Dan J. Marlowe (1914–1987)

Jag hade levt så länge på andra sidan om lagens staket, att det kändes smått underligt att jobba som någon slags agent åt Onkel Sam. Men en av höjdarna innom underrättelseväsendet hade tummen på mig ... så att säga. Så vi gjorde upp en ohelig allians - om jag hjälpte honom att spåra upp ett gäng fanatiska terrorister, så skulle han hålla tyst om mig.
Men jag hade ett personligt intresse av fallet också - ett intresse värt 75 000 dollar, som gänget snott för mig och som jag tänkte ta tillbaka.
Men senare skulle jag gärna ha offrat lika mycket till bara för att få hoppa av - även om det gällt att hoppa av från vackra Talia ...… (mais)

Sometimes, when I skim the reviews of The Name of the Game is Death, I get the odd but distinct impression that I read an altogether different book. Stephen King has called Dan J. Marlowe "the hardest of the hard-boiled," and reviews of Marlowe's novels tend to read like a Yosemite Sam boast (i.e., Marlowe was the roughest, toughest, rootinest, tootinest, shootinest crime author whose work ever graced the printed page). This is his magnum opus, and while it does contain enough violence to rattle the nerves of even the most jaded crime thriller fan, to ascribe the book's brilliance to its high body count rather misses the point. Marlowe's antihero Drake is not mindlessly, unfeelingly hostile like Kells in Paul Cain's Fast One, nor is he a cartoon tough guy like Carroll John Daly's Race Williams: he's a human being, and Marlowe went to great pains to underscore his humanity.

Yes, this novel lives up to its reputation for teeth-grinding intensity, but it's got more to offer than just action. What sets Name of the Game apart is its profoundly damaged but relatable central character.… (mais)

Operation Checkmate is the seventh volume in the Earl Drake series. In the first two books in what later became a series, The Name of The Game is Death and Endless Hour, readers were treated to top-notch hardboiled tales of a bank robber who burned his face off in a prison hospital escape and became the Man With No Face. Later novels morphed Drake from the hardest of hardboiled criminals to a reluctant agent for The Company and men's adventure hero with adventures taking him to Cuba and Spain and the Far East. These later novels are for the most part unlike the first two, but are still fun reads.

Operation Checkmate involves Drake, Erikson, redheaded Hazel, and Chen Yi (from Drake's adventures in the Bahamas) in a Cold War battle between Nationalist China and Communist China. It takes Drake from San Francisco to Honolulu to Taipei to Hong Kong and chronologically takes place as Operation Drumfire ends and Drake and Hazel prepare to head back to the ranch. It's a fine adventure story filled with explosions, snipers, home invasions, spies, family secrets, and mystery.
… (mais)