The Snatch

by Harold R. Daniels

Vintage paperback

Genres: 20th Century, Noir, Mystery

Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1958

About the author

Daniels graduated from college in Milford, Connecticut, and became a specialist in the metal industry. From 1958 to 1972, he was editor of the magazine Metalworking. In the 1950s, he published numerous short stories, and in 1956 he published his first novel, In His Blood, nominated for the Edgar Allan Poe Award.

Little known in France, Harold Robert Daniels, however, writes Claude Mesplède and Jean-Jacques Schleret "remarkable works for the quality of the realistic plot and description of the small towns of the United States". His fourth novel, The Snatch, published in 1958, is described by John D. MacDonald as "one of the modern classics of crime and punishment. His sixth and last novel, published in 1966, House On Greenapple Road, is appreciated by Claude Mesplède as "undoubtedly his most complete book" and adapted for television in 1970. One of his new Death does not wait (Road Hog) is adapted twice in each of the two series Alfred Hitchcock presents.

Reviews

[Dave · Rating 5 out of 5]

Daniels is a terrific writer who effortlessly captures the thoughts and feelings of the characters in his stories. What could be interesting about three small time kidnappers? If you are asking that question, then you certainly are not familiar with Daniels' work. This author delves into each character with such a fine sense of who they are and what motivates them that you feel what they feel. You understand why they feel trapped no matter which way they turn. This is truly good stuff, my friend. Drink up.

[Andy Weston · Rating 5 out of 5]

Three desperate men plot and carry out a botched kidnap the 8 year old son of a mafia boss.

Masquerading as just another piece of 1950s pulp fiction, this is actually far more than that.
There is far more characterisation than the usual pulp novel, the two kidnappers are brilliantly described, one, a career criminal and a sociopath, and the other an apparently boring bank clerk. As the novel unfurls the difference between them increasingly manifests itself.

The backdrop plays a key role also, of sleazy bars, seedy apartments and squalid areas of the city a night, so much so, that as with the best noir, moments of implausibility are brushed over as they don’t in any way deter from the enjoyment of the piece.

[AC · Rating 5 out of 5]

John D. MacDonald called this 1958 noir caper “one of the modern classics of crime and punishment”. Well, I wouldn’t go that far…, author’s blurbs, you know. Still it’s a really excellent, well-crafted, and intelligent noir pulp novel from the hands of an amateur hobbyist pulp writer.

[John Marr · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent suspenseful caper novel about some amateurs trying their hands at that oh-so-tricky kid kidnapping racket

[Jeff · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great novel about what is probably the worst planned and executed kidnapping in pulp fiction.

[Jeff · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent characters. The mystery was not terribly mysterious, but the looks inside the minds of the bad guys more than make up for the lack of typical chases and plot twists you find in crime pulp.