Customer Reviews

Seven Slayers

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

If you're a fan of Hammett, Chandler, Thompson, Goodis, et al, you owe it to yourself to read anything you can get your hands on by Paul Cain. His characters live outside the law and in the depths of the Depression, and are invariably without hope or anything resembling a future. Someone always ends up dead, and deservedly so. These are not random or remorseless killings, though, they are full of passion and betrayal, and when some mug gets a belly full of lead you understand only too well why he had it coming. James M. Cain (no relation) was a powder puff compared to this guy. Highly recommended

Absolutely the most brutal, riveting crime stories I've ever read....the characters live in a remorseless, alternate universe which makes ordinary reality seem like a respite...I liked these better than his novel, FAST ONE...the closest literary equivalent to the toughest crime radio of the 40's, as well..oh, yeah..

After all the hype, I expected more from Seven Slayers. I did not find these short stories anywhere near the level of Chandler, Hammett or Thompson. The writing style was too sparse and clipped (not as bad as James Ellroy's, but still!). They read like standard pulp fare of the day; decent, but nothing special. Furthermore, any possible enjoyment of the text was marred by the terrible presentation by publisher Blackmask.com. Inside, and on the back cover, there are a fair number of distracting typos. Worse, chapters and paragraphs are not properly separated, making it hard to know when scenes change or where you are in the book if you lose your place. This seems to be a conscious decision by the publisher to cram the novel into as few pages as possible. I can understand pinching pennies, but this is ridiculous! Cramming together of paragraphs (where the time, locations and characters have abruptly changed) makes reading Seven Slayers virtually impossible. The cover is an embarassingly bad, tiny pixellated .jpg of the 1950s paperback cover (obviously taken off the internet). My advice is to avoid buying anything from Blackmask.com if you can obtain a reasonably-priced copy elsewhere. Unfortunately, that may be hard, considering their rarity. I really wish Blackmask, whose heart is in the right place in rereleasing these lost classics, would clean up its act and actually put some effort into their presentation/packaging so the books looked good and read easier. As it is, their releases look like no budget, amateur hour junk. These novels deserve better! I'm proud to display my old Black Lizard reprints, but the Blackmask books? