Play it Hard

by Gil Brewer

Cover art by Rafael DeSoto

Genres: Noir

142 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1960

About the author

Florida writer Gil Brewer was the author of dozens of wonderfully sleazy sex/crime adventure novels of the 1950's and 60's, including Backwoods Teaser and Nude on Thin Ice; some of them starring private eye Lee Baron (Wild) or the brothers Sam and Tate Morgan (The Bitch) . Gil Brewer, who had not previously published any novels, began to write for Gold Medal Paperbacks in 1950-51. Brewer wrote some 30 novels between 1951 and the late 60s – very often involving an ordinary man who becomes involved with, and is often corrupted and destroyed by, an evil or designing woman. His style is simple and direct, with sharp dialogue, often achieving considerable intensity.

Brewer was one of the many writers who ghost wrote under the Ellery Queen byline as well. Brewer also was known as Eric Fitzgerald, Bailey Morgan, and Elaine Evans.

http://www.gilbrewer.com/

Reviews

[Edwin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Brewer takes the Vanishing Woman plot, a favorite of Cornell Woolrich, and makes it his own by ramping up the sex and violence, and throwing the story into high gear. Newlywed Steve Nolan, an alcoholic and prone to violence, wakes up from a bad honeymoon hangover to discover that his wife has vanished, and that another woman has taken her place. Steve is rightfully aghast at this switch, although his family and friends are inclined to believe the woman and question Steve’s sanity. His attempts to unravel the mystery of the strange woman only succeed in digging himself deeper and deeper into trouble and danger. This is a difficult plot to pull off, and sometimes it feels a bit far-fetched. It’s best not to think too hard about these types of things and just sit back and enjoy the ride.

[Dave · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cover art by Rafael de Soto. The back cover blurb for Brewer’s “Play it Hard” says she’s a girl in a skin-tight suit. (Which makes you think she’s Julie Newmar playing Catwoman,). We are told: “she wore Jan’s skin-tight clothes, Jan’s provocative scent, and had all of Jan’s built-in equipment for driving men crazy. But she made love like no other woman Steve Nolan had ever known – including Jan, his wife of less than a week.”

In “Play It Hard,” Brewer builds on a plot line developed by Cornell Woolrich in “Waltz into Darkness,” of a Louisiana businessman who became engaged during correspondence and then refused to believe the younger and more beautiful woman who arrives is not Julia. By the time he figures it it, she’s gone and what follows is a strange haunted chase. Brewer, though, flips the plot on its head, making Steve the only one not fooled and making Steve appear at best suffering from amnesia or, at worst, crazy.

Steve met his new wife while away on business, seeing her lounging around a motel pool in a black bathing suit. He married her in just a few days and has now brought her home. But he’s confused as if he’s been in a bender or drugged and he swears that this Jan, who is every man’s dream girl, isn’t the Jan he married. No one believes him, not his aunt, not his doctor, not his friend who is a police detective.

We are told: “She was a girl any man would immediately desire; there would be that quick rush of dark sensation in the loins. But she was a girl few men would get to, let alone come close enough to touch. She was a girl about whom no one would have to tell you these things, and she stared at Steve and he knew she wanted to reach out and touch him. He had never seen her before. Where was Jan?”

Brewer does a great job of putting the reader in Steve’s shoes, showing what it feels like to be the only one who sees the truth, the only one who knows he’s still sane. Or is he? Has Steve lost his mind? “Something had happened to him, but what? He wasn’t really sick. Who was that girl out there, waiting for him, walking around—beautiful, desirable, and lying—telling him she was his wife when he knew damned well she wasn’t?”The theme of amnesia was a popular one in many novels when Brewer put this one out. He knew she was an imposter, but found it impossible to prove.

Brewer’s best writing is found in the front two-thirds as he plays out Steve’s growing confusion coupled with the siren-like physical passion this woman, masquerading as his new wife, offered. While the ultimate resolution is less satisfying, it is such a great ride getting there that it’s worth reading.

[Steven · Rating 4 out of 5]

Awesome. Brewer totally channels Cornell Woolrich in this paranoia driven narrative. Steve Nolan wakes up from a bender-fueled honeymoon to find a woman claiming to be his wife who isn't the woman he'd just married. No one believes him, though, and the chase is on as Nolan tries to figure out what happened. The prose is Brewer at his propulsive best. Nolan's mind races and we are tethered tight to that paranoia from beginning to end. I wasn't sure how Brewer would wrap this up and have it make sense, but I think he pulled it off. Great also that it ends with an action scene rather than drawing room summary. The "wife" is one of Brewer's better character creations and he lavishes some of his best descriptive writing on her. Sexes it up in this one, too. Recommended.

[Alex Budris · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Nobody believed a damn thing he said." (pg 79)

Not the cops. Not his doctor. Nobody. And who is this strange woman claiming to be his wife? He's being followed home. Who is the man with the bushy eyebrows? He's suspicious of his friends; his friends are suspicious of him.

Three stars for this Cornell Woolrich-esque race against paranoia crime thriller. Not Brewer's best, but I was engaged.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gil Brewer mashes up Cornell Woolrich (I Married a Dead Man crossed with The Black Curtain) with his own sexed-up Gulf Coast noir. Perhaps not his best, but I’m always a sucker for noir amnésique.

[Jeff · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good Brewer. Over the top. A little implausible. You gotta love 'em.