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Paperback Jack
A brand new historical thriller from a Grand Master: lurid paperback covers promised sex and danger, but what went on behind the scenes was nearly as spicy as the adventures between the covers.
1946. Fresh from the War in Europe, hack writer Jacob Heppleman discovers a changed world back home. The pulp magazines he used to write for are dying, replaced by a revolutionary new publishing racket: paperback novels, offering cheap excitement for the common man and woman. Although scorned by the critics, the tawdry drugstore novels sell like hotcakes - or so Jacob is assured by the enterprising head of Blue Devil Books, a pioneer in paperback publishing, known for its two-fisted heroes and underclad cover girls.
As "Jack Holly," Jacob finds success as the author of scandalously bestselling crime novels. He prides himself on the authenticity of his work, however, which means picking the brains of some less than reputable characters, including an Irish gangster who wants a cut of the profits - or else. Meanwhile, as Hollywood comes calling, the entire industry also comes under fire from censorious politicians out to tame the paperback jungle in the name of public morality.
Targeted by both Congress and the Mob, Jay may end up the victim of his own success - unless he can write his way to a happier ending.
1946. Fresh from the War in Europe, hack writer Jacob Heppleman discovers a changed world back home. The pulp magazines he used to write for are dying, replaced by a revolutionary new publishing racket: paperback novels, offering cheap excitement for the common man and woman. Although scorned by the critics, the tawdry drugstore novels sell like hotcakes - or so Jacob is assured by the enterprising head of Blue Devil Books, a pioneer in paperback publishing, known for its two-fisted heroes and underclad cover girls.
As "Jack Holly," Jacob finds success as the author of scandalously bestselling crime novels. He prides himself on the authenticity of his work, however, which means picking the brains of some less than reputable characters, including an Irish gangster who wants a cut of the profits - or else. Meanwhile, as Hollywood comes calling, the entire industry also comes under fire from censorious politicians out to tame the paperback jungle in the name of public morality.
Targeted by both Congress and the Mob, Jay may end up the victim of his own success - unless he can write his way to a happier ending.
240 pages, Hardcover
First published November 15, 2022
18 people are currently reading
303 people want to read
About the author
Loren D. Estleman
314 books279 followersLoren D. Estleman is an American writer of detective and Western fiction. He writes with a manual typewriter.
Estleman is most famous for his novels about P.I. Amos Walker. Other series characters include Old West marshal Page Murdock and hitman Peter Macklin. He has also written a series of novels about the history of crime in Detroit (also the setting of his Walker books.) His non-series works include Bloody Season, a fictional recreation of the gunfight at the O.K. Corral, and several novels and stories featuring Sherlock Holmes.
Series:
* Amos Walker Mystery
* Valentino Mystery
* Detroit Crime Mystery
* Peter Macklin Mystery
* Page Murdock Mystery
Estleman is most famous for his novels about P.I. Amos Walker. Other series characters include Old West marshal Page Murdock and hitman Peter Macklin. He has also written a series of novels about the history of crime in Detroit (also the setting of his Walker books.) His non-series works include Bloody Season, a fictional recreation of the gunfight at the O.K. Corral, and several novels and stories featuring Sherlock Holmes.
Series:
* Amos Walker Mystery
* Valentino Mystery
* Detroit Crime Mystery
* Peter Macklin Mystery
* Page Murdock Mystery
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 80 reviews
October 8, 2022
What an interesting story this is, about the early days of pulp paperbacks and the struggle for authors and the cover artists. Paperback Jack by Loren D. Estleman is a fantastic well written historical ficton about a struggling author in the post second world war time. The attention to detail and the struggle with cover artists and some peoples views of those covers are a great setting for this marvellous little book. I have always enjoyed reading the works of Estleman and this one is no exception. I must thank #Edelweiss #Macmillan and #ForgeBooks for giving me an advance copy of this book.
October 21, 2022
Okay, there’s something so fun about reading a pulp novel which is ABOUT a pulp novelist.
Paperback Jack has a wonderfully vintage feel to it. And Jacob is so much fun to read!
Readers of historical novels and readers of crime novels should both love this one – the elements are woven together seamlessly, throwing the reader firmly into the 1940’s.
This one was a delight of a read!
• ARC via Publisher
Paperback Jack has a wonderfully vintage feel to it. And Jacob is so much fun to read!
Readers of historical novels and readers of crime novels should both love this one – the elements are woven together seamlessly, throwing the reader firmly into the 1940’s.
This one was a delight of a read!
• ARC via Publisher
November 12, 2022
3 stars
A well written book about the life of a writer, but I never really figured out what the point of this book was. Every time I thought I had figured out where it was going, it changed. I still enjoyed reading it though.
[What I liked:]
•This book is interesting, & for the most part well written. I especially liked the setting & the hints of noir feel scattered about.
•The supporting characters are all interesting. From Jacob’s agent & publisher, to the other writers at blue devil, there are lots of quirky characters.
•It was interesting to learn about the trends & changes in pulp fiction publishing, how WWII affected things, & how censorship threatened the industry in the 50’s & 60’s.
[What I didn’t like as much:]
•Was this book a thriller, as advertised? I’m not sure. At points there was excitement, but it felt more like the meandering biography of a writer. The sections of the book don’t feel cohesive, & about the only consistent theme in the book seemed to be mapping the changes in the US publishing industry from the 1930’s to the 1970’s.
•I was really disappointed that Jacob & his artist friend never reconnected. Especially given that the ending is all about him catching up with other colleagues. They were so close through most of the book.
•The ending made absolutely no sense to me. Why would that guy want to hurt Jacob after all those decades? The motivation didn’t make sense. Why did Jacob care so much to cradle the guy in his dying moments? They never liked each other!! That whole scene seemed out of nowhere & unnecessary, just awkwardly tacked on after everything had already wrapped up.
CW: terminal illness, substance abuse, homophobia, physical assault, accidental death
[I received an ARC ebook copy from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review. Thank you for the book!]
A well written book about the life of a writer, but I never really figured out what the point of this book was. Every time I thought I had figured out where it was going, it changed. I still enjoyed reading it though.
[What I liked:]
•This book is interesting, & for the most part well written. I especially liked the setting & the hints of noir feel scattered about.
•The supporting characters are all interesting. From Jacob’s agent & publisher, to the other writers at blue devil, there are lots of quirky characters.
•It was interesting to learn about the trends & changes in pulp fiction publishing, how WWII affected things, & how censorship threatened the industry in the 50’s & 60’s.
[What I didn’t like as much:]
•Was this book a thriller, as advertised? I’m not sure. At points there was excitement, but it felt more like the meandering biography of a writer. The sections of the book don’t feel cohesive, & about the only consistent theme in the book seemed to be mapping the changes in the US publishing industry from the 1930’s to the 1970’s.
•I was really disappointed that Jacob & his artist friend never reconnected. Especially given that the ending is all about him catching up with other colleagues. They were so close through most of the book.
•The ending made absolutely no sense to me. Why would that guy want to hurt Jacob after all those decades? The motivation didn’t make sense. Why did Jacob care so much to cradle the guy in his dying moments? They never liked each other!! That whole scene seemed out of nowhere & unnecessary, just awkwardly tacked on after everything had already wrapped up.
CW: terminal illness, substance abuse, homophobia, physical assault, accidental death
[I received an ARC ebook copy from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review. Thank you for the book!]
December 29, 2022
The publisher marketing this as a thriller strains considerably. Folks, it's straight-up historical fiction. It's interesting historical fiction, but sure it ain't no thriller. It was a little tell-y in parts, but I liked the story and loved the little publishing history tidbits. American GIs may have liberated Europe, but their victory to the reading public back home was the boom in paperback publishing.
Good story, interesting characters, lots of color - but the ending strained for me, coming off rushed and abrupt. I prefer Estleman's crime writing but not a bad way to spend a few hours.
Good story, interesting characters, lots of color - but the ending strained for me, coming off rushed and abrupt. I prefer Estleman's crime writing but not a bad way to spend a few hours.
February 25, 2023
The year is 1946. WWII has ended and Jacob Heppleman is one of the many veterans returning home from the European conflict. For Jacob, home is New York City. Before the war, he wrote detective, western, and war stories for the pulp magazines. He even published a novel that was released just prior to the attack on Pearl Harbor and the United States’ entry into the war.
Desperate to re-start his writing career, Jacob steals a typewriter from a local pawnshop and begins to write again. He finds that he is simply unable to write the fictionalized version of war after having experienced the real thing and that the interest in westerns is waning. More troubling, many of the pulps for which he wrote have either closed or are on the brink of doing so.
Unbeknownst to him, Jacob’s agent has sold one of Jacob’s serialized pulp stories to a new publisher in town: Blue Devil Books. Blue Devil Books is owned and operated by Robin Elk. Elk’s idea is revolutionary: publish new novels quickly and cheaply in a disposable, paperback format. To generate interest, Elk has hired an artist to provide lurid, tantalizing covers for these stories (some of which may have only a tangential connection to the substance of the novel). When Jacob finds out, his novel, Chinese Checkers (published under the pseudonym Jack Holly), is already in its third printing and has earned him over $1,000 in royalties (almost $15,000 in 2022). And Elk wants Jacob, as Jack, to write more. . .
In Paperback Jack, Loren D. Estleman sends a love letter to the pulp novels that flooded post WWII drugstores and newsstands in America. He illustrates how, despite being initially positioned by their creators, publishers, and readers as disposable entertainment of little or no value, that they were the work of actual artists working at a breakneck pace to keep up with the demand for their product. A product that, as time has passed, has come to be recognized to have its own value, often equal to their more literary contemporaries.
Estleman creates a wonderful sense of post WWII New York and what working for one of these ambitious little companies must have been like. He also populates, and surrounds, Blue Devil Books with a marvelous collection of characters that surely represents the eclectic mix of personalities necessary to make pulp novels so compelling and interesting to so many readers even decades after they were written and published. Estleman also provides a glimpse into how the industry responded in the 1950s when the US Government decided that comic books and pulp novels were contributing to the delinquency of minors.
Paperback Jack is a fun peek into a world mostly forgotten, although the work created has influenced the generations of readers and writers that followed.
Reviewed by Daryl M., Librarian, West Valley Regional Branch Library
Desperate to re-start his writing career, Jacob steals a typewriter from a local pawnshop and begins to write again. He finds that he is simply unable to write the fictionalized version of war after having experienced the real thing and that the interest in westerns is waning. More troubling, many of the pulps for which he wrote have either closed or are on the brink of doing so.
Unbeknownst to him, Jacob’s agent has sold one of Jacob’s serialized pulp stories to a new publisher in town: Blue Devil Books. Blue Devil Books is owned and operated by Robin Elk. Elk’s idea is revolutionary: publish new novels quickly and cheaply in a disposable, paperback format. To generate interest, Elk has hired an artist to provide lurid, tantalizing covers for these stories (some of which may have only a tangential connection to the substance of the novel). When Jacob finds out, his novel, Chinese Checkers (published under the pseudonym Jack Holly), is already in its third printing and has earned him over $1,000 in royalties (almost $15,000 in 2022). And Elk wants Jacob, as Jack, to write more. . .
In Paperback Jack, Loren D. Estleman sends a love letter to the pulp novels that flooded post WWII drugstores and newsstands in America. He illustrates how, despite being initially positioned by their creators, publishers, and readers as disposable entertainment of little or no value, that they were the work of actual artists working at a breakneck pace to keep up with the demand for their product. A product that, as time has passed, has come to be recognized to have its own value, often equal to their more literary contemporaries.
Estleman creates a wonderful sense of post WWII New York and what working for one of these ambitious little companies must have been like. He also populates, and surrounds, Blue Devil Books with a marvelous collection of characters that surely represents the eclectic mix of personalities necessary to make pulp novels so compelling and interesting to so many readers even decades after they were written and published. Estleman also provides a glimpse into how the industry responded in the 1950s when the US Government decided that comic books and pulp novels were contributing to the delinquency of minors.
Paperback Jack is a fun peek into a world mostly forgotten, although the work created has influenced the generations of readers and writers that followed.
Reviewed by Daryl M., Librarian, West Valley Regional Branch Library
May 1, 2023
A must read for any paperback enthusiast. Provides an interesting glimpse into the world of post War War II publishing and the struggles publishers and authors had to contend with. Very, very good.
November 23, 2022
3.5 stars
This is something different for Loren Estleman, the amazingly prolific author of a Detroit mystery series, many Westerns and a bunch of standalones. This book is sometimes mistakenly labeled a mystery or thriller when what it really is is a noir homage to the era of paperback pulp fiction.
The story is of a returning WWII vet turned author who struggles, then meets success, then gets caught up in some 50s national legislative morality challenges.
As always with Estleman, each character is well-drawn and unpredictable. His prose is gritty and the setting is a bit grim, as befits the time and the noir genre. The book is in several different sections with a much later ending sort of explaining how things turned out. The ending is a bit bizarre but the story itself has many twists and turns. Thanks to the publisher and to Net Galley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for my honest review.
This is something different for Loren Estleman, the amazingly prolific author of a Detroit mystery series, many Westerns and a bunch of standalones. This book is sometimes mistakenly labeled a mystery or thriller when what it really is is a noir homage to the era of paperback pulp fiction.
The story is of a returning WWII vet turned author who struggles, then meets success, then gets caught up in some 50s national legislative morality challenges.
As always with Estleman, each character is well-drawn and unpredictable. His prose is gritty and the setting is a bit grim, as befits the time and the noir genre. The book is in several different sections with a much later ending sort of explaining how things turned out. The ending is a bit bizarre but the story itself has many twists and turns. Thanks to the publisher and to Net Galley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for my honest review.
July 22, 2023
I loved this entertaining noirish story about the advent of the original paperback novel. Touted as a mystery, this was much more of an historical novel set between 1946 and the McCarthy era, with good characters, punchy dialogue, and a very interesting story. I used to gobble up paperback novels from the rack my dad had in his drug store - many moons ago!
May 15, 2023
So fun to read such a really good fiction book about the rise of pulp paperbacks that eventually created such a (all for show) brouhaha in Congress.
I've occasionally sought out and purchased these old paperbacks because of their covers and to step back into that time. Based upon the recommendations of this author, I have a list of such writers to check out when I run across old paperbacks.
I've not read this author before and really liked this book! And, of course, just like pulp paperbacks of yore intended, I was drawn to and chose this book because of its cover.🙂
I've occasionally sought out and purchased these old paperbacks because of their covers and to step back into that time. Based upon the recommendations of this author, I have a list of such writers to check out when I run across old paperbacks.
I've not read this author before and really liked this book! And, of course, just like pulp paperbacks of yore intended, I was drawn to and chose this book because of its cover.🙂
November 21, 2022
Paperback Jack is advertised as a noir thriller, but instead reads like a period piece/memoir.
Pulp fiction writer Jacob returns stateside after WWII and finds the pulps dead. What is a writer to do to make a living? He turns to creating lurid paperback fiction as his meal ticket. But instead of writing pure hokum, like most of his colleagues, Jacob enters the seedy underworld himself in search of realism. With predictable results…
Paperback Jack might be in part a memoir. The author may be too young to have returned after WWII, but he is a veteran mystery/western writer from the 1970s. However, this book meanders around and never really gets in its groove. It is definitely not paced as a thriller. It isn’t really a memoir either. While the writing style was good, I kept expecting something to happen. It never did. It’s probably best for historical fiction fans. 3 stars.
Thanks to Forge Books and NetGalley for a digital review copy of the book.
Pulp fiction writer Jacob returns stateside after WWII and finds the pulps dead. What is a writer to do to make a living? He turns to creating lurid paperback fiction as his meal ticket. But instead of writing pure hokum, like most of his colleagues, Jacob enters the seedy underworld himself in search of realism. With predictable results…
Paperback Jack might be in part a memoir. The author may be too young to have returned after WWII, but he is a veteran mystery/western writer from the 1970s. However, this book meanders around and never really gets in its groove. It is definitely not paced as a thriller. It isn’t really a memoir either. While the writing style was good, I kept expecting something to happen. It never did. It’s probably best for historical fiction fans. 3 stars.
Thanks to Forge Books and NetGalley for a digital review copy of the book.
March 29, 2024
It looks like a pulp, but it doesn't read like one. I agree with other reviewers that say it's more of a historical novel.
November 5, 2022
In 1946, Jacob Heppleman returns from the war ready to resume his career as a pulp magazine writer. However, his agent tells him that the pulp magazine industry is dead and now writing paperbacks is the way to go. Jack isn’t interested in writing paperback novels that will be on racks in the drugstore but they are selling like crazy. He reluctantly begins to work for Blue Devil Publishing writing spicy pulp novels. Along the way he becomes involved with a cover artist with a shady past, the mob and a scary pawnbroker.
As his success grows and Hollywood becomes interested, Jack comes under fire from politicians who want to censure his writing and the whole pulp fiction industry that the government says is corrupting the morals of the country.
I am a sucker for noir, private eyes and writers of hardboiled crime novels so when I saw the cover of this book and read the description, I knew I had to read it. Paperback Jack is billed as a historical thriller but I didn’t find it to be a thriller in the usual sense. It is more historical fiction about the publishing world of pulp friction and the artists who did the covers of these books. This is the first book written by Lored D. Estleman that I have read and I will be reading more of his books.
Paperback Jack will be published on November 15th. Thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan-Tor/Forge for the advanced reading copy.
#PaperbackJack #NetGalley
As his success grows and Hollywood becomes interested, Jack comes under fire from politicians who want to censure his writing and the whole pulp fiction industry that the government says is corrupting the morals of the country.
I am a sucker for noir, private eyes and writers of hardboiled crime novels so when I saw the cover of this book and read the description, I knew I had to read it. Paperback Jack is billed as a historical thriller but I didn’t find it to be a thriller in the usual sense. It is more historical fiction about the publishing world of pulp friction and the artists who did the covers of these books. This is the first book written by Lored D. Estleman that I have read and I will be reading more of his books.
Paperback Jack will be published on November 15th. Thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan-Tor/Forge for the advanced reading copy.
#PaperbackJack #NetGalley
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November 13, 2022I don’t even know how to rate this book or what the point of it even was? It was partially marketed as a thriller and I expected something a bit more exciting but it was really a play by play of this guy’s post war experience with publishing and the fallout with the mob and the government…it didn’t pick up until the last 30 min to an hour. I really forced myself to finish this.
I received an early audiobook ARC from NetGalley.
I received an early audiobook ARC from NetGalley.
February 1, 2023
Loren Estleman’s ‘Paperback Jack’ is a strange little book that manages to be both pedantic and intriguing at the same time, and, while its strangeness derives primarily from its seemingly out-of-left-field subject matter, the deeper message of the short novel rings true throughout, and readers grow to feel a fondness for the main character over the course of the story that sticks with them even after the tale has ended, and the message, unfortunately, is still rings as true today as it was during the 1950s time period of the story itself.
The majority of the novel sees readers follow returning WWII veteran Jake Heppleman as he seeks to reestablish himself as a writer in the mystery genre, and he comes back horrified to see that pulp, and the paperback industry that represents pulp fiction across the U.S., has taken the American reading public by storm. Before the war, there seemed to be a lot more ‘old fashioned’ mystery stories, where whodunnits and honorable detectives took centerstage in their literary magazines, which proliferated in the prewar years thanks to their cheapness during the Great Depression. But, Heppleman encounters a New York City changed both personality-wise and reading-style-wise, as the predominant form of popular entertainment at the time are the lowly pulp magazines and the new emerging technology known as television. Many think that television will come and go, but the pulps will be here to stay—they’re extremely cheap to mass produce, they can easily fit in coat and jean pockets for transportation purposes, and they feature sordid tales of mayhem, sex, and madness, the tales chockful of the violence and sexual freedoms that Americans post-WWII craved more than ever.
As Jake struggles to come to terms with this new kind of literary landscape, he meets and falls in love with Ellen, another hopeful writer in a creative writing course, and the story really takes off from there. Readers follow Jake’s escapades as he finds a new publisher, Blue Devil, run by a wealthy British man who is more interested in money than anything (including treating his authors with respect), and the two frequently butt heads, with Jake oftentimes telling the publisher that he needs to stop embellishing uber-racialized details on non-white characters or selling the rights to his stories without his consent. Concurrently, Jake befriends an artist, known as Scarpetti, who paints the extravagant and bombastic covers that help make the Blue Devil paperbacks fly off the shelves of soda fountains across the U.S., and readers soon discover that the artist is gay, something that was akin to a death knell in the U.S. of the late 1940s and 1950s. The novel then evolves into a character study for a good portion of pages, as we spend a significant chunk in the middle of the book watching Jake and Ellen’s relationship blossom right alongside Jake’s burgeoning friendship with this quirky artist who fully embraces who he is (in private, at least, and in public as much as was allowed back in the late 1940s).
The story then somewhat awkwardly stumbles into the final act, where Jake, Scarpetti, and many other writers and publishers are called to Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. to testify in front of Estleman’s fictionalized version of the real-life House Select Committee on Current Pornographic Materials Congressional Committee, which was itself a spinoff of the House Un-American Activities Congressional Committee, a byproduct of the noxious McCarthyism of the early 1950s. We watch as Jake fights back against morally bankrupt Congressmen and -women who seek to censor his books and other paperbacks of the day, as they claim the stories are ‘corrupting America’s morals’ and ‘ruining our youth.’ The book then ends on both an uplifting and bitter note, as we flashforward to the 1970s at a mystery writers’ conference, and we learn that, while Jake and many of the pulp writers beat the censorship goals of the Congressional committee, there were toxic byproducts of the events that occurred, and Scarpetti was outed by the committee and subsequently blackballed for the rest of his life, disappearing into the blackness of yesteryear for Jake and Ellen.
Overall, this was a quick read, and it kept me wrapped up for most of the events that unravel as the novel goes on—there’s just enough action to keep the thin plot going, and the deeper, more philosophical parts of the novel, such as the last chunk of action in Washington, D.C. in front of Congress, is clearly trying to comment on the hypocrisy and fatalism of the kind of censorship that occurred in real life in the late 1940s and 1950s, and Estleman tries to tie a throughline from then to the current moment, where we have people like Marjorie Taylor Greene and Matt Gaetz somehow trying to be the moral core of America. While he’s never ‘roll your eyes’ heavy-handed with the messaging, Estleman struggles to explicitly tie it into the main plot of the novel other than at the margins, and even then it seems to be a bit tenuous. And, I can’t remember the last time I’ve read a book about pulp authors themselves, so getting into the world took a little bit of an adjustment, along with the small amount of strangeness in regard to focusing on the literal writing of pulp novels rather than the pulp genre itself.
But, that doesn’t mean this novel isn’t worth your time—even if the way the message is portrayed leans a little bit into knock-you-over-your-head territory, it’s incredibly important in today’s world, and it wouldn’t hurt the current book banners to read this and understand the kind of hypocrisy that they’re repeating today. Estleman also writes with a style that harkens back to the best of the pulp era, and his dialogue is razor sharp—I stopped what I was reading several times and looked up and thought to myself how authentic and real his characters sounded and acted, and I was delighted to be reading something like this pseudo-pulp novel in the early years of the 2020s, almost 80 years after Pulp’s Golden Age.
‘Paperback Jack’ is a great piece of work that, while a little in-your-face with its main purpose, still captivates readers by mixing a blend of smaller plotlines with relevant moral messaging, and the lesson than Estleman seeks to impart to his readers is just as relevant today as it was back in the main time period of the novel. Whether that is a good thing or not is yours to decipher (you would think America would realize that trying to censor art is not a great way to go about its affairs, but this is also the same country who elected Donald Trump for some godforsaken reason), but, at the end of the day, this is a quick little read that entertains throughout, and who doesn’t want to read some zippy dialogue and action from late 1940s New York City and its pulp writing scene?
Thanks to NetGalley, Forge Books, and Loren D. Estleman for the digital ARC of ‘Paperback Jack’ in exchange for an honest review.
The majority of the novel sees readers follow returning WWII veteran Jake Heppleman as he seeks to reestablish himself as a writer in the mystery genre, and he comes back horrified to see that pulp, and the paperback industry that represents pulp fiction across the U.S., has taken the American reading public by storm. Before the war, there seemed to be a lot more ‘old fashioned’ mystery stories, where whodunnits and honorable detectives took centerstage in their literary magazines, which proliferated in the prewar years thanks to their cheapness during the Great Depression. But, Heppleman encounters a New York City changed both personality-wise and reading-style-wise, as the predominant form of popular entertainment at the time are the lowly pulp magazines and the new emerging technology known as television. Many think that television will come and go, but the pulps will be here to stay—they’re extremely cheap to mass produce, they can easily fit in coat and jean pockets for transportation purposes, and they feature sordid tales of mayhem, sex, and madness, the tales chockful of the violence and sexual freedoms that Americans post-WWII craved more than ever.
As Jake struggles to come to terms with this new kind of literary landscape, he meets and falls in love with Ellen, another hopeful writer in a creative writing course, and the story really takes off from there. Readers follow Jake’s escapades as he finds a new publisher, Blue Devil, run by a wealthy British man who is more interested in money than anything (including treating his authors with respect), and the two frequently butt heads, with Jake oftentimes telling the publisher that he needs to stop embellishing uber-racialized details on non-white characters or selling the rights to his stories without his consent. Concurrently, Jake befriends an artist, known as Scarpetti, who paints the extravagant and bombastic covers that help make the Blue Devil paperbacks fly off the shelves of soda fountains across the U.S., and readers soon discover that the artist is gay, something that was akin to a death knell in the U.S. of the late 1940s and 1950s. The novel then evolves into a character study for a good portion of pages, as we spend a significant chunk in the middle of the book watching Jake and Ellen’s relationship blossom right alongside Jake’s burgeoning friendship with this quirky artist who fully embraces who he is (in private, at least, and in public as much as was allowed back in the late 1940s).
The story then somewhat awkwardly stumbles into the final act, where Jake, Scarpetti, and many other writers and publishers are called to Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. to testify in front of Estleman’s fictionalized version of the real-life House Select Committee on Current Pornographic Materials Congressional Committee, which was itself a spinoff of the House Un-American Activities Congressional Committee, a byproduct of the noxious McCarthyism of the early 1950s. We watch as Jake fights back against morally bankrupt Congressmen and -women who seek to censor his books and other paperbacks of the day, as they claim the stories are ‘corrupting America’s morals’ and ‘ruining our youth.’ The book then ends on both an uplifting and bitter note, as we flashforward to the 1970s at a mystery writers’ conference, and we learn that, while Jake and many of the pulp writers beat the censorship goals of the Congressional committee, there were toxic byproducts of the events that occurred, and Scarpetti was outed by the committee and subsequently blackballed for the rest of his life, disappearing into the blackness of yesteryear for Jake and Ellen.
Overall, this was a quick read, and it kept me wrapped up for most of the events that unravel as the novel goes on—there’s just enough action to keep the thin plot going, and the deeper, more philosophical parts of the novel, such as the last chunk of action in Washington, D.C. in front of Congress, is clearly trying to comment on the hypocrisy and fatalism of the kind of censorship that occurred in real life in the late 1940s and 1950s, and Estleman tries to tie a throughline from then to the current moment, where we have people like Marjorie Taylor Greene and Matt Gaetz somehow trying to be the moral core of America. While he’s never ‘roll your eyes’ heavy-handed with the messaging, Estleman struggles to explicitly tie it into the main plot of the novel other than at the margins, and even then it seems to be a bit tenuous. And, I can’t remember the last time I’ve read a book about pulp authors themselves, so getting into the world took a little bit of an adjustment, along with the small amount of strangeness in regard to focusing on the literal writing of pulp novels rather than the pulp genre itself.
But, that doesn’t mean this novel isn’t worth your time—even if the way the message is portrayed leans a little bit into knock-you-over-your-head territory, it’s incredibly important in today’s world, and it wouldn’t hurt the current book banners to read this and understand the kind of hypocrisy that they’re repeating today. Estleman also writes with a style that harkens back to the best of the pulp era, and his dialogue is razor sharp—I stopped what I was reading several times and looked up and thought to myself how authentic and real his characters sounded and acted, and I was delighted to be reading something like this pseudo-pulp novel in the early years of the 2020s, almost 80 years after Pulp’s Golden Age.
‘Paperback Jack’ is a great piece of work that, while a little in-your-face with its main purpose, still captivates readers by mixing a blend of smaller plotlines with relevant moral messaging, and the lesson than Estleman seeks to impart to his readers is just as relevant today as it was back in the main time period of the novel. Whether that is a good thing or not is yours to decipher (you would think America would realize that trying to censor art is not a great way to go about its affairs, but this is also the same country who elected Donald Trump for some godforsaken reason), but, at the end of the day, this is a quick little read that entertains throughout, and who doesn’t want to read some zippy dialogue and action from late 1940s New York City and its pulp writing scene?
Thanks to NetGalley, Forge Books, and Loren D. Estleman for the digital ARC of ‘Paperback Jack’ in exchange for an honest review.
November 29, 2022
Disappointing. The cover blurb “The Stravinsky of hard-boiled prose” got me to pick this up, but it never paid off. Lots of half ideas never finished. Interesting characters drifted away. Lots of ways it could have gone, but it never really went anywhere. Definitely not a lot of hard-boiled prose.
February 28, 2023
This review originally published in Looking For a Good Book. Rated 4.5 of 5
Jacob Heppleman is back on U.S. soil after fighting for Uncle Sam in Europe in the Second World War. Heppleman finds a different world, one that he needs to get a grip on, fast, if he’s going to survive. Before the war, Heppleman eked out a living as a hack writer, supplying stories to the pulp magazines, but now the pulps have been going out of business, with direct-to-paperback books taking their place.
Heppleman can’t scrape together enough dough to buy a pawnshop typewriter, so he steals one instead, but without the pulps, his paycheck before the war, who will he write for? The head of a new publishing company, Blue Devil Books, assures Jacob that there’s a hot market in the drugstore racks for tawdry crime novels – sold as much (or more) for their covers as for the stories – and that Jacob should be one of the primary in-house writers.
Jacob becomes the unlikely best-selling author who takes great pride in his authenticity – which comes from his befriending several underworld figures who, in turn, like being the source for the larger-than-life characters.
But when Hollywood takes an interest in the books, so does Congress and the moral guardians. Soon Heppleman is a target for politicians and the Mob and he’s going to have to do some fancy writing to create a neat ending for himself.
I loved everything about this book.
Author Loren D. Estleman really captures the mood and sense of the 1950’s detective fiction, making our protagonist both a writer of such potboilers and the subject of the same.
Heppleman is a reluctant central figure (I’m hesitant to say ‘reluctant hero’ because there’s no real heroics that go on here). He’s a writer who prefers to let his characters take the lead while he stays in the background, but he relishes doing his own investigative work so that he can use what he learns in his books – giving them an air of legitimacy.
Even reluctant, though, Heppelman is steadfast. He makes no excuses for what he writes and he holds his own in the morality hearings, which does make him a bit more heroic, but only a bit.
I found this to really feel like a hard-boiled detective mystery of the 50’s, but also a bit like an historical fiction novel. There’s a good bit of history and while the events here may be fictional, they have their roots in reality. I loved learning a few things about this era and Estleman makes a point, in his “Recommended Reading” at the end of the book, of recognizing some of the writers who navigated these kinds of events.
Late in the book, when Heppleman is older and attending conventions – now an icon as a writer of the ‘golden age’ – when asked why his books (and those of his contemporaries) are only just getting the respect that was denied them in the day, he delivers a speech that I consider the message of the entire novel. “The world caught up.” He tells the questioner:
Many of us were just back from the war. You can’t see cities being bombed, corpses piled in concentration camps, and dish out happy endings. We wrote about a world that had changed, and we pointed out where it took a wrong turn. For that we were called smut peddlers. Then along came political scandals, pointless wars, and men’s peckers on movie screens where Shirley Temple used to sing and dance. It took all that for everyone else to see what we saw. So now we’re serious artists who weren’t afraid to tell it like it was.
Maybe I’ll use some of this speech myself the next time someone asks why I’m suddenly interested in 1950’s noir fiction. I finally caught up to it.
Looking for a good book? Paperback Jack by Loren D. Estleman is a noir-like, hard-boiled novel of a writer of noir-like, hard-boiled novels in the post-WWII era.
I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.
Jacob Heppleman is back on U.S. soil after fighting for Uncle Sam in Europe in the Second World War. Heppleman finds a different world, one that he needs to get a grip on, fast, if he’s going to survive. Before the war, Heppleman eked out a living as a hack writer, supplying stories to the pulp magazines, but now the pulps have been going out of business, with direct-to-paperback books taking their place.
Heppleman can’t scrape together enough dough to buy a pawnshop typewriter, so he steals one instead, but without the pulps, his paycheck before the war, who will he write for? The head of a new publishing company, Blue Devil Books, assures Jacob that there’s a hot market in the drugstore racks for tawdry crime novels – sold as much (or more) for their covers as for the stories – and that Jacob should be one of the primary in-house writers.
Jacob becomes the unlikely best-selling author who takes great pride in his authenticity – which comes from his befriending several underworld figures who, in turn, like being the source for the larger-than-life characters.
But when Hollywood takes an interest in the books, so does Congress and the moral guardians. Soon Heppleman is a target for politicians and the Mob and he’s going to have to do some fancy writing to create a neat ending for himself.
I loved everything about this book.
Author Loren D. Estleman really captures the mood and sense of the 1950’s detective fiction, making our protagonist both a writer of such potboilers and the subject of the same.
Heppleman is a reluctant central figure (I’m hesitant to say ‘reluctant hero’ because there’s no real heroics that go on here). He’s a writer who prefers to let his characters take the lead while he stays in the background, but he relishes doing his own investigative work so that he can use what he learns in his books – giving them an air of legitimacy.
Even reluctant, though, Heppelman is steadfast. He makes no excuses for what he writes and he holds his own in the morality hearings, which does make him a bit more heroic, but only a bit.
I found this to really feel like a hard-boiled detective mystery of the 50’s, but also a bit like an historical fiction novel. There’s a good bit of history and while the events here may be fictional, they have their roots in reality. I loved learning a few things about this era and Estleman makes a point, in his “Recommended Reading” at the end of the book, of recognizing some of the writers who navigated these kinds of events.
Late in the book, when Heppleman is older and attending conventions – now an icon as a writer of the ‘golden age’ – when asked why his books (and those of his contemporaries) are only just getting the respect that was denied them in the day, he delivers a speech that I consider the message of the entire novel. “The world caught up.” He tells the questioner:
Many of us were just back from the war. You can’t see cities being bombed, corpses piled in concentration camps, and dish out happy endings. We wrote about a world that had changed, and we pointed out where it took a wrong turn. For that we were called smut peddlers. Then along came political scandals, pointless wars, and men’s peckers on movie screens where Shirley Temple used to sing and dance. It took all that for everyone else to see what we saw. So now we’re serious artists who weren’t afraid to tell it like it was.
Maybe I’ll use some of this speech myself the next time someone asks why I’m suddenly interested in 1950’s noir fiction. I finally caught up to it.
Looking for a good book? Paperback Jack by Loren D. Estleman is a noir-like, hard-boiled novel of a writer of noir-like, hard-boiled novels in the post-WWII era.
I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.
August 20, 2024
"Gangster etiquette is one of the things I hope to learn."
Fun and transporting stuff, written by someone who clearly knows and has a love for the pulps and the written word in general. The dialogue is smart and snappy, and the characters--even the secondary ones--are as colorful as the lurid paperback covers celebrated in this part history/part suspense/part seedy underworld tale, including, to name just a few: Linus Pickering, a hard-assed, green visor-wearing pawn shop owner; Irish Mickey Shannon, a fencer, gangster, former jockey, and dwarf; Phil Scarpetti, an artist, former felon, and current homosexual, with politics definitely against him in the 1940s-50s; Ellen Curry, significant other of our fearless protagonist, Jacob Heppleman aka Jack Holly. It's probably easy to downplay the threat some watchdog groups (including the 1952 House Select Committee) considered paperbacks to be--for both their easily transported (pocket size), cheaply produced form and their content--which is why one of my favorite parts of this novel comes late, when the keynoter at a book convention in the late 1970s responds to why Congress had tried to censor the industry just a few years after paperbacks made their popular debut:
"The times were different. The Coast Guard confiscated French novels at the docks. Comic books were burned publicly in church parking lots. Juvenile delinquency was a crisis, and some well-meaning people thought they could eradicate it at the source--if they could just identify the source.
"It was nothing new. When I was a boy, it was radio; Gangbusters and Jack Benny were raising a generation of illiterates. Later it was television. Now it's video arcades. The difference is more people are paying lip service to the First Amendment. Not that it amounts to any more than that, but back then such talk branded you a Communist."
Good stuff--and a good reminder. And he was saying that before MTV even existed, not to mention the internet, cellphones, social media, etc., all of which were only a few decades away at that point. It's easy to be nostalgic for the golden era of the paperback, and this novel captures that, which is probably why I also liked it when The Greenwich Clock editor confidently said (in 1950), "Newspapers are here to stay." Sigh.
First line:
"The Remington Streamliner portable was black, glossy, curved, with a sleek low profile like a Cadillac roadster."
December 4, 2022
Jacob Heppleman has just arrived home after serving in Europe during WWII. Before enlisting, he made a decent living as a writer for pulp magazines. But the publishing landscape has changed. Readers no longer want the short stories that he was pumping out; they now prefer trashy paperback novels.
Not willing to compromise his values, Jacob gets a job writing ordinary articles for a local newspaper. It’s boring work, but at least it pays the bills. Unable to control his creative side, he spends his free time writing a novel and some short stories, though none sell. Just when he’s about to give up, he lands a contract to write racy crime novels for Blue Devil Books under the pen name “Jack Holly.” He needs the money but doesn’t want his real name on the covers of such books.
This gig brings Jacob to the darker, seamier side of life as he endeavors to keep his work authentic, which requires him to mix and mingle with loan sharks, pawn shop owners and other unsavory characters. It's a huge risk but one that he’s willing to take.
As Jacob’s career progresses and he begins to make a name for himself, McCarthyism starts taking hold in Congress. He and other writers, editors and illustrators are called in to testify as to the effect of these tawdry novels on children. This puts his career, not to mention his future, in jeopardy; if the committee deems him culpable, he could land in jail.
PAPERBACK JACK covers a multitude of topics --- veterans returning from wars, freedom of speech, the evolution of the publishing industry and moral values, among others. The book spans several decades, making it a partial primer on the history of the times. As such, readers are provided with a glimpse into how a writer like Jacob might have navigated such a wide range of changes in his world.
Loren D. Estleman’s distinctive writing style includes generally short sentences, paragraphs and chapters, which keeps the narrative flowing. He also sprinkles in plenty of humor, including one-liners, puns and even a bit of what could be considered slapstick. This all makes for an enjoyable read, and the opportunity to delve into his next thriller cannot come soon enough.
Reviewed by Christine M. Irvin
Not willing to compromise his values, Jacob gets a job writing ordinary articles for a local newspaper. It’s boring work, but at least it pays the bills. Unable to control his creative side, he spends his free time writing a novel and some short stories, though none sell. Just when he’s about to give up, he lands a contract to write racy crime novels for Blue Devil Books under the pen name “Jack Holly.” He needs the money but doesn’t want his real name on the covers of such books.
This gig brings Jacob to the darker, seamier side of life as he endeavors to keep his work authentic, which requires him to mix and mingle with loan sharks, pawn shop owners and other unsavory characters. It's a huge risk but one that he’s willing to take.
As Jacob’s career progresses and he begins to make a name for himself, McCarthyism starts taking hold in Congress. He and other writers, editors and illustrators are called in to testify as to the effect of these tawdry novels on children. This puts his career, not to mention his future, in jeopardy; if the committee deems him culpable, he could land in jail.
PAPERBACK JACK covers a multitude of topics --- veterans returning from wars, freedom of speech, the evolution of the publishing industry and moral values, among others. The book spans several decades, making it a partial primer on the history of the times. As such, readers are provided with a glimpse into how a writer like Jacob might have navigated such a wide range of changes in his world.
Loren D. Estleman’s distinctive writing style includes generally short sentences, paragraphs and chapters, which keeps the narrative flowing. He also sprinkles in plenty of humor, including one-liners, puns and even a bit of what could be considered slapstick. This all makes for an enjoyable read, and the opportunity to delve into his next thriller cannot come soon enough.
Reviewed by Christine M. Irvin
December 4, 2022
Jacob Heppleman has just arrived home after serving in Europe during WWII. Before enlisting, he made a decent living as a writer for pulp magazines. But the publishing landscape has changed. Readers no longer want the short stories that he was pumping out; they now prefer trashy paperback novels.
Not willing to compromise his values, Jacob gets a job writing ordinary articles for a local newspaper. It’s boring work, but at least it pays the bills. Unable to control his creative side, he spends his free time writing a novel and some short stories, though none sell. Just when he’s about to give up, he lands a contract to write racy crime novels for Blue Devil Books under the pen name “Jack Holly.” He needs the money but doesn’t want his real name on the covers of such books.
This gig brings Jacob to the darker, seamier side of life as he endeavors to keep his work authentic, which requires him to mix and mingle with loan sharks, pawn shop owners and other unsavory characters. It's a huge risk but one that he’s willing to take.
As Jacob’s career progresses and he begins to make a name for himself, McCarthyism starts taking hold in Congress. He and other writers, editors and illustrators are called in to testify as to the effect of these tawdry novels on children. This puts his career, not to mention his future, in jeopardy; if the committee deems him culpable, he could land in jail.
PAPERBACK JACK covers a multitude of topics --- veterans returning from wars, freedom of speech, the evolution of the publishing industry and moral values, among others. The book spans several decades, making it a partial primer on the history of the times. As such, readers are provided with a glimpse into how a writer like Jacob might have navigated such a wide range of changes in his world.
Loren D. Estleman’s distinctive writing style includes generally short sentences, paragraphs and chapters, which keeps the narrative flowing. He also sprinkles in plenty of humor, including one-liners, puns and even a bit of what could be considered slapstick. This all makes for an enjoyable read, and the opportunity to delve into his next thriller cannot come soon enough.
Reviewed by Christine M. Irvin
Not willing to compromise his values, Jacob gets a job writing ordinary articles for a local newspaper. It’s boring work, but at least it pays the bills. Unable to control his creative side, he spends his free time writing a novel and some short stories, though none sell. Just when he’s about to give up, he lands a contract to write racy crime novels for Blue Devil Books under the pen name “Jack Holly.” He needs the money but doesn’t want his real name on the covers of such books.
This gig brings Jacob to the darker, seamier side of life as he endeavors to keep his work authentic, which requires him to mix and mingle with loan sharks, pawn shop owners and other unsavory characters. It's a huge risk but one that he’s willing to take.
As Jacob’s career progresses and he begins to make a name for himself, McCarthyism starts taking hold in Congress. He and other writers, editors and illustrators are called in to testify as to the effect of these tawdry novels on children. This puts his career, not to mention his future, in jeopardy; if the committee deems him culpable, he could land in jail.
PAPERBACK JACK covers a multitude of topics --- veterans returning from wars, freedom of speech, the evolution of the publishing industry and moral values, among others. The book spans several decades, making it a partial primer on the history of the times. As such, readers are provided with a glimpse into how a writer like Jacob might have navigated such a wide range of changes in his world.
Loren D. Estleman’s distinctive writing style includes generally short sentences, paragraphs and chapters, which keeps the narrative flowing. He also sprinkles in plenty of humor, including one-liners, puns and even a bit of what could be considered slapstick. This all makes for an enjoyable read, and the opportunity to delve into his next thriller cannot come soon enough.
Reviewed by Christine M. Irvin
November 19, 2022
Written in the style of a dime store paperback book, including the lurid cover art, Jacob Heppleman leads us through decades of fiction.
In the late 30's, Jacob wrote a few stories before heading to WWII that got into "men's" magazines. He returned from WWII, left a factory job after one too many confrontations with the foreman, and decided to pursue writing again. Lacking a typewriter, he tries to buy one from a pawn shop, but is rebuffed by the owner. He returns later, chucks a brick through the window and steals the object of his affection, a sleek black portable Remington Streamliner.
Through the 40's, he grows from the penny-a-word magazines to a paperback publisher. These were sold from racks in drugstores and barber shops with wild covers showing just enough female flesh to suggest there was more inside. He has become marginally successful, but wants to do more when he is approached by a movie producer about one of his books.
Early in the 50's, .
Through the 60's .
Estleman's writing style seems to change as the story progresses from the short, direct sentences of the pulps to more modern prose as Jake matures. For those expecting nothing but action and babes and gangsters, you will be disappointed. The cover intimates what the paperback is about; however, as the originals did, there is only a single scene in the book that may be relevant to the cover art.
In the late 30's, Jacob wrote a few stories before heading to WWII that got into "men's" magazines. He returned from WWII, left a factory job after one too many confrontations with the foreman, and decided to pursue writing again. Lacking a typewriter, he tries to buy one from a pawn shop, but is rebuffed by the owner. He returns later, chucks a brick through the window and steals the object of his affection, a sleek black portable Remington Streamliner.
Through the 40's, he grows from the penny-a-word magazines to a paperback publisher. These were sold from racks in drugstores and barber shops with wild covers showing just enough female flesh to suggest there was more inside. He has become marginally successful, but wants to do more when he is approached by a movie producer about one of his books.
Early in the 50's, .
Through the 60's .
Estleman's writing style seems to change as the story progresses from the short, direct sentences of the pulps to more modern prose as Jake matures. For those expecting nothing but action and babes and gangsters, you will be disappointed. The cover intimates what the paperback is about; however, as the originals did, there is only a single scene in the book that may be relevant to the cover art.
January 23, 2023
This novel is a homage to the great paperback originals of the 1950s. Lurid covers, exciting stories, always at least a hint of sex, all for a quarter!
Jacob Heppleman comes back from serving in WW2 and finds that his old trade, writing short stories for the pulp magazines, has disappeared. The pulps are dying or dead. His agent tries to get him to try writing for the new cheap paperback publishers, but he thinks they will be a flop.
