into a vortex of fear and brutality that may cost them the life of their only child!
385 pages, Paperback
First published December 1, 1989
8 people are currently reading
310 people want to read
About the author
Richard Matheson
737 books4,846 followersBorn in Allendale, New Jersey to Norwegian immigrant parents, Matheson was raised in Brooklyn and graduated from Brooklyn Technical High School in 1943. He then entered the military and spent World War II as an infantry soldier. In 1949 he earned his bachelor's degree in journalism from the University of Missouri and moved to California in 1951. He married in 1952 and has four children, three of whom (Chris, Richard Christian, and Ali Matheson) are writers of fiction and screenplays.
His first short story, "Born of Man and Woman," appeared in the Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction in 1950. The tale of a monstrous child chained in its parents' cellar, it was told in the first person as the creature's diary (in poignantly non-idiomatic English) and immediately made Matheson famous. Between 1950 and 1971, Matheson produced dozens of stories, frequently blending elements of the science fiction, horror and fantasy genres.
Several of his stories, like "Third from the Sun" (1950), "Deadline" (1959) and "Button, Button" (1970) are simple sketches with twist endings; others, like "Trespass" (1953), "Being" (1954) and "Mute" (1962) explore their characters' dilemmas over twenty or thirty pages. Some tales, such as "The Funeral" (1955) and "The Doll that Does Everything" (1954) incorporate zany satirical humour at the expense of genre clichés, and are written in an hysterically overblown prose very different from Matheson's usual pared-down style. Others, like "The Test" (1954) and "Steel" (1956), portray the moral and physical struggles of ordinary people, rather than the then nearly ubiquitous scientists and superheroes, in situations which are at once futuristic and everyday. Still others, such as "Mad House" (1953), "The Curious Child" (1954) and perhaps most famously, "Duel" (1971) are tales of paranoia, in which the everyday environment of the present day becomes inexplicably alien or threatening.
He wrote a number of episodes for the American TV series The Twilight Zone, including "Steel," mentioned above and the famous "Nightmare at 20,000 Feet"; adapted the works of Edgar Allan Poe for Roger Corman and Dennis Wheatley's The Devil Rides Out for Hammer Films; and scripted Steven Spielberg's first feature, the TV movie Duel, from his own short story. He also contributed a number of scripts to the Warner Brothers western series "The Lawman" between 1958 and 1962. In 1973, Matheson earned an Edgar Award from the Mystery Writers of America for his teleplay for The Night Stalker, one of two TV movies written by Matheson that preceded the series Kolchak: The Night Stalker. Matheson also wrote the screenplay for Fanatic (US title: Die! Die! My Darling!) starring Talullah Bankhead and Stefanie Powers.
Novels include The Shrinking Man (filmed as The Incredible Shrinking Man, again from Matheson's own screenplay), and a science fiction vampire novel, I Am Legend, which has been filmed three times under the titles The Omega Man and The Last Man on Earth and once under the original title. Other Matheson novels turned into notable films include What Dreams May Come, Stir of Echoes, Bid Time Return (as Somewhere in Time), and Hell House (as The Legend of Hell House) and the aforementioned Duel, the last three adapted and scripted by Matheson himself. Three of his short stories were filmed together as Trilogy of Terror, including "Prey" with its famous Zuni warrior doll.
In 1960, Matheson published The Beardless Warriors, a nonfantastic, autobiographical novel about teenage American soldiers in World War II.
He died at his home on June 23, 2013, at the age of 87
http://us.macmillan.com/author/richar...
His first short story, "Born of Man and Woman," appeared in the Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction in 1950. The tale of a monstrous child chained in its parents' cellar, it was told in the first person as the creature's diary (in poignantly non-idiomatic English) and immediately made Matheson famous. Between 1950 and 1971, Matheson produced dozens of stories, frequently blending elements of the science fiction, horror and fantasy genres.
Several of his stories, like "Third from the Sun" (1950), "Deadline" (1959) and "Button, Button" (1970) are simple sketches with twist endings; others, like "Trespass" (1953), "Being" (1954) and "Mute" (1962) explore their characters' dilemmas over twenty or thirty pages. Some tales, such as "The Funeral" (1955) and "The Doll that Does Everything" (1954) incorporate zany satirical humour at the expense of genre clichés, and are written in an hysterically overblown prose very different from Matheson's usual pared-down style. Others, like "The Test" (1954) and "Steel" (1956), portray the moral and physical struggles of ordinary people, rather than the then nearly ubiquitous scientists and superheroes, in situations which are at once futuristic and everyday. Still others, such as "Mad House" (1953), "The Curious Child" (1954) and perhaps most famously, "Duel" (1971) are tales of paranoia, in which the everyday environment of the present day becomes inexplicably alien or threatening.
He wrote a number of episodes for the American TV series The Twilight Zone, including "Steel," mentioned above and the famous "Nightmare at 20,000 Feet"; adapted the works of Edgar Allan Poe for Roger Corman and Dennis Wheatley's The Devil Rides Out for Hammer Films; and scripted Steven Spielberg's first feature, the TV movie Duel, from his own short story. He also contributed a number of scripts to the Warner Brothers western series "The Lawman" between 1958 and 1962. In 1973, Matheson earned an Edgar Award from the Mystery Writers of America for his teleplay for The Night Stalker, one of two TV movies written by Matheson that preceded the series Kolchak: The Night Stalker. Matheson also wrote the screenplay for Fanatic (US title: Die! Die! My Darling!) starring Talullah Bankhead and Stefanie Powers.
Novels include The Shrinking Man (filmed as The Incredible Shrinking Man, again from Matheson's own screenplay), and a science fiction vampire novel, I Am Legend, which has been filmed three times under the titles The Omega Man and The Last Man on Earth and once under the original title. Other Matheson novels turned into notable films include What Dreams May Come, Stir of Echoes, Bid Time Return (as Somewhere in Time), and Hell House (as The Legend of Hell House) and the aforementioned Duel, the last three adapted and scripted by Matheson himself. Three of his short stories were filmed together as Trilogy of Terror, including "Prey" with its famous Zuni warrior doll.
In 1960, Matheson published The Beardless Warriors, a nonfantastic, autobiographical novel about teenage American soldiers in World War II.
He died at his home on June 23, 2013, at the age of 87
http://us.macmillan.com/author/richar...
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Displaying 1 - 29 of 29 reviews
March 13, 2017
Noir comprises three short novels penned in the 1950s by the legendary Richard Matheson, the man often cited as a creative influence by Stephen King. Showcasing the early days of Matheson's distinguished career these vintage potboilers reflect a bygone era of hard-boiled suspense and unsubtle prose.
Matheson's first published novel, Someone Is Bleeding (1953), follows novelist and former infantryman David Newton in his efforts to court the leggy albeit emotionally disconnected Peggy Lister. Raised by a martinet father and married off as a teenager, Peggy's lurid past is rife with abuse and brutish terror that makes her wary of men, prompting her to stave unwanted attention at every turn. Despite a budding romance Dave is troubled by her involvement with Jerry, a former rival from Dave's college days and shady lawyer with ties to the mob. Dave finds himself caught in a love triangle with Peggy and Jerry, desperate to win her affections even as her lecherous landlord turns up dead from an ice-pick and Peggy herself is a prime suspect. More male corpses pile up, and it's unclear to what extent Peggy’s vulnerable naiveté is a mere act. Is she truly a victim, or a cold and calculating killer? The story regrettably unfolds at a snail’s pace and in predictable fashion; the characters' motivations and relationships are muddled beyond any semblance of coherency; and to make matters worse, the hapless protagonist’s failure to grasp the goings-on of everything around him is mind-boggling to the point of irritability. The author's inability to navigate complex characters is certainly laid to bare for all to see, and Matheson is on much safer ground in the lengthy chase scene in which Newton outruns a former mob hitman working as a chauffeur; yet this remains one of the novel's few saving graces. Someone Is Bleeding is vaguely compelling, but that owes more to the novel's oblique air of postwar malaise and precarious societal shifts that threatened long-held public views on women; it's an unrefined debut by a talented writer searching to find his voice.
Fury On Sunday (1953), Matheson's sophomore effort, covers one evening in the life of an escaped lunatic/former concert pianist as he makes an unsanctioned departure from his locked cell and takes hostage two hard-partying couples in a revenge-fueled rampage. However, Vincent Raden hasn't quite thought things through, even though he is willing to go to any lengths to win the heart of a happily married woman—including homicide. Readers are invited into Vincent's warped mind and those of the beleaguered couples; their bitter psycho-sexual pathologies play out over the course of this desperate hostage situation. Vincent’s virginal prurience proves his Achilles's heel, his lust conflicting with his compulsive disdain for beautiful women; namely, a frigid young wife named Jane, who dons flimsy black negligee throughout the narrative and commits adultery while her spineless husband, Stan, remains passive. Matheson's terse language effectively heightens the tension, culminating in a fatal clash amid a high-end Manhattan apartment building. Although pleasantly perverse, Fury is riddled with stilted dialogue, awkward POV shifts, and unsympathetic characters that fail to hold interest.
In Ride the Nightmare (1959), Matheson’s sixth novel, Chris Martin is a suburban husband and father of a young girl. He owns and operates a small business, and serves on the local Chamber of Commerce. By all outward appearances, Chris is living the Eisenhower-era dream. But all this is turned topsy-turvy by an anonymous phone call one Wednesday evening—a call that will not only bring to light his deplorable past but embroil his beloved wife and child in a dreadful situation from which there may be no escape. Despite a rather improbable plot, readers may appreciate the story's primal theme of a morally compromised family man fighting to protect everything he holds dear, including the sense of normalcy he’s constructed for himself.
These pulp stories have been largely out-of-print for decades, and it’s no surprise. Although Noir provides a nostalgic look at a bygone writing style that embodied '50s fiction, however the suspense in these tales of crime, corruption, and cold-blooded murder is infrequent and Matheson's melodramatic and uneven writing style coupled with one-dimensional characters makes these works feel stiff, insubstantial, and anything but top-notch.
Matheson's first published novel, Someone Is Bleeding (1953), follows novelist and former infantryman David Newton in his efforts to court the leggy albeit emotionally disconnected Peggy Lister. Raised by a martinet father and married off as a teenager, Peggy's lurid past is rife with abuse and brutish terror that makes her wary of men, prompting her to stave unwanted attention at every turn. Despite a budding romance Dave is troubled by her involvement with Jerry, a former rival from Dave's college days and shady lawyer with ties to the mob. Dave finds himself caught in a love triangle with Peggy and Jerry, desperate to win her affections even as her lecherous landlord turns up dead from an ice-pick and Peggy herself is a prime suspect. More male corpses pile up, and it's unclear to what extent Peggy’s vulnerable naiveté is a mere act. Is she truly a victim, or a cold and calculating killer? The story regrettably unfolds at a snail’s pace and in predictable fashion; the characters' motivations and relationships are muddled beyond any semblance of coherency; and to make matters worse, the hapless protagonist’s failure to grasp the goings-on of everything around him is mind-boggling to the point of irritability. The author's inability to navigate complex characters is certainly laid to bare for all to see, and Matheson is on much safer ground in the lengthy chase scene in which Newton outruns a former mob hitman working as a chauffeur; yet this remains one of the novel's few saving graces. Someone Is Bleeding is vaguely compelling, but that owes more to the novel's oblique air of postwar malaise and precarious societal shifts that threatened long-held public views on women; it's an unrefined debut by a talented writer searching to find his voice.
Fury On Sunday (1953), Matheson's sophomore effort, covers one evening in the life of an escaped lunatic/former concert pianist as he makes an unsanctioned departure from his locked cell and takes hostage two hard-partying couples in a revenge-fueled rampage. However, Vincent Raden hasn't quite thought things through, even though he is willing to go to any lengths to win the heart of a happily married woman—including homicide. Readers are invited into Vincent's warped mind and those of the beleaguered couples; their bitter psycho-sexual pathologies play out over the course of this desperate hostage situation. Vincent’s virginal prurience proves his Achilles's heel, his lust conflicting with his compulsive disdain for beautiful women; namely, a frigid young wife named Jane, who dons flimsy black negligee throughout the narrative and commits adultery while her spineless husband, Stan, remains passive. Matheson's terse language effectively heightens the tension, culminating in a fatal clash amid a high-end Manhattan apartment building. Although pleasantly perverse, Fury is riddled with stilted dialogue, awkward POV shifts, and unsympathetic characters that fail to hold interest.
In Ride the Nightmare (1959), Matheson’s sixth novel, Chris Martin is a suburban husband and father of a young girl. He owns and operates a small business, and serves on the local Chamber of Commerce. By all outward appearances, Chris is living the Eisenhower-era dream. But all this is turned topsy-turvy by an anonymous phone call one Wednesday evening—a call that will not only bring to light his deplorable past but embroil his beloved wife and child in a dreadful situation from which there may be no escape. Despite a rather improbable plot, readers may appreciate the story's primal theme of a morally compromised family man fighting to protect everything he holds dear, including the sense of normalcy he’s constructed for himself.
These pulp stories have been largely out-of-print for decades, and it’s no surprise. Although Noir provides a nostalgic look at a bygone writing style that embodied '50s fiction, however the suspense in these tales of crime, corruption, and cold-blooded murder is infrequent and Matheson's melodramatic and uneven writing style coupled with one-dimensional characters makes these works feel stiff, insubstantial, and anything but top-notch.
February 25, 2017
My first Matheson experience and I decided to start with a collection of three of his earliest short novels assembled here in Noir. You have to go into this book realizing this was written in the 50s so it's a little dated (although surprisingly it doesn't feel as dated as I thought it would). I was shocked at how much violence, sex and other "R-rated" material there was in these stories. It really caught me off guard. Best way to describe the flow of these stories is Hitchcock-like. They're stories that grab you and keep you interested but aren't going to leave you thinking about them too much the next day. A nice little introduction to an accomplished author and it's made me that much more excited to read some of his more successful works such as I Am Legend and Hell House.
December 28, 2018
This is a great collection of short novels from one of the greatest storytellers of the 20th century. Someone is Bleeding is the first, and it is the noiriest noir tale I've ever read. If aliens showed up and wanted to know what noir is, I would hand them this book. It's got it all from femme fatales to boozed up brawlers, etc. I almost felt like I was reading something by Ed Brubaker, so I figure this book must have had an enormous influence on him. Fury on Sunday is the second, and it reminds me a lot of Robert Bloch's early work just after he grew out of his Lovecraft phase. A sorely deluded maniac escapes from the nuthouse to kill the person he perceives to be his nemesis (when in all reality, his so-called nemesis doesn't really think all that much about him). It's harrowing. But you know what is more harrowing than that? The third book, Ride the Nightmare. A woman discovers her husband and the father of her daughter is not what he says he is. Many years back he helped in a heist gone wrong, and his partners just escaped from jail with only one thought on their minds: revenge.
If you're going to pass on this volume after reading everything that I just said, you're unhinged. Maybe you're Vince from Fury on Sunday. Don't be Vince. READ THIS BOOK.
If you're going to pass on this volume after reading everything that I just said, you're unhinged. Maybe you're Vince from Fury on Sunday. Don't be Vince. READ THIS BOOK.
May 3, 2013
Richard Matheson, who just turned 87, is now a veteran author with dozens of screenplays, novels and short stories to his credit; mostly in SF, fantasy and horror genres. Like most novice writers he dabbled in many genres. Three of his early mystery/suspense novels, originally published as individual disposable paperbacks in the 1950s are included in this aptly named anthology. The stories are: Someone Is Bleeding, Fury On Sunday(both 1953) and Ride the Nightmare(1959). Of these, Someone is Bleeding is the best and most disturbing. There is no nuance in these early works or really complex characters, but in SiB there is the beginning of the archetypical Mathesonian tropes of terror, paranoia and power. In this case, power is perverted and power is lost.
March 22, 2011
This is a colection of three short stories that wrote in the 1950s. I didn't finish any of them, the stories seem dated. Not his best work. I have now read everything I could find that he wrote, so better than others.
January 1, 2014
LAST BOOK OF THE YEAR!!!! And these were REALLY fun...1950s suspense, sharp writing, just a ton of fun. If you can, listen to this book -- it's a total romp. *I am Legend* remains my favorite novel from Matheson, but this was a blast!
February 15, 2017
Matheson VA LETTO. Fine della recensione
October 8, 2018
Noir is an anthology of three separate novels by a master of suspense, one of my favorite scripters for The Twilight Zone, Richard Matheson. Others will know him as the author of such science-fiction standards as I Am Legend and The Incredible Shrinking Man. So, I was not exactly surprised that each of these novels, originally published separately, balanced on the knife edge of sanity. The three novels compiled in Noir are: Someone is Bleeding, Fury on a Sunday, and Ride the Nightmare. Only the first is told in first-person, a classic style dealing with impending madness, but the second pair is told from an omniscient author’s point-of-view nonetheless. Best of all, all three novels have a different feeling—even though all have one character of another descending into their personal equivalent of the concentric circles of Dante’s Inferno.
Someone is Bleeding is told by a protagonist/narrator who is an author, an author inflicted with writer’s block who has moved to sunny California to find inspiration. Lounging on the beach, he finds inspiration of a somewhat different kind. He becomes infatuated to the point of falling for a lovely young woman named Peggy. But, he soon discovers that either she is lying to him on several levels or his college friend is deceiving him for some reason, or both. The title, Someone is Bleeding, could easily represent the literal murders which occur in this narrative or the figurative sense in which someone is bleeding psychologically. Low-brow thugs, degenerate sophisticates, and characters who seem fated populate this thriller of weak characters entwined.
Although Someone is Bleeding was just exactly the sort of story I was expecting in this genre, Fury on a Sunday was significantly more intense. Matheson takes us inside the mind and motivation of an angry, and mentally disturbed, individual. One soon learns that Vince, once an up-and-coming classical pianist, has not only murdered prior to his institutionalization, but he is obsessed with committing another to acquire his desperately desired revenge and to obtain the reward he expects for earning that revenge. One might call Vince a “crazy” man in this tightly wound tale of what happens in the space of a day (from wee early morning hours till the resolution later in the day), but his clever ad-lib actions when his plan keeps going off the rails make him seem “crazy as a fox.” I’m not sure some of the dramatic elements are totally realistic, but such a person as Vince would definitely be unpredictable, his conflicting emotions and highly-embellished hopes just might make these elements possible, if not probable.
The point-of-view shifts in Ride the Nightmare. A phone call disturbs a happily married, young couple as it points to either a case of mistaken identity or an unwelcome message from the past. We see the wife as she struggles with feelings of loss of integrity and intimacy, such that she has trust issues which, in turn, complicate the situation. The husband keeps seeking resolution on many levels, but many of his solutions end up having threatening loose ends (It is, after all, a noir story!).
Before the tale reaches its climax, the spouses aren’t the only ones with trust issues. The antagonists who threaten the lives of the young couple and their daughter express trust issues. The banker from which a character tries to secure ransom money has trust issues. The doctor who is called to deal with a particular, but familiar, emergency has trust issues. The mother-in-law who was sought as a port in the frightening and growing storm has trust issues.
Ride the Nightmare has the familiar trope of the character who is well-advised to stay away from somewhere, but has such an independent streak that said character ends up escalating the trouble with her/his presence. And, it has the familiar trope of the character who is so curious that said character ends up escalating the trouble. Indeed, Ride the Nightmare is the most realistic of the three stories for me because the really horrible portions could really happen.
Noir is the best kind of genre anthology. It features novels instead of short stories, and each one offers an experience of delightful fear distinctive from the other one. It is no wonder Matheson’s craft lives on.
Someone is Bleeding is told by a protagonist/narrator who is an author, an author inflicted with writer’s block who has moved to sunny California to find inspiration. Lounging on the beach, he finds inspiration of a somewhat different kind. He becomes infatuated to the point of falling for a lovely young woman named Peggy. But, he soon discovers that either she is lying to him on several levels or his college friend is deceiving him for some reason, or both. The title, Someone is Bleeding, could easily represent the literal murders which occur in this narrative or the figurative sense in which someone is bleeding psychologically. Low-brow thugs, degenerate sophisticates, and characters who seem fated populate this thriller of weak characters entwined.
Although Someone is Bleeding was just exactly the sort of story I was expecting in this genre, Fury on a Sunday was significantly more intense. Matheson takes us inside the mind and motivation of an angry, and mentally disturbed, individual. One soon learns that Vince, once an up-and-coming classical pianist, has not only murdered prior to his institutionalization, but he is obsessed with committing another to acquire his desperately desired revenge and to obtain the reward he expects for earning that revenge. One might call Vince a “crazy” man in this tightly wound tale of what happens in the space of a day (from wee early morning hours till the resolution later in the day), but his clever ad-lib actions when his plan keeps going off the rails make him seem “crazy as a fox.” I’m not sure some of the dramatic elements are totally realistic, but such a person as Vince would definitely be unpredictable, his conflicting emotions and highly-embellished hopes just might make these elements possible, if not probable.
The point-of-view shifts in Ride the Nightmare. A phone call disturbs a happily married, young couple as it points to either a case of mistaken identity or an unwelcome message from the past. We see the wife as she struggles with feelings of loss of integrity and intimacy, such that she has trust issues which, in turn, complicate the situation. The husband keeps seeking resolution on many levels, but many of his solutions end up having threatening loose ends (It is, after all, a noir story!).
