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The Long Ride
PAPERBACK ORIGINAL FIRST EDITION, Dell First Edition #B211, published October 1961. First Edition, First Printing, so stated, “DELL FIRST EDITION,” no previous hardcover. Cover “She made her way cross country with three men who had her - and murder - on their minds.” & “A James McKimmey Thriller.” Cover illustration by Bob Abbett. Original 35 cover price. Paperback, 192 pages, 17 cm.
190 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1961
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
May 3, 2021
McKimmey’s “the Long Ride” is a crime novel with a little something for everyone and quite humorous to boot. It’s sort of the pulp version of Gilligan’s Island with seven people who barely know each other trapped in a station wagon traveling cross-country together.
In the old days when the world was young, it seems traveling from fictional Loma City to San Francisco was something you didn’t do alone. Instead, like Mrs. Landry, what you would do was place an ad in the paper and lo and behold people needing transport would call up, chip in for gas, and provide companionship and adventure. Here, they probably in the end provided far more blood and adventure than dear sweet Mrs.Landry ever bargained for.
Mrs. Landry, who was probably not all that old, was the proud owner of the station wagon with three rows of seats. A proper lady who likely never uttered a dirty word in her life, when put behind the wheel of a large automobile, would drive like the devil was on her heels. She passed big rigs with seconds to spare. She goosed that mighty beast to ninety or more on the straightaways.
Miss Kennicot was another seemingly proper and prim older lady. She would lead the crew in endless song sessions and games of twenty questions. But, let no romance bloom near her for her eyes were a mite green with jealousy. In short, Miss Kennicot never shut up and was always in the way.
Margaret Moore was the next passenger, a ripe sensual divorcee who the men in the group couldn’t keep their eyes or hands off, not even the married ones.
Speaking of married couples, next we get Allan and Cicely Garwith, a young couple seeking a new life on the West Coast. Allan has but one arm which he lost in a perilous adventure in New Orleans. Allan appears to, on the surface, be a decent young fellow, but he’s a no-good creep who spends the entire trip thinking about how he’ll dump plain-faced boring Cicely when he gets his hands on the sack of money, you know the sack of money that’s always the subject of pulp paperbacks. Thing is, Allan, as you’ll find out is a bumbling loser and Cicely deserves far better.
Next, our passenger list rounds out with Harry Wells, a wanted man, though he doesn’t know it, and vicious bank robber. Cool, calm, collected, are words that describes this man as well as determined and ruthless.
Finally, our vaunted passenger list rounds out with FBI Special Agent John Benson, who is hot on the trail of a suspected robber and thinks he will surreptitiously gather evidence if he travels along with his suspect.
The setup is in some ways a bit goofy, but only insofar as it leads to humorous adventures. No one knows who the other really is and this mismatched group of seven is quite hilarious at times.
In the old days when the world was young, it seems traveling from fictional Loma City to San Francisco was something you didn’t do alone. Instead, like Mrs. Landry, what you would do was place an ad in the paper and lo and behold people needing transport would call up, chip in for gas, and provide companionship and adventure. Here, they probably in the end provided far more blood and adventure than dear sweet Mrs.Landry ever bargained for.
Mrs. Landry, who was probably not all that old, was the proud owner of the station wagon with three rows of seats. A proper lady who likely never uttered a dirty word in her life, when put behind the wheel of a large automobile, would drive like the devil was on her heels. She passed big rigs with seconds to spare. She goosed that mighty beast to ninety or more on the straightaways.
Miss Kennicot was another seemingly proper and prim older lady. She would lead the crew in endless song sessions and games of twenty questions. But, let no romance bloom near her for her eyes were a mite green with jealousy. In short, Miss Kennicot never shut up and was always in the way.
Margaret Moore was the next passenger, a ripe sensual divorcee who the men in the group couldn’t keep their eyes or hands off, not even the married ones.
Speaking of married couples, next we get Allan and Cicely Garwith, a young couple seeking a new life on the West Coast. Allan has but one arm which he lost in a perilous adventure in New Orleans. Allan appears to, on the surface, be a decent young fellow, but he’s a no-good creep who spends the entire trip thinking about how he’ll dump plain-faced boring Cicely when he gets his hands on the sack of money, you know the sack of money that’s always the subject of pulp paperbacks. Thing is, Allan, as you’ll find out is a bumbling loser and Cicely deserves far better.
Next, our passenger list rounds out with Harry Wells, a wanted man, though he doesn’t know it, and vicious bank robber. Cool, calm, collected, are words that describes this man as well as determined and ruthless.
Finally, our vaunted passenger list rounds out with FBI Special Agent John Benson, who is hot on the trail of a suspected robber and thinks he will surreptitiously gather evidence if he travels along with his suspect.
The setup is in some ways a bit goofy, but only insofar as it leads to humorous adventures. No one knows who the other really is and this mismatched group of seven is quite hilarious at times.
July 21, 2009
The Long Ride has its share of dark, violent moments and sad, tragic characters, but its overall tone nevertheless manages to be breezy and often even humorous. As with any great book, the less you know about the plot going in, the better, so here is what you get in only the most general way: the early chapters contain a bank robbery, and the rest of the novel follows a group of strangers as they carpool from the midwest to San Francisco. And of course the two are connected. A light noir classic.
September 14, 2015
A fast-moving ride across the country with a car load of people that include a bank robber, a sneak thief, and an FBI agent. At times humorous, this one tells the story from several points of view, including the three listed above, while keeping other characters, particularly the women, as mysteries. Very well done.
October 7, 2023
Published in October 1961, The Long Ride retains a lot of the feel of the classic crime thrillers of the 1950s. The setup is pretty original, although the bit about switching the bank clerk stretches credulity a little past the breaking point. The novel opens with a newly married couple living in an apartment which looks out over a vacant lot that runs up against a back alley. The husband is discontented but his loving bride assures him they'll move up to better things someday. She goes off to her menial job while he sits at home, unemployed and restless.
We cut to two men planning a bank robbery. The one in charge is brutal and homicidal; his henchman is a younger guy who just takes orders. Their scheme works up to a point. When they are running from the bank, however, the younger man carrying a payroll satchel with $100,000 inside, a dying guard shoots him in the leg. He cuts into an alleyway before catching another shot in the back. He manages to cross an empty lot and hide the satchel underneath some stairs before he dies.
The discontented husband, alone in the apartment overlooking the alley and the vacant lot, has seen all of this. He quickly slips downstairs, nabs the satchel, hides it under the bed in their apartment, and races out to a nearby cafe to give himself an alibi. Days pass. He scans the local newspaper for information about the robbery investigation and notices a classified ad offering a rideshare to San Francisco. He visits the lady who is offering the rides in her station wagon and then convinces his new wife they need to start fresh somewhere else, like, say San Francisco. It sounds crazy but she agrees. She knows nothing of the money.
Meanwhile, the surviving bank robber came back to case the neighborhood and figured out who had a vantage point on the back lot. He tailed the husband to the rideshare lady's house and secured himself a seat in the station wagon, too. Soon this little ship of fools, with a driver and six passengers, heads west. Included among the other passengers is an FBI man who has a lead on the robber but no proof as of yet that this is his man. The agent's eyes are on the robber; he doesn't know the husband has the money. The robber's eyes are on the husband; he doesn't know the third man is a cop. The husband doesn't know either of these guys are after the money that he has mailed ahead to a destination on their way.
The story unfolds with mounting tension as each player slowly figures out the others' roles. And then, of course, there are the other passengers who each become figures in the cat and mouse game. Ultimately, the climax involves beautifully orchestrated car chases, shootouts, and betrayals that keep you on the edge of your seat. Someone really should have made this long, harrowing ride -- which is a short, fast read -- into a movie.
P.S. I didn't even mention the fact that the husband only has one arm or the mind-bending backstory of what happened to the other one! Read it and find out.
We cut to two men planning a bank robbery. The one in charge is brutal and homicidal; his henchman is a younger guy who just takes orders. Their scheme works up to a point. When they are running from the bank, however, the younger man carrying a payroll satchel with $100,000 inside, a dying guard shoots him in the leg. He cuts into an alleyway before catching another shot in the back. He manages to cross an empty lot and hide the satchel underneath some stairs before he dies.
The discontented husband, alone in the apartment overlooking the alley and the vacant lot, has seen all of this. He quickly slips downstairs, nabs the satchel, hides it under the bed in their apartment, and races out to a nearby cafe to give himself an alibi. Days pass. He scans the local newspaper for information about the robbery investigation and notices a classified ad offering a rideshare to San Francisco. He visits the lady who is offering the rides in her station wagon and then convinces his new wife they need to start fresh somewhere else, like, say San Francisco. It sounds crazy but she agrees. She knows nothing of the money.
Meanwhile, the surviving bank robber came back to case the neighborhood and figured out who had a vantage point on the back lot. He tailed the husband to the rideshare lady's house and secured himself a seat in the station wagon, too. Soon this little ship of fools, with a driver and six passengers, heads west. Included among the other passengers is an FBI man who has a lead on the robber but no proof as of yet that this is his man. The agent's eyes are on the robber; he doesn't know the husband has the money. The robber's eyes are on the husband; he doesn't know the third man is a cop. The husband doesn't know either of these guys are after the money that he has mailed ahead to a destination on their way.
The story unfolds with mounting tension as each player slowly figures out the others' roles. And then, of course, there are the other passengers who each become figures in the cat and mouse game. Ultimately, the climax involves beautifully orchestrated car chases, shootouts, and betrayals that keep you on the edge of your seat. Someone really should have made this long, harrowing ride -- which is a short, fast read -- into a movie.
P.S. I didn't even mention the fact that the husband only has one arm or the mind-bending backstory of what happened to the other one! Read it and find out.
August 28, 2020
This book is just hilarious. Scammer witnesses a hold up where the robber drops the money bag. So what does the scammer do? Decides to get out of town for awhile, so he answers an ad for a driver going cross country. Who else answers the ad too? The robber who dropped the bag! And who else besides that? An undercover police detective, of course! And what does the elderly woman do who put up the ad, well she doesn't let anyone else drive the car! Anyone else, wait how many people are in the car anyway, how many people did she hire to help her drive the car? I think there were seven, maybe there were eight? It's a big car, who knows how many people are in there? Maybe no one knows for sure! It's more like a bus I suppose. But no one can drive the car except for the woman who said she didn't want to drive! Completely bonkers, you say? Yes, yes, but you just go along for the ride because it's just so well written. Not a classic by any means, but it's really a fun story. I imagine McKimmey sitting at the typewriter laughing while writing it.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews