Victims

by Jack Pearl

Very good condition

160 pages, Hardcover

First published January 28, 1972

Reviews

[Oliver Clarke · Rating 3 out of 5]

It’s Christmas Eve in New York in the early 70s and a group of black militants is planting bombs to further their cause. When one of the bombs is lost an officer from the bomb squad and leader of the militant group go on a race against time to find it. This could have been amazing, but it fumbles the ball a couple of times and ends up simply being a very enjoyable curio. The Christmas setting is well done, the politics is reasonably even-handed (be prepared to encounter every racial slur you can think to though) and there’s even a redemption sub-plot for a minor character. I never say this, but it admit felt like it should have been longer. The final act is very rushed and could have had even more tension wring out of it.
I love trash books like this that capture the mood of a moment, and ‘Victims’ certainly does that, for better or worse.

[Joe Nicholl · Rating 4 out of 5]

Victims by Jack Pearl (1972) is a suspensful crime-fiction read taking place mostly on Christmas Eve in NYC. A splinter group of the Black Panthers has been bombing "whitey" and are set-up to bomb Macy's dept. store for the holiday. The NYCPD investigates leading to taut, engrossing story. The book really captures the mood of the early '70's. I recommend...that is if you can find a copy. I had to special order mine from my local library. Author Pearl is a good writer, I'm going to read more by him...4.0 outta 5.0...

[Alton Motobu · Rating 2 out of 5]

Black militants go on a bombing rampage in New York City, circa the 1970s, by planting pipe bombs in crowded places on holidays. On Christmas Eve they plan to hide a bomb in a gift-wrapped box in Macy's, but plans go awry when the bomb is mistakenly placed in a bin containing gifts to be given to children visiting Santa. The box containing the bomb is given to a little boy who takes it home; his family is poor and this is his only gift. Meanwhile the police have tracked the bombers and bring in their leader for questioning. He turns out to have a guilty conscience and ends up helping the police. By some sort of miracle the Macy's Santa has a photographic memory and remembers everything about the boy except for his name and address, but the cops find him via computer search. As the clock ticks down to the activation of the bomb, the bomb squad deactivates it. It is a happy ending - except for one glaring missing piece. There was much made of the little boy, his family and their hardships during the Christmas season. But during the dramatic search for the bomb, the miraculous discovery of it, and deactivation of it, nothing at all was mentioned about the boy and his family. There was not a tidbit of explanation of their experience! What happened to them? Frustrating!!!!