John McPartlandCríticas

I rather liked this book. It's pulp fiction, I'll never be able to award it more than 3*s. One reason I wish I could give s and -s is that it would be nice to be able to separate the good pulp fiction from the dreck. This one would garner a *** .

So, this book is about a sergeant in the Army, Robert E. Lee, who works as a reporter for the military paper, The Stars and Stripes. At a dive bar, he meets and instantly falls in love with a beautiful, red-headed news photographer, Satin Shea, who also happens to be engaged to a Major General. They get involved with a ship wreck at the sight of a volcanic eruption in the ocean, a murder investigation, drugs and prostitution, and all the regular good stuff of pulp fiction.

It's not great literature by any means, but is just fine for a spot of escapist literature, something for reading on a plane or train, or for getting away from the mindless hysteria that obsesses the alleged news services of our modern world.

McPartland is near the top of his game in this one. As usual, there is plenty of man against man physical violence, described in painful detail as only McPartland can. The protagonist travels from California to the Ozarks at the request of his business partner, who hints of millions in riches. Pretty soon, things have taken a very drastic turn for the worse. And it gets worse from there. After that, McPartland succeeds in keeping you in suspense the rest of the way. On a couple of occasions, it appears the story may return to normal--but appearances are deceiving. McPartland, who died far too young, was one of the great writers of pulp novels. In his hands, even the cliches (the beautiful woman, the corrupt lawman) take on new life. He deserves some sort or resurrection, perhaps in one of those Stark House omnibus volumes. In the meantime, some of his novels can be found gratis on munseys.com.

This one has the elements of McPartland's better work, including a Tokyo setting, but the plot isn't up to his usual standard. A British girl knows a big American secret, and the book's hero has only two choices: marry her or kill her. It isn't quite clear how marriage would be a solution, since the real problem is getting her to keep her mouth shut, which she seems totally disinclined to do. In fact, she is rather annoying, and shooting her seems like a pretty good idea to me. There's a bad guy lurking around as well, an Irishmen working for Soviet intelligence. Then there's the American general who runs the intelligence operation, who has to make the choice whether or not to kill the girl. (I do like the part about the M26). In the end, the hero, as we know he must, takes matters into his own hands (literally as you will see), but the actions of the other characters don't ring true and the ending is unsatisfying. On the plus side, it does have several instances of McPartland's unmatched scenes of physical violence.½

Hard-hitting story by the always interesting McPartland can't quite make up its mind what it wants to be, so we have a combination of a son returning to the family ranch after the father's unexpected suicide and the story of that son's unstoppable infatuation with the 18-year old daughter of his father's Mexican ranch foreman. Her husband is an Anglo - now a soldier in Japan shacking up with a local woman, so the daughter (Rena) has reason to have her revenge on him. There are moments of good psychological insight throughout the book - particularly the analysis of the motivations that led to the father's suicide. But about 40 pages or so from the end, McPartland starts with a gang fight instigated by Anglos with the Mexicans, which turns into a tragedy that spins the story off in a different direction, with an culmination that is unexpected, pretty perverse, but not without interest. The Mexican girl's self-loathing and desire to be beaten by her man is also quite disturbing and, with no counterargument presented, comes across as McPartland's take on the psychology of all Mexican women - but perhaps I'm reading it from a 21st century perspective rather than as a fairly disposable pulp novel of the 1950s.½

A real change of pace from the other McPartland books I have read, which were all cut from the same cloth. This is the story of Guiliano, a daring Italian criminal chosen by an aging mob boss to go to America and commit a series of murders to return the old man to the top of "the Order". McPartland's description of the violent gang world and of Guiliano's (now known as Johnny Colini, aka Johnny Cool) cold-blooded murder calculations are very well done. McPartland drops in the names of real gangsters and provides a good sense of place - New York, Las Vegas, and Los Angeles - that adds to the impact of the story.½

Another winner from McPartland, although it is very similar to some of his other works in a lot of ways. He has a formula and a typical McPartland book goes something like this:

1) The hero meets a ravishing woman in the first chapter, who for one reason or another should be off limits to him;
2) He pursues her and there is mutual interest;
3) Another man gets really angry;
4) There is a violent fight described in great detail;
5) Our hero survives that to find himself in some type of even bigger jam - wanted by the law, chased by criminals, or probably both;
6) With a combination of cunning and bumbling, he finds a way through the mess....

No use going on until the end; you get the idea. The important thing is how much McPartland can do with this formula. He fleshes out his characters pretty well, he describes fights and action scenes better than just about anyone, and his backgrounds are impressively atmospheric and authentic feeling.

In this case, as in Tokyo Doll, the scene is Japan. Shortly after the Korean War, an American Sergeant serving on the Stars and Stripes newspaper, falls madly in love with a woman who turns out to be engaged to a 2-star general. It's not the general who gives him the hardest time; however, its a newspaper bureau chief who is insanely jealous of our hero's attention to the general's fiance. McPartland's women are also very interesting - not frail helpless little things at all. The love interest here is an ace photographer who has been under fire in combat and the proceedings in this novel, no matter how violent or gruesome, don't seem to faze her that much. In the end, she has a key role to play in resolving matters.

Don't miss this one. You may have a hard time finding an old paperback copy, but it's a cheap download for the Kindle.

Excellent story of a man, once good, now bad, trying to turn good again. But what obstacles he has to face--an assistant DA obsessed with making the men in her life proof their virility, a girl from his past that he turned into a tramp, an upright lawyer who doesn't want to bend under pressure, the powerful men who have turned him into the "Fixer" he has become, a weasel of a private investigator who will stop at nothing to get his share of the loot--and so on and so on. The writing occasionally becomes a little overblown toward the end and all the various threads aren't tied up into quite as neat and believable a bundle as you would like, but the ride is one you won't regret. Along the way, we get McPartland's typical graphic fight scenes where you feel like you've been punched yourself, a wild ride on the freeway, a few twisted love scenes, and whatever else he can throw in. In a way this is like a James Hadley Chase novel, except that McPartland plots better and his characters are well-drawn and come across as real people.

Highly recommended.

Our poor hero in this one gets into a traffic accident, gets punched out, goes home with his attacker and his attacker's girlfriend, gets punched out again, and after only a few hours finds himself booked for murder and sharing a jail cell with a magician. And from there, his predicament only gets worse! It's a measure of McPartland's ability as a writer that he pulls this whole tale off effortlessly. The tying together of all the threads at the end is perhaps a little abrupt, but then a roller coaster can come to a pretty quick halt at the end of the ride also. This is the second book I have read by McPartland, and he is becoming one of my favorites.

Excellent. Grabs you at the beginning and keeps you guessing all the way through. Once or twice slips into an over-emotional sort of goo when discussing the feelings of the hero and the mysterious "Tokyo Doll" but otherwise very well written. Especially good fight scenes - you'll feel like you're taking a few punches yourself.