Customer Reviews

The Distance: A Crime Novel Introducing Billy Nichols

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
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Read this recently and am wasting no time in recommending Muller's vividly drawn debut to those of you who're looking for something a little different, a little complicated, and a lot
terrific.

Those of a certain age may remember the good old days of boxing, when the Gillette Friday night fights were all the rage. When cigar voiced announcers called each fight as though their very lives depended on the outcome. When the sound of the bell drew you into the living room and kept you there, glued to your seat, until the last punch was thrown.
Well, doesn't matter if you do or don't.
Because Eddie Muller has brought this fascinating world back to life.
His debut novel is set in 1948 San Francisco, when the fight business was still important business.
He brings to life Billy Nichols,
sportswriter for a major metropolitan newspaper. A guy with a pencil thin mustache, a fedora, and an attitude. Known in the trade as Mr. Boxing, Nichols has spent years building up his following and now at the pinnacle of his game, has a hell of lot to lose. But Billy's not just a hack, he is a very complicated fellow. In fact, he spends most of the book flailing away at a guilty conscience brought on by a bruisingly stupid act which takes place early in the book.

Bruisingly stupid and yet so understandably human, this act propels Billy into an out of control spin. Deception upon deception becomes an uncomfortable way of life.
How this guy still manages to keep his humanity, his honor and his life is a remarkable tale. I'm not spilling any secrets when I reveal that much, since this book, I understand,is the first in a series.

Muller's writing is so evocative, so vivid, that he pulls you instantly into Billy's garish world. The raucous boxing arena, the sweaty gym, the smoke filled bars and steamy bedrooms of this era before air conditioning, are there before you, thrillingly alive.

Dames with copper hair and blood red lips people this place.
Ham fisted cops with Irish faces, lumbering boxers with short tempers and hearts of gold, sleazy cigar faced managers, crooked politicos and hard hearted wives all live here. Murder, adultery, blackmail, doublecross upon doublecross weave in and out of this web which has ensnared Billy Nichols.

Muller has brought the film noir cult movies of the late forties and early fifties vividly back to life in this book.
I was captivated.
The Distance reads like one of those dark, deep shadowed, sharply photographed b/w movies of that time. Movies which always seemed to take place at night and usually starred John Garfield and Ida Lupino or Robert Taylor and Anne Sheridan or Veronica Lake and Alan Ladd or.......well, you get the picture.
This is one of the best debuts I've EVER read.
I can't wait to see where Muller takes Billy next.
And, by the way, I don't even like boxing.
So, that's how much Muller impressed me.
This is one ripe, juicy plum of a book.

Eddie Muller's THE DISTANCE is a wonderfully atmospheric noir tale of murder and passion set in colorful, corrupt, post-war San Francisco. [Note that the San Francisco of the late 40s was much closer in time and ambiance to the period of the great 1906 earthquake and fire than to the glistening "city on a hill" tourist mecca for yuppies and trans-gendered folk it has become today.]

THE DISTANCE combines two cultural elements which are now fading memories: professional boxing and the great newspapers. The Brown Bomber has retired to debt, and the heavyweight crown is available for a price. San Francisco is served by five daily newspapers. [Television is just coming on board and has not yet swamped the ship.] Men are men and women are women, and don't bet on the outcome.

Noir fiction depends for its success on authentic speech more than on highly cultivated plot, and Muller does a fine job of recreating the languages of the period. Just listen, and you can hear the color!

I liked especially that Muller mixed it up, but never went for the knockout. THE DISTANCE, as a title, reflects that long 15 rounds which were the nature of a life then, the grinding working class struggle to survive. And precious little whining.

I am a mystery buff and first edition collector. I am not a fight fan, yet Muller has captivated me. He has written a period piece mystery which captures the late '40s era. His main character is believable, memorable, and sympathetic. To me, he calls to mind Damon Runyon as if written and scripted by Ernest Hemingway ("My Old Man"). There are some holes in the mystery, but they take nothing away from the terse machine gun style. I don't owe Eddie anything, but bring Billy Nichels, the hero, back.

Thought I'd try this one out after I heard it had won the Shamus Award for Best First Novel. The award was well deserved. It's not a great crime novel on par with (say) the best of James M. Cain or Raymond Chandler -- but it's better than the worst of those two writers, and better than the best of a lot of others. Earlier reviewers correctly pegged some of the faults -- after a great first 50 pages, the pace flags till the ending; too many minor characters pop in and out of the action, and it takes too much effort to remember who they all are; you can see the strain as Muller tries to make the plot come out the way he wants it -- but the pleasures the book offers are great. The sample boxing columns are a joy, and how many writers could take you blow by blow through a 5-round boxing match without boring the pants off you? Muller pulls it off. Some of his prose tries too hard to be slangy and period, but every now and then he'll sock you with a real gem, a turn of phrase that's so good you'll read it over again just to savor it. And the plot may not be one you'll remember for ages, but neither is it an embarrassment. It's adequate.

Most books I pick up disappoint me and I have to struggle to finish them. This one's of a much higher caliber, and I'm looking forward to more from this author.

Raymond Chandler meets Larry Merchant (of HBO Boxing commentator fame). In Dark City, Eddie Muller illustrated his love of film noir and the pulp genre. His fluency in the pulp language and the world of boxing is evident in this novel. Hack Escalante and Billy Nichols are compelling characters. The story is well paced and his writing so on target you can smell the stale cigars and see the blood hitting the canvas.

Very easy to see why this won the Shamus, gumshoe, anthony. An excellent crime novel, very well written, with a noir 40s and boxing backdrop that's brilliantly drawn.

Billy Nichols is considered "Mr. Boxing" through his popular sports column in the San Francisco Inquirer in 1948. He has not missed predicting the winner in a prizefight in over seventeen years. He is a celebrity in the boxing world where a mention in his column can make a big difference in the struggling career of a prizefighter. As our story begins, Billy is called to the apartment of a boxing manager, Gig Liardi, who claims to have important information. When he arrives, a red eyed Hack Escalante answers the door. Hack is the heavyweight fighter Gig handles. Hack tells Billy he killed Gig in a rage accidentally. Billy decides to bury the body with Hack's help and claim Gig left on a trip. They do so and must now contend with the police and their numerous associates in the boxing world.

Billy Nichols' life is wrapped around relationships both in the boxing world and his personal life. Characters and the city of post WWII San Francisco are brought vividly to life. Many shady characters inhabit the boxing world of this era and Billy moves among them as a giant. Billy is our guide and an effective one at that. It is this sense of time and place that is the major strength of this work. Perhaps it can be said that the book is a bit too long. However, the strong sure writing cannot be denied. This is a strong recommendation.

Evokes the color and atmosphere of the fight game in post WWII San Francisco from a "roman noir" perspective. Tough dames, wise cracking reporter, hard luck fighter and a host of streetwise characters. Muller reproduces the jargon of the era with an expert ear. The language, description and characterizatons are worth the price of admission. The story gets off to a terrific start, then the pace falters until the action is revitalized at the end. As the mystery and doublecrosses are unraveled, plot credability weakens and the reader becomes aware of the author's strained attempt to clean up messy loose ends. The little stories spun within the novel enhance the characters and entertain the reader. However attmepts to give the protagonist spiritual or philosophical dimension were awkward and intrusive. On the whole it was a very enjoyable and promising light novel.

When San Francisco's `Mr Boxing' - sportswriter Billy Nichols - turns up at boxing manager Gig Liardi's apartment one night in 1948, he finds Gig dead and his fighter, Hack Escalante, standing over him. Billy makes a snap decision to protect Hack and cover up the murder. It's a choice that he may later regret but, once taken, he sticks to it. This is a wonderfully told tale - very noir, full of corruption, moral ambiguity, betrayal and lies. The mean streets of San Francisco's sleazy underbelly in the `40s really come alive. The writing is gorgeous - really rich and atmospheric.

The outstanding appeal of this book - and its sequel SHADOW BOXER - is the character of Billy Nichols. His tough, cynical outer shell hides a vulnerable interior. He's not the typical macho noir protagonist. He's a sensitive, perceptive, flawed man. He's a storyteller - a chronicler of fact and, sometimes, a creator of fiction. But he's an honest liar, unlike many of the other characters in the book. Because Billy doesn't have that cold, self-destructive, caring for nothing and nobody streak that is the territory of a noir protagonist, the book is suffused with warmth, light, passion and heart. Eddie Muller turns the conventions of noir and hard-boiled novels on their heads.

Very easy to see why this won the Shamus, gumshoe, anthony. An excellent crime novel, brilliantly written, with a boxing world backdrop that kicks.