Danny Hogan

I love pulp novels. Love them to death. An ugly, messy death, with purple pasties covering its grim reapers. Exploitative. Visceral. Unapologetic. Pulp fiction never says sorry, never backs down. It’s an alpha dog in a beta world. In literature and in that black muscle I call a heart, pulp fiction rules.

But the old dime pulp novels and penny dreadfuls have almost completely disappeared, slashed and burned like the Brazilian rainforest, their bastard offspring now residing in various genres—mystery, horror, urban fantasy. So I was thrilled to discover a new imprint, Pulp Press, dedicated to publishing real pulp fiction. Literature for us old-school degenerates jonesing for our pulp fix. Their first release, Killer Tease by Danny Hogan, succeeds admirably in capturing the tone and feel of those long gone pulp classics.

Swaggering with attitude and smelling like the streets, Killer Tease takes you slumming through the weird and dark underbelly of Brighton. Filled with sadistic villains and brutal murders, the book’s an ode to the weird menace classics of the 1940s and 1950s.

Eloise Murphy is a burlesque dancer with one giant problem. Her explosive temper. She’s a dynamo of deadly violence. A burlesque berserker. After she busts up the face of an overly touchy-feely client, she finds herself out of a job. A new dancing gig quickly turns up, one in which she’s blackmailed into accepting. That’s never good, but things get even worse. Soon she uncovers the horrible, sadistic truth behind her new employer. Betrayed and brutalized, Eloise finds herself fighting for her life. And boy is she pissed.

Eloise is a fascinating character, an interesting combination of mostly masculine aggression under the guise of feminine sexuality. A panty-clad psychopath. A berserker in a bra. There’s nothing titillating or glamorous about her. She’s meanness incarnate. Hate unleashed. Psychotic violence isn’t sexy. And Eloise is as psychotic as they come. She’s ugly inside, and unapologetic about it. And it’s intriguing how Hogan never softens her edges, never makes her appealing.

Killer Tease starts off great, bursting with energy straight out of the gate. The book vibrates with attitude, and Hogan does a wonderful job setting up the scene. The book flies, rushing like a racehorse to its bloody conclusion. And at the length of a hundred pages, it easily can be read in one sitting. The payoff feels rushed though, certain character motivations are murky and not entirely clear. More background information would have been nice to fill in some of the gaps in the narrative. But there’s always Eloise’s next outing for that.

Last Word:
Killer Tease is real pulp fiction, a penny dreadful with a weird menace heart. It’s a sledgehammer to the guts, bludgeoning your squishy insides until you submit to its charms. Eloise’s brutal and ugly temperament drives the narrative. She’s a caveman in the modern world. A malicious weed in a rotten garden. A car accident on the side of the road. Unappealing, yet one cannot turn away from her. Here’s hoping we see more of this pissed off little minx.… (mais)