One of his old serials gets released as a paperback and he realizes he was wrong. He gets recruited by Robin Elk, a cynical aggressive Englishman who is starting Blue Devil Books, a new line of 25 cent paperbacks.
Heppleman becomes "Jack Holly". He has great adventures researching his books about low lifes, fencers and gamblers. He gets a love interest. He becomes friends with a temperamental artist who paints the sexy covers for Blue Devil. He is a Communist and a drunk. They become great buddies.
The book is packed with vivid characters. The other writers, each with their own quirks, the very short crime boss, the pushy agent, the nasty pawnbroker and more. Estleman sells the atmosphere of early 1950s noir.
Just as Heppleman is about to make real money from Hollywood adaptations of his books, Heppleman is the target of a McCarthy witch hunt type congressional investigation. One of the best scenes in this enjoyable book is the description of his testimony before the Committee.
The book wraps up with a coda set in 1978 which is a first-rate final twist on the story.
Estelman is a pro. This is a fast-moving story. The opening chapter, four pages long, hooked me. Estleman is clearly a fan of this world and the books and characters in it. Well done.
Jacob Heppleman comes back from serving in WW2 and finds that his old trade, writing short stories for the pulp magazines, has disappeared. The pulps are dying or dead. His agent tries to get him to try writing for the new cheap paperback publishers, but he thinks they will be a flop.
One of his old serials gets released as a paperback and he realizes he was wrong. He gets recruited by Robin Elk, a cynical aggressive Englishman who is starting Blue Devil Books, a new line of 25 cent paperbacks.
Heppleman becomes "Jack Holly". He has great adventures researching his books about low lifes, fencers and gamblers. He gets a love interest. He becomes friends with a temperamental artist who paints the sexy covers for Blue Devil. He is a Communist and a drunk. They become great buddies.
The book is packed with vivid characters. The other writers, each with their own quirks, the very short crime boss, the pushy agent, the nasty pawnbroker and more. Estleman sells the atmosphere of early 1950s noir.
Just as Heppleman is about to make real money from Hollywood adaptations of his books, Heppleman is the target of a McCarthy witch hunt type congressional investigation. One of the best scenes in this enjoyable book is the description of his testimony before the Committee.
The book wraps up with a coda set in 1978 which is a first-rate final twist on the story.
Estelman is a pro. This is a fast-moving story. The opening chapter, four pages long, hooked me. Estleman is clearly a fan of this world and the books and characters in it. Well done.
December 7, 2022
Paperback Jack by Loren D. Estleman is a historical fiction with some light thriller elements based around the birth of paperback book sales.
Post-World War II, author Jacob Heppleman homes home to a changed world where the pulp magazine he previously wrote for are on their way out, being replaced by original paperback novels. Scorned by critics, they seem to sell pretty well, or so Jacob is told by the owner of Blue Devil Books. Said owner suggests Jacob change his pen name to "Jack Holly" and write crime novels. During his research, Jacob crosses paths with some unsavory characters, and finds himself targeted by both Congress and the Mob.
This book turned out to be a lot more than I was expecting! I was engaged the whole time and it was very compulsively readable. I found all of the characters very likeable, and I cared about what was going to happen to them throughout the course of this book, especially a queer side character.
I think this book is being a little mis-promoted, as I initially requested this one as a historical or noir thriller, but it's really more historical fiction with some very light thriller elements.
There are a handful of slurs in this book. Some might argue "a product of its time" but I feel like the author could have just omitted them completely.
CW: firearms, slurs
I was provided a copy of this book for review. All opinions contained herein are my own.
If you want to see more from me, check out my blog and my bookstagram!
Post-World War II, author Jacob Heppleman homes home to a changed world where the pulp magazine he previously wrote for are on their way out, being replaced by original paperback novels. Scorned by critics, they seem to sell pretty well, or so Jacob is told by the owner of Blue Devil Books. Said owner suggests Jacob change his pen name to "Jack Holly" and write crime novels. During his research, Jacob crosses paths with some unsavory characters, and finds himself targeted by both Congress and the Mob.
This book turned out to be a lot more than I was expecting! I was engaged the whole time and it was very compulsively readable. I found all of the characters very likeable, and I cared about what was going to happen to them throughout the course of this book, especially a queer side character.
I think this book is being a little mis-promoted, as I initially requested this one as a historical or noir thriller, but it's really more historical fiction with some very light thriller elements.
There are a handful of slurs in this book. Some might argue "a product of its time" but I feel like the author could have just omitted them completely.
CW: firearms, slurs
I was provided a copy of this book for review. All opinions contained herein are my own.
If you want to see more from me, check out my blog and my bookstagram!
November 13, 2022
Thank you to NetGalley for an advanced digital copy of this book in exchange for a review.
The throngs of GIs returning from WWII are not all successful in returning to the jobs they had previously. One such soldier is Jacob Heppleman, a decorated soldier who spent his pre-war time writing for pulp magazines. But those are no longer popular, and war stories are a dime a dozen, so Jake has to find something else he can do. He tries to learn how to really write professionally through a course taught by a man who describes soldiers as "guys who were not smart enough to avoid the draft", earning him a punch in the nose from Jake. But at least he meets a nice girl............
His pre-war agent guides him to the new paperback book industry, actually tricks him into it by selling one of his pre-war books for publication against Jake's wishes. But when he meets the publisher of Blue Devil books, he decides to write for them. But he wants to write realistically, which sometimes means he gets mixed up with some, uh, unsavory people.
There are Congressional hearings into whether paperbacks are the root of the evil of wild teenagers and a crime wave. And he has gotten on the bad side of some of those previously-mentioned unsavory people!
In the end, of course, paperback books WERE the wave of the future and Jake, after all is said and done, is a master at the genre.
The throngs of GIs returning from WWII are not all successful in returning to the jobs they had previously. One such soldier is Jacob Heppleman, a decorated soldier who spent his pre-war time writing for pulp magazines. But those are no longer popular, and war stories are a dime a dozen, so Jake has to find something else he can do. He tries to learn how to really write professionally through a course taught by a man who describes soldiers as "guys who were not smart enough to avoid the draft", earning him a punch in the nose from Jake. But at least he meets a nice girl............
His pre-war agent guides him to the new paperback book industry, actually tricks him into it by selling one of his pre-war books for publication against Jake's wishes. But when he meets the publisher of Blue Devil books, he decides to write for them. But he wants to write realistically, which sometimes means he gets mixed up with some, uh, unsavory people.
There are Congressional hearings into whether paperbacks are the root of the evil of wild teenagers and a crime wave. And he has gotten on the bad side of some of those previously-mentioned unsavory people!
In the end, of course, paperback books WERE the wave of the future and Jake, after all is said and done, is a master at the genre.
November 12, 2023
When I ordered Paperback Jack from the library I paid no attention that the author, Loren Estleman, also wrote Vamp: a Valentino mystery, which I just finished reading Friday afternoon.
This book is one huge macguffin. Expecting a crime/detective novel, I got something else, entirely. And what I got is a warning of what may be from a fictionalized what was.
Being born during the time period in which the book is set I grew up innocent of the post-World War II, Congressionally-approved bowdlerization of popular literature, comic books and the entertainment industry. It wasn't until I was in my 20's that I began catching the sly, adult-humor references slipped into pre-war, WWII and post-war era Warner Bros and Popeye cartoons. Glad that stuff was considered "safe" for the child's mind.
Estleman is giving us a warning of what may be in the offing in the near future. Already censorship battles, led by the ironically named Moms' For Liberty are playing out in school board meetings across the nation. It is, as EM Forster observed in A Passage To India, "They had started speaking of women and children, that phrase that exempts the male from sanity when it has been repeated a few times."
By the way, I think Mr. Estleman has a "thing" for beautiful, statuesque redheaded women.
This book is one huge macguffin. Expecting a crime/detective novel, I got something else, entirely. And what I got is a warning of what may be from a fictionalized what was.
Being born during the time period in which the book is set I grew up innocent of the post-World War II, Congressionally-approved bowdlerization of popular literature, comic books and the entertainment industry. It wasn't until I was in my 20's that I began catching the sly, adult-humor references slipped into pre-war, WWII and post-war era Warner Bros and Popeye cartoons. Glad that stuff was considered "safe" for the child's mind.
Estleman is giving us a warning of what may be in the offing in the near future. Already censorship battles, led by the ironically named Moms' For Liberty are playing out in school board meetings across the nation. It is, as EM Forster observed in A Passage To India, "They had started speaking of women and children, that phrase that exempts the male from sanity when it has been repeated a few times."
By the way, I think Mr. Estleman has a "thing" for beautiful, statuesque redheaded women.
January 7, 2026
In this historical noir-like novel, Loren Estleman takes a sideways step away from his more familiar detective and western tales and delves into at how the publishing industry changed after WWII from the heyday of pulp magazines to the advent of the mass-produced paperback with its often colorful and lurid cover. This drew the attention of a US Senate subcommittee on Juvenile Delinquency and consequently an investigation referred to as The Comic Book Hearings of 1954 (a lesser version of the more publicized House Committee on Un-American Activities hearings), which Estleman employs to develop tension and forms the climax of the novel.
There is a decided autobiographical feel to the narrative, one written from personal experience. The expected elements of an Estleman novel are present - snappy and profane dialog, wise-guys, dames, heroes and villains - yet the style is noticeably different, and to this reader, an improvement. On the other hand, the tale lags in places then abruptly jumps ahead. The characters, colorful as they may be, are less important than the story the author wants to tell.
A period piece with a modern message about politics, censorship, and the mis-use of power.
There is a decided autobiographical feel to the narrative, one written from personal experience. The expected elements of an Estleman novel are present - snappy and profane dialog, wise-guys, dames, heroes and villains - yet the style is noticeably different, and to this reader, an improvement. On the other hand, the tale lags in places then abruptly jumps ahead. The characters, colorful as they may be, are less important than the story the author wants to tell.
A period piece with a modern message about politics, censorship, and the mis-use of power.
December 7, 2022
Somehow, I not only have never read anything by this author of more than 80 books, but I’d never even heard of him. Regardless, this is a taut, engrossing small novel about a writer of pulp paperbacks in the post-war era. The scenes from the earliest parts of the book have a tough, hard-boiled noir-ish feel to them, done with amazing expertise, as our hero works to establish himself in the fiction business. Along the way, he meets a beautiful dame … oops, I mean “woman” … writes a successful novel which attracts interest from Hollywood as well as from a Congressional committee. Throughout, the story is believable, wonderfully told and extremely entertaining. This is lightweight stuff overall, but he doesn’t shy away from topics like homosexuality or government harassment (during the 50s, an era rightfully excoriated for so-called “oversight” that ruined many lives). The book clocks in at just a hair over 200 pages, and not a word is wasted. I loved this book for what it was — a street smart Hammett/Chandler story, beautifully told and lovingly written.
Grade: A
Grade: A
March 5, 2023
This one grabbed my attention at the library... I've read one of the authors westerns, and this seemed to be a new noir-ish book, so I was intrigued.
Turns out rather it's a fictionized account of the dime novel industry.... the main character is a vet that wrote a few magazine stories (and one serialized novel) before the war and came back home to find out the magazines were mostly gone, but paperbacks were where it's at.
The main character is thoroughly annoying and way to perfect and successful, but the other characters are pretty interesting. I have no idea how accurate the story is (it seems to fit the general progression and timeline of similar happenings in comics, so it makes sense), nor do I know if there a particular author and/or publisher he's fictionizing, but it was a decent story.
There's a bunch of references in the back, so it's at least intended to be close to real history, I think.
Turns out rather it's a fictionized account of the dime novel industry.... the main character is a vet that wrote a few magazine stories (and one serialized novel) before the war and came back home to find out the magazines were mostly gone, but paperbacks were where it's at.
The main character is thoroughly annoying and way to perfect and successful, but the other characters are pretty interesting. I have no idea how accurate the story is (it seems to fit the general progression and timeline of similar happenings in comics, so it makes sense), nor do I know if there a particular author and/or publisher he's fictionizing, but it was a decent story.
There's a bunch of references in the back, so it's at least intended to be close to real history, I think.
April 10, 2023
Once you start reading you'll think you're back in the soda shop or the dime store.
Loren D. Estleman perfectly captures the language and the style of the cheap novels on the racks back in the post-World War II era, all the while telling a story that peers behind the scenes of that down-in-the-heels segment of the literature scene.
The characters, the costumes, the settings and the dialogue all play into the paperbacks of that era, as of course do the covers he talks about in the book and the cover of "Paperback Jack" itself.
Those who cherish the First Amendment will appreciate the history lesson that involves the infamous House UnAmerican Activities Committee hearings, and, if you pay attention to the news of our own day, you can't help buy connect those days of the showboating members of the U.S. Congress back in the early 1950s with the full-of-themselves folks in Washington of our own time.
Loren D. Estleman perfectly captures the language and the style of the cheap novels on the racks back in the post-World War II era, all the while telling a story that peers behind the scenes of that down-in-the-heels segment of the literature scene.
The characters, the costumes, the settings and the dialogue all play into the paperbacks of that era, as of course do the covers he talks about in the book and the cover of "Paperback Jack" itself.
Those who cherish the First Amendment will appreciate the history lesson that involves the infamous House UnAmerican Activities Committee hearings, and, if you pay attention to the news of our own day, you can't help buy connect those days of the showboating members of the U.S. Congress back in the early 1950s with the full-of-themselves folks in Washington of our own time.
November 18, 2023
I'm not sure how I hadn't heard of Estleman, as I read a lot of noir. So imagine my surprise when I pick up a book whose flyleaf promises "hard-boiled" fiction, and instead it's a book about writing hard-boiled fiction. Woah, meta, mind blown.
It's well done, once you get past the part where you're expecting something suspenseful to happen. It does not. Even the foreshadowing pretty much falls flat.
This is a book about censors in the 1950s threatening publishers, authors, and illustrators of cheap paperback novels. It's easy to see that Estleman is a fan of such fiction. The characters are for the most part well-rounded. Unsurprisingly for the overall genre, the female characters are less well-done (I'm still not sure what our hero's wife saw in the big galoot, for instance).
Still, anytime a writer is completely in love with their subject the way Estleman is with pulp fiction, it's worth a read. Recommended for fellow fans of the genre.
It's well done, once you get past the part where you're expecting something suspenseful to happen. It does not. Even the foreshadowing pretty much falls flat.
This is a book about censors in the 1950s threatening publishers, authors, and illustrators of cheap paperback novels. It's easy to see that Estleman is a fan of such fiction. The characters are for the most part well-rounded. Unsurprisingly for the overall genre, the female characters are less well-done (I'm still not sure what our hero's wife saw in the big galoot, for instance).
Still, anytime a writer is completely in love with their subject the way Estleman is with pulp fiction, it's worth a read. Recommended for fellow fans of the genre.
December 23, 2022
Having read a number of Estleman's Amos Walker private detective stories, I thought this book looked promising. Protagonist Jacob Heppleman returns from WWII ready to resume his career as a pulp magazine writer, but this business is fading away. His agent suggests writing paperbacks as a more promising outlet, so he connects with the wacky publisher at Blue Devil Publishing, and becomes a top selling author (under a nom de plume.) The highlight of the book is its other characters: his girlfriend, other writers, a cover artist with a criminal past and a deeper secret, the mob, a scary pawnbroker, who was the inspiration for one of his novels, and a crazy Congresswoman who wants to stop trashy pulp novels. The plot however is too meandering, especially the kind of out-of-the-blue ending.
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