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Strongarm
Meet Pete Karma, the man who broke jail and wound up neck-deep in a gangland bloodbath. Pete had a lot of hate stored up inside. He hadn't committed the murder he'd been sent up for, and it didn't take him long to figure out who'd framed him and how. After two and a half years in the slammer, Pete had his plan down perfect. His crooked lawyer, Charlie Risko, would get it first. But as soon as Pete had a spare moment, there were some other things that had to be taken care of.
174 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1988
4 people are currently reading
34 people want to read
About the author
Dan J. Marlowe
87 books36 followersaka Albert Avellano, Jaime Sandaval, Gar Wilson (house name)
Dan J. Marlowe was a middle-aged businessman who, in the personal turmoil after the death of his wife of many years, decided to abandon his old life. He started writing, and his first novel was published when he was 45.
Marlowe's most famous book and his best-known character arrived from Fawcett Gold Medal Books in 1962 ("The Name of the Game Is Death").
Dan J. Marlowe was a middle-aged businessman who, in the personal turmoil after the death of his wife of many years, decided to abandon his old life. He started writing, and his first novel was published when he was 45.
Marlowe's most famous book and his best-known character arrived from Fawcett Gold Medal Books in 1962 ("The Name of the Game Is Death").
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
May 23, 2025
Dan Marlowe put out 27 novels from 1959 through 1982, the first five being of the Johnny Killian hardboiled series (Doorway to Death [1959], Killer with a Key [1959], Doom Service [1960], The Fatal Frails [1960], Shake a Crooked Town [1961]). Marlowe (not to be confused with Stephen Marlowe who put out the Chester Drum espionage series about the same time) then put out nine standalone crime and men’s adventure novels between 1962 and 1967, which included Backfire [1961], The Name of the Game is Death [1962], Strongarm [1963], Never Live Twice [1964], Death Deep Down [1965], Four for the Money [1966], the Vengeance Man [1966], The Raven is a Blood Red Bird [1967], and Route of the Red Gold [1967]. After Backfire, which was published by Berkeley, the rest were all Fawcett Gold Medal paperback originals.
In 1969, Marlowe returned to the character he created in his 1962 book the Name of the Game is Death, and focused on Earl Drake, to produce 11 more in a series, most of which were entitled “Operation” and all of which were published by Fawcett Gold Medal. These included One Endless Hour [1969], Operation Fireball [1969], Operation Flashpoint [1970], Operation Overkill [1970], Operation Breakthrough [1971], Operation Checkmate [1972], Operation Drumfire [1972], Operation Stranglehold [1973], Operation Whiplash [1973], Operation Hammerlock [1974], Operation Deathmaker [1975], and Operation Counterpunch [1976]. Thereafter, one further book has been credited to Marlowe, although published under the name Gar Wilson -Guerilla Games.
Apparently, Marlowe’s life was almost as interesting as some of his characters and “Gunshots in Another Room: The Forgotten Life of Dan J. Marlowe” by George Kelly details that life, Marlowe’s friendships with convicted bank robber Nussbaum and another man who committed a savage murder after release from prison, Marlowe’s bouts with amnesia, and his trysts with kinky sex.
Strongarm, one of Dan Marlowe’s early standalone crime thrillers, was one of the reprints Black Lizard put out in the mid 1980’s.
This story is about the life and times of Pete Karma, though he has only used that name for ten months. He has used various names over the years, but often gets them mixed up. Pete is not the most hardboiled hero. He’s not necessarily a planner or a thinker. Rather, he’s one of those guys who goes with the wind and things happen around him.
Strongarm begins with a bang. Karma (or whatever his real name was) was trailing Joe Williams down a highway, planning to drive him off the road and take a package from him, a package belonging to Karma’s arch-nemesis, Charlie Risko. But before he can follow Williams off an exit, another car jumps the median and crashes into Williams. Karma runs out and grabs a car door with a arm handcuffed to it and a briefcase, wondering why in the world Williams had handcuffed himself to the briefcase and the car, and before he can investigate further, the crash turns into an explosion. He takes off but not before the highway patrol gets his name or rather the name he had a driver’s license under, which was not the Karma name, but the name of the bozo he had borrowed the car from for the caper.
It is only later that Karma puts together the fact that the briefcase did not contain what he was looking for and that it put him in hot water with many people to hold onto the contents. Here we get the theme of the package or suitcase full of treasure that everyone is after.
Along the way, the reader gets a bit of the background of Karma in bits and pieces, beginning with the fact his father was involved in political favors and that Risko took over the business and grew it. Karma sat out World War II with a bum foot, but made it to the Korean theater a few years later which toughened him up and prepared him to go to work as an enforcer for Risko. Nevertheless, Risko did not owe Karma anything and perhaps wanted him out of the way, because Risko set Karma to take the fall for a murder, setting him up with an attorney who talked Karma into a prison term. It was only later in prison when another hardcase boss takes him under his wing that Karma realized he had been set up to be the sucker. He then becomes a prison escapee and the boss he met in prison and his organization owes Karma a favor for the escape. Karma, though, is hellbent on revenge against Risko and sets out to work his way up in Risko’s organization to take him down piece by piece.
Karma though never has a chance to do so even though that revenge story would have been fascinating. What Karma took from the wreckage has him fleeing (though he would never have been discovered but for his own foolish lack of thinking). He and his wife/girlfriend are now on the run across the midwest with who knows what forces both lawful and criminal on their tails. Karma does a few clever stunts to secure his loot and get them to safety.
Though if he could only give up his idea of revenge he could live off the loot for a long time with his girlfriend Lynn and her underage cousin, Gussie, who for some strange reason they pick up in Des Moines though they are on the run from the mob and the law with a suitcase full of loot. The young cousin, though we are told she is quite chubby and underage, has a tendency to french kiss Karma and show up in his room in the nude and try to run out at night in strange towns. It is not clear why she is thrown in as there is enough domestic angst with Karma trying to decide what to do with Lynn, who unknowingly has become part of his escapades.
It is a fast-paced and exciting novel and can be read very quickly. Marlowe has always been a terrific author, but you get the feeling that this story could have been streamlined a bit more with a focused rewrite instead of being an amalgamation of plotlines.
In 1969, Marlowe returned to the character he created in his 1962 book the Name of the Game is Death, and focused on Earl Drake, to produce 11 more in a series, most of which were entitled “Operation” and all of which were published by Fawcett Gold Medal. These included One Endless Hour [1969], Operation Fireball [1969], Operation Flashpoint [1970], Operation Overkill [1970], Operation Breakthrough [1971], Operation Checkmate [1972], Operation Drumfire [1972], Operation Stranglehold [1973], Operation Whiplash [1973], Operation Hammerlock [1974], Operation Deathmaker [1975], and Operation Counterpunch [1976]. Thereafter, one further book has been credited to Marlowe, although published under the name Gar Wilson -Guerilla Games.
Apparently, Marlowe’s life was almost as interesting as some of his characters and “Gunshots in Another Room: The Forgotten Life of Dan J. Marlowe” by George Kelly details that life, Marlowe’s friendships with convicted bank robber Nussbaum and another man who committed a savage murder after release from prison, Marlowe’s bouts with amnesia, and his trysts with kinky sex.
Strongarm, one of Dan Marlowe’s early standalone crime thrillers, was one of the reprints Black Lizard put out in the mid 1980’s.
This story is about the life and times of Pete Karma, though he has only used that name for ten months. He has used various names over the years, but often gets them mixed up. Pete is not the most hardboiled hero. He’s not necessarily a planner or a thinker. Rather, he’s one of those guys who goes with the wind and things happen around him.
Strongarm begins with a bang. Karma (or whatever his real name was) was trailing Joe Williams down a highway, planning to drive him off the road and take a package from him, a package belonging to Karma’s arch-nemesis, Charlie Risko. But before he can follow Williams off an exit, another car jumps the median and crashes into Williams. Karma runs out and grabs a car door with a arm handcuffed to it and a briefcase, wondering why in the world Williams had handcuffed himself to the briefcase and the car, and before he can investigate further, the crash turns into an explosion. He takes off but not before the highway patrol gets his name or rather the name he had a driver’s license under, which was not the Karma name, but the name of the bozo he had borrowed the car from for the caper.
It is only later that Karma puts together the fact that the briefcase did not contain what he was looking for and that it put him in hot water with many people to hold onto the contents. Here we get the theme of the package or suitcase full of treasure that everyone is after.
Along the way, the reader gets a bit of the background of Karma in bits and pieces, beginning with the fact his father was involved in political favors and that Risko took over the business and grew it. Karma sat out World War II with a bum foot, but made it to the Korean theater a few years later which toughened him up and prepared him to go to work as an enforcer for Risko. Nevertheless, Risko did not owe Karma anything and perhaps wanted him out of the way, because Risko set Karma to take the fall for a murder, setting him up with an attorney who talked Karma into a prison term. It was only later in prison when another hardcase boss takes him under his wing that Karma realized he had been set up to be the sucker. He then becomes a prison escapee and the boss he met in prison and his organization owes Karma a favor for the escape. Karma, though, is hellbent on revenge against Risko and sets out to work his way up in Risko’s organization to take him down piece by piece.
Karma though never has a chance to do so even though that revenge story would have been fascinating. What Karma took from the wreckage has him fleeing (though he would never have been discovered but for his own foolish lack of thinking). He and his wife/girlfriend are now on the run across the midwest with who knows what forces both lawful and criminal on their tails. Karma does a few clever stunts to secure his loot and get them to safety.
Though if he could only give up his idea of revenge he could live off the loot for a long time with his girlfriend Lynn and her underage cousin, Gussie, who for some strange reason they pick up in Des Moines though they are on the run from the mob and the law with a suitcase full of loot. The young cousin, though we are told she is quite chubby and underage, has a tendency to french kiss Karma and show up in his room in the nude and try to run out at night in strange towns. It is not clear why she is thrown in as there is enough domestic angst with Karma trying to decide what to do with Lynn, who unknowingly has become part of his escapades.
It is a fast-paced and exciting novel and can be read very quickly. Marlowe has always been a terrific author, but you get the feeling that this story could have been streamlined a bit more with a focused rewrite instead of being an amalgamation of plotlines.
August 15, 2016
More of a 2.5, bumped up because the end was pretty good. As usual, I didn't like the character much, but the tale was a twisty one with good motivations for why everything went to hell in a hand basket. Unfortunately, it was helped along by the main character being an idiot. He was tough, though. As seems typical in Marlowe's work, he's a bad guy due to early circumstances & is slowly redeemed through out by a good woman & his own inclinations. The niece might have been the best character.
The rest of the characters were flat & the dialogue was awful. It seemed cribbed from old Cagney movies. Definitely the worst the worst story I've read by him yet.
The rest of the characters were flat & the dialogue was awful. It seemed cribbed from old Cagney movies. Definitely the worst the worst story I've read by him yet.
July 26, 2020
Disarmingly strong start, but as soon as cousin Gussie shows up the story becomes as stupid as an episode of Laverne & Shirley.
July 17, 2017
Somewhat confusing but otherwise excellent Hard boiled thriller.
April 17, 2020
Plot has sleezy guy out for revenge. Keeps moving. Has odd chapter on marines in Korean War. A lot of plot, not much on character. Quick read.
November 24, 2020
I'm going to read this again and enjoy that cars in the boat scene again! I don't care what the ending is.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews