Customer Reviews

Night Walker (Hard Case Crime)

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Hard Case Crime's line of crime novels is not just entertaining; it's also educational. Reading each one as it comes out has broadened by knowledge of hard-boiled crime fiction considerably -- a field in which I thought I was already well-versed. Those looking for more than just the same names over and over again (Chandler, Hammett, Woolrich, Cain, Thompson, etc.), need look no further than the yellow ribbon. I look forward to each new entry with eagerness. Who knew that educating oneself could be so much fun? (But then again, who else thinks of reading a series of crime novels as "educational"?)

Night Walker is a reprint of an early novel by Donald Hamilton (who will turn 90 in 2006); one that doesn't feature his most famous creation, secret government agent Matt Helm, who Hamilton wrote about for over thirty years in almost thirty novels.

Those who only know Hamilton's work from the series of Helm films starring Dean Martin may be surprised by the lack of blatant comedy, but they won't miss out on any of the international intrigue in this standalone nail-biting suspense thriller with plenty of tension to go around.

Hitchhiking his way back to active duty in the Navy after only five years off (WWII ended in 1945, Korea began in 1950), Lieutenant David Young is given a much needed ride by Larry Wilson, a man with some subversive politics and a plan that involves Young, involuntarily. By the time Young realizes that he is a pawn in another man's game, he has awakened in a hospital bed with bandages covering his entire face, and with a new identity: Larry Wilson.

It seems that Mrs. Wilson had some plans of her own ....

Featuring wonderfully naturalistic dialogue with just the right amount of stammering repetition and hesitant stops and starts (one could call it Mamet-ian, if that weren't shamefully anachronistic), Night Walker moves along at a satisfying pace. The plotline is nicely complicated, and shows a real feel for the period (though it is a little too politically focused for my taste).

Hamilton also makes some interesting choices in Night Walker that make it more than just your average crime novel. First, he has all his major characters refer to each other by nicknames of sorts; "Sailor," "Red," "Honey," and others are bandied about as if these people weren't being completely betrayed by each other left and right, leading to a familiarity that instantly connected me to them. Also, there's a fascinating MacGuffin that I was trying to suss out the significance of for several chapters. I thought I had figured out pretty soon (thinking I had an advantage due to my familiarity with acrostics), but which had nothing whatsoever to do with the rest of the plot.

On a related note, the kinetic cover art by Tim Gabor seems at first to be a little ... well, silly (is that Claude Rains under there?), but it actually illustrates one of the more shocking scenes in the novel. Who that gun belongs to and its connection to the other characters is at the heart of what keeps Night Walker's pages turning well into the night and makes it yet another fine addition to the Hard Case Crime curriculum.

Anyone well-versed in hardboiled fiction knows the name Donald Hamilton. Anyone who loves tough-guy fiction SHOULD know the name Donald Hamilton. Now Hard Case Crime gives you the chance to get acquainted with one of the giants of tough guy fiction. Hamilton, the creator of Matt Helm, writes prose that leaps of the page and stangles you!

And Night Walker is no exception. Here you have a man picked up hitchiking who winds up in a hospital room, his face bandaged and everyone from doctors to family members thinking he's someone else. Hamilton keeps the tension high as slowly but surely the details come out and a deadly conspiracy unfolds. This taut little tale grabs the reader from the opening page and doesn't let up until the last line. A true classic of the genre too-long out of print!

Don't let the hideously lame Matt Helm movies turn you off of Hamilton's work. Aside from the name and a few plot elements, the movies had nothing to do with the original novels. Hamilton is as tough as they come and Night Walker is a prime example of one of the all-time greats at his best. Night Walker is not to be missed!

This is the first book by Hamilton I have read. Despite wanting to love this book, it just wasn't very good. The plot is simple, the characters are weak, and the conclusion is, well, hard to believe. After reading the book, I felt as though it was a waste of time. There was nothing memorable or redeeming (or suspenseful, for that matter) about the book. I'm going to try some of his other works to get a more balanced view. Perhaps this was simply not his best piece of writing.

With an unusually small cast of characters, Donald Hamilton's 1954 thriller still manages to deliver a taut and surprising climax. This despite the pedestrian nature of the novel's middle section. Although `Night Walker' is never less than readable, it is not one of the better entries into the Hard Case Crime series.

The novel's hero is David Young, a reluctant re-recruit to the US Navy. Having emerged from an attempt on his life to find himself in a hospital bed with his face swathed in bandages, Young is startled to find that he is being addressed by his would-be murderer's name. Furthermore, his attacker's wife plays nursemaid to him at her home where Young is taken to recuperate. While there, Young becomes more convinced that the man who attacked him still lurks close by.

For a good portion of this story, the lead character's face is hidden by bandages. This adds to the claustrophobic atmosphere that the author evokes. Young's injuries preclude him from venturing very far; much of the story unwinds over a relatively small location. Unfortunately, these narrow margins have a stifling effect on the story. The main female character, Elizabeth, is the wife of Young's attacker. Naturally, during the course of the story, she and Young become quite close. This burgeoning relationship, although inevitable in terms of storytelling, is a little grating. She is from Georgia, a fact that is reiterated with monotonous regularity by her use of the phrase, "I declare."

I also found the baddies' motives to be ambiguous although this may just be a sign of the times. There are hints of Communist activities and treason, which, in 1954 may have had more sinister overtones than they would from today's perspective.

I really thought I'd probably read this book the first time around. I certainly read a lot of Hamilton's non-Matt Helm books when they were first new, but this story didn't ring any particular bells for me. Nevertheless, it was enjoyable reading all the way through. Maybe having lived through that era of Communist paranoia renders the story more believable now, when other forms of paranoia are even more rampant.

It's wonderfully well-written, with enticing, believable characters and a plot that makes as much or more sense as anything newer, so what's not to like? To be sure, I was a bit taken aback by the ending, but it's merely one variation of many that were possible. Really, I think it's a 4 1/2 star book.

Kudos to Hard Case Crime for keeping these older gems polished and lively!

I would give this three and a half stars, if I could. This novel takes the Cold War paranoia and spy stories of its era and transmutes them into something more personal and more hard-boiled, with only the slightest nod to "Commies" or whatever. It also confuses the reader as to whether it'll be the kind of noir story where the hero comes through and ends the story alive, or the kind where he doesn't and he dies, so there was some real suspense in there, for me, as to how it would end. ...more I would give this three and a half stars, if I could. This novel takes the Cold War paranoia and spy stories of its era and transmutes them into something more personal and more hard-boiled, with only the slightest nod to "Commies" or whatever. It also confuses the reader as to whether it'll be the kind of noir story where the hero comes through and ends the story alive, or the kind where he doesn't and he dies, so there was some real suspense in there, for me, as to how it would end.

Also, a great concept that plays with identity, the ways in which establishments can tell us who we are no matter the actual truth, trust, and PTSD. The book isn't anything groundbreaking, it plays with great ideas but doesn't necessarily go anywhere amazing with them, but it's still definitely worth your time if you're a fan of the genre.

A pleasant and distracting novel from Donald Hamilton, the creator of the Matt Helm series of novels (which were made into campy Bond style movies starring Dean Martin).

The premise of a bandaged nobody mistaken for a US soldier who commited treason is intreguing and for the most part quite well done, but the pace of the novel is a little behind the times and you may find yourself trudging through character developement which would be quickly established in a modern novel, but if you can forgive this little minus, then you should have some fun reading ahead.

As for the edition itself, I must nominate this for the worse HCC cover so far. Tim Gabor's style is unsuitable for the subject matter and unworthy to stand next to the other great covers in the series.

As a matter of fact, he does, though he's not writing now. For those who cut their teeth on Matt Helm novels or any of the other great genre fiction which he produced, it's a great treat to have this reprint of a 1954 novel. Thank you, Hard Case Crime. Night Walker is a pure genre fiction confection--a case of stolen identity with a good-hearted, slightly tarnished hero, a femme fatale or two, and some vintage postwar baddies.

There are also some classic Hamilton touches--his traditional views of and observations on female dress and makeup, e.g. and a climax on the sea. For many years Hamilton has purchased and refurbished boats as a sideline and he knows them well. While reading Night Walker I thought of an old Hamilton favorite, The Mona Intercept. Anyway, here's some fresh Donald Hamilton to savor. Enjoy. And for those of you discovering him for the first time--you have a real treat in store. Years ago I read that he had sold over17,000,000 paperback originals. Read Night Walker and learn why.

While it's understandable that Hard Case Crime would eventually want to reprint a Hamilton novel due to his great successes in and out of the mystery field, Night Walker is just not up to par with previous titles in the publisher's catalogue.

The story is slow, full of tremendous leaps in logic, and has areas of such lengthy exposition that the book grinds to a total standstill several times. The villain's explanation at the end of the novel, tying up every loose end of the plot, goes on page after page after page. The book also features a southern belle who starts nearly every bit of her dialogue with "Well, I declare!" Think I'm kidding? Count it up yourself, I bet she's got at least 100 "I declares!" in there. That's not characterization, it's just sloppy writing.

A friend turned me on to Hard Case Crime books and this is the first one I read. I could not figure how a writer could write an entire book about a man with a bandaged face mistaken for a dead man while taken in by the dead man's wife. But Donald Hamilton pulled it off. I had trouble putting the book down and still keep thinking about it.

What I also liked, beside the interesting characters, was the way the writer kept switching thing, neat twists and turns. I don't want to give away the plot any more but this is a very good book.