Before the tale reaches its climax, the spouses aren’t the only ones with trust issues. The antagonists who threaten the lives of the young couple and their daughter express trust issues. The banker from which a character tries to secure ransom money has trust issues. The doctor who is called to deal with a particular, but familiar, emergency has trust issues. The mother-in-law who was sought as a port in the frightening and growing storm has trust issues.
Ride the Nightmare has the familiar trope of the character who is well-advised to stay away from somewhere, but has such an independent streak that said character ends up escalating the trouble with her/his presence. And, it has the familiar trope of the character who is so curious that said character ends up escalating the trouble. Indeed, Ride the Nightmare is the most realistic of the three stories for me because the really horrible portions could really happen.
Noir is the best kind of genre anthology. It features novels instead of short stories, and each one offers an experience of delightful fear distinctive from the other one. It is no wonder Matheson’s craft lives on.
May 27, 2018
La famosa "Trilogia in nero" di Richard Matheson raccolta finalmente in un solo libro: "Noir".
Primo romanzo della "Trilogia in nero", "Ricatto mortale" è un'affascinante e morbosa opera noir anni '50. Scritto agli inizi della carriera di Matheson, ad appena ventitre anni, il libro tratta di David Newton, giovane scrittore trasferitosi a Los Angeles, che si ritrova il mondo sconvolto da Peggy, bellissima e ingenua ragazza dal passato oscuro. Ispirato dalla vita che conduceva all'epoca, Matheson stesso confessò che l'incontro tra David e Peggy fu la trasposizione quasi identica del primo incontro che ebbe lui con la propria moglie Ruth, ma fortunatamente per lo scrittore il paragone fra le due giovani donne si ferma qui. Come sempre, Matheson riesce a trarre il meglio da un genere che sembra aver detto tutto, sapendoti ancora sorprendere.
Lo stile di Matheson è inconfondibile, così semplice e scorrevole, tuttavia qui si sente d'essere di fronte ad un'opera scritta agli esordi dello scrittore, a tratti ancora immatura. Infatti, la trama funziona piuttosto bene, ma in molti momenti pare trattata in maniera frettolosa. Inoltre, questo senso di immaturità è percepito proprio nella psicologia dei personaggi (da sempre cavallo di battaglia di Matheson), soprattutto per quato riguarda il taglio psicologico del protagonista che a volte risulta piatto o cambia personalità in funzione della trama, non risultando quindi molto lineare. Sicuramente, il personaggio più funzionante è Peggy, in cui si avverte proprio la cura di Matheson nel realizzare una "creatura" così complessa e credibile. Per essere stato scritto agli inizi degli anni '50, i temi trattati attraverso il personaggio di Peggy sono incredibilmente attuali e questo fa davvero riflettere su come Matheson sia sempre stato all'avanguardia nelle sue opere.
In "Noir" porta la traduzione del suo titolo originale: "Qualcuno si agita".
"Tre ore di pura follia" è un romanzo che ho letteralmente bevuto! Matheson, con il suo stile sobrio e la sua trama magnetica, mi ha tenuta incollata alla sua storia, lasciandomi senza fiato. Secondo romanzo della "Trilogia in nero", "Tre ore di pura follia" è il viaggio nella pazzia di un giovane pianista, Vince, ed il suo tentativo di riprendere il controllo della sua vita, tramite la vendetta. Vince è un personaggio potente quanto fragile, in grado di ispirare tanto timore quanta compassione. Davvero consigliato!
In "Noir" porta la traduzione del suo titolo originale: "Una domenica di rabbia".
"Noir" termina, infine, con "Incubo", storia adrenalinica e controversa che ci catapulta in un dramma familiare che sfiora la morte. Che cosa accadrebbe, infatti, se la vostra felice vita fosse fondata su una menzogna, ma voi non ne foste a conoscenza? Questa è l'agghiacciante realtà che Helen dovrà affrontare, volente o nolente. "Incubo", come "Una domenica di rabbia", racconta le ore di terrore vissute da una famiglia. Un romanzo davvero interessante che ti sa tenere con il fiato sospeso. Lo stile di Matheson è sempre impeccabile. Ho apprezzato molto, inoltre, il punto di vista alternato tra Helen, la moglie, e Chris, il marito, entrambi vittime di questa situazione. Due personaggi molto umani e affascinanti, come solo Matheson può creare.
Primo romanzo della "Trilogia in nero", "Ricatto mortale" è un'affascinante e morbosa opera noir anni '50. Scritto agli inizi della carriera di Matheson, ad appena ventitre anni, il libro tratta di David Newton, giovane scrittore trasferitosi a Los Angeles, che si ritrova il mondo sconvolto da Peggy, bellissima e ingenua ragazza dal passato oscuro. Ispirato dalla vita che conduceva all'epoca, Matheson stesso confessò che l'incontro tra David e Peggy fu la trasposizione quasi identica del primo incontro che ebbe lui con la propria moglie Ruth, ma fortunatamente per lo scrittore il paragone fra le due giovani donne si ferma qui. Come sempre, Matheson riesce a trarre il meglio da un genere che sembra aver detto tutto, sapendoti ancora sorprendere.
Lo stile di Matheson è inconfondibile, così semplice e scorrevole, tuttavia qui si sente d'essere di fronte ad un'opera scritta agli esordi dello scrittore, a tratti ancora immatura. Infatti, la trama funziona piuttosto bene, ma in molti momenti pare trattata in maniera frettolosa. Inoltre, questo senso di immaturità è percepito proprio nella psicologia dei personaggi (da sempre cavallo di battaglia di Matheson), soprattutto per quato riguarda il taglio psicologico del protagonista che a volte risulta piatto o cambia personalità in funzione della trama, non risultando quindi molto lineare. Sicuramente, il personaggio più funzionante è Peggy, in cui si avverte proprio la cura di Matheson nel realizzare una "creatura" così complessa e credibile. Per essere stato scritto agli inizi degli anni '50, i temi trattati attraverso il personaggio di Peggy sono incredibilmente attuali e questo fa davvero riflettere su come Matheson sia sempre stato all'avanguardia nelle sue opere.
In "Noir" porta la traduzione del suo titolo originale: "Qualcuno si agita".
"Tre ore di pura follia" è un romanzo che ho letteralmente bevuto! Matheson, con il suo stile sobrio e la sua trama magnetica, mi ha tenuta incollata alla sua storia, lasciandomi senza fiato. Secondo romanzo della "Trilogia in nero", "Tre ore di pura follia" è il viaggio nella pazzia di un giovane pianista, Vince, ed il suo tentativo di riprendere il controllo della sua vita, tramite la vendetta. Vince è un personaggio potente quanto fragile, in grado di ispirare tanto timore quanta compassione. Davvero consigliato!
In "Noir" porta la traduzione del suo titolo originale: "Una domenica di rabbia".
"Noir" termina, infine, con "Incubo", storia adrenalinica e controversa che ci catapulta in un dramma familiare che sfiora la morte. Che cosa accadrebbe, infatti, se la vostra felice vita fosse fondata su una menzogna, ma voi non ne foste a conoscenza? Questa è l'agghiacciante realtà che Helen dovrà affrontare, volente o nolente. "Incubo", come "Una domenica di rabbia", racconta le ore di terrore vissute da una famiglia. Un romanzo davvero interessante che ti sa tenere con il fiato sospeso. Lo stile di Matheson è sempre impeccabile. Ho apprezzato molto, inoltre, il punto di vista alternato tra Helen, la moglie, e Chris, il marito, entrambi vittime di questa situazione. Due personaggi molto umani e affascinanti, come solo Matheson può creare.
February 23, 2026
Fantastic work!
Three stories in the book: The first story and the last story are both 5 star writings, and the second story is a 4 star tale. The 3rd story is my favorite. I really enjoyed reading this book, and the stories held up and are still compelling over all this time since first publishing. The narration of the audiobook was excellent as well. Looking forward to reading more from the author!
Three stories in the book: The first story and the last story are both 5 star writings, and the second story is a 4 star tale. The 3rd story is my favorite. I really enjoyed reading this book, and the stories held up and are still compelling over all this time since first publishing. The narration of the audiobook was excellent as well. Looking forward to reading more from the author!
April 17, 2024
AUDIOBOOK: 3 “short” stories originally written in 1953. I feel like each one got progressively better. The first one felt very dated with fairly strong undertones sexism that could get a bit much and I thought the story itself meandered and went on for too long. The second two seemed tighter and more focused. I would recommend these but prefer some of his other short stories.
October 10, 2020
This was actually 3 different books combined in this volume. Richard Matheson is an excellent writer. These stories kept me wondering and anxious to get to the conclusion, because I could not figure out where he was going with the ideas. Thoroughly enjoyed this book. One of the real page turners.
April 6, 2024
Each story got exponentially better. Book 1=1 star. Blech. Book 2=2 stars. I see where he was going. Book 3=3 stars. Lots of people owe him some money for stealing this idea. Of course, that is the case for a lot of Matheson's work.
April 1, 2020
Voto 3,5
August 31, 2021
Someone Is Bleeding - 4/5
Fury on Sunday - 2/5
Ride the Nightmare - 3/5
Matheson has a knack for creating eerie atmospheres out of the most mundane environments.
Fury on Sunday - 2/5
Ride the Nightmare - 3/5
Matheson has a knack for creating eerie atmospheres out of the most mundane environments.
April 14, 2022
These books are totally brilliant. The way he weaves the characters together to create the stories is just so good.
February 8, 2025
I literally had day dreams in black and white of the dark and steamy streets. My heart was racing, my palms were sweating, and I loved every minute of it!
December 10, 2025
What does noir mean to Richard Matheson? Rape and sexual assault. Lazy self inserts. This is trash.
March 28, 2021
Qualcuno si agita (Ricatto mortale) - 3/5
Una domenica di rabbia (Tre ore di pura follia) - 4/5
Incubo (Cavalca l'incubo) - 5/5
Una domenica di rabbia (Tre ore di pura follia) - 4/5
Incubo (Cavalca l'incubo) - 5/5
February 27, 2012
three stories read in three days, one each day.
it started off promisingly with "someone is bleeding", which was my favorite.. by the last line i had to take a deep breath because i've been holding it for too long without realizing it. and because of this story only near dawn did sleep come.. damn you mr. matheson! so very good. oh but there was one part when the narrator davie called peggy a "rape-prone" woman and that got me mad. yeah sure blame the victim! *rolls eyes*
the next two stories was suspense-filled to the brim and got me sweatin'.
4 stars.
it started off promisingly with "someone is bleeding", which was my favorite.. by the last line i had to take a deep breath because i've been holding it for too long without realizing it. and because of this story only near dawn did sleep come.. damn you mr. matheson! so very good. oh but there was one part when the narrator davie called peggy a "rape-prone" woman and that got me mad. yeah sure blame the victim! *rolls eyes*
the next two stories was suspense-filled to the brim and got me sweatin'.
4 stars.
August 11, 2011
I've only read one and a half of the three novels included in this collection, but the one I've completed warrants this review all on its own. Ride the Nightmare was Richard Matheson's first published novel in 1954, and it reads like a bullet. Nothing deep, nothing philosophical. Just an ordinary tale about a naive writer caught up in the seedy underworld of hollywood starlets and obsessive criminals. And it's absolutely riveting. This book is a must have for fans of the author.
March 27, 2016
Di queste tre opere, racconti o romanzi che siano, vorrei soffermarmi sul primo, "Qualcuno si agita", questo perché mi pare che sia la vera gemma della raccolta.
Perché dico questo? Perché questo racconto è un noir che ci parla del vero amore
La mia recensione completa sul mio blog http://capitolonero.blogspot.it/2016/...
Perché dico questo? Perché questo racconto è un noir che ci parla del vero amore
La mia recensione completa sul mio blog http://capitolonero.blogspot.it/2016/...
January 26, 2017
Three early crime/suspense novels by Matheson. Just like with his much more celebrated fantasy and science fiction novels, the prose is smooth and goes down easy. These are far from classics of the crime genre, but worth a read just to see where the great man started. Of the three, I found Fury on a Sunday to be my personal favorite.
March 20, 2008
Three vintage pulps from Matheson's early writing career. My favorite is "Someone Is Bleeding", the old saw about the shy, pretty girl who hides a manic personality until she traps some boy in her web. I never get tired of those sexy murder tales. The other two pulps are ho-hum.
August 30, 2016
I've read many of Matheson's short stories and science fiction novels. These early novellas capture a real sense of suspense without any real gore or horror elements, just good old-fashioned crime stories. Matheson's simple style lends itself to the telling of the three Los Angeles-set tales.
January 10, 2011
The other two a bit stiff, but "Fury on Sunday" was a lot of fun (possibly due to echoing something I'm working on ATM with a friend, but regardless).
February 27, 2013
The first and third story are pretty good, but the middle story drags the rating down.
July 9, 2013
Robertson Dean would not have been my first choice, and unlike "Stir of Echoes" these three tales feel dated.
June 21, 2016
It's good pulpy noir. Like a lot of that genre, especially if it's good, you feel like you've read or seen it before because it's been copied a bunch. Suspenseful but you can see the twists coming.
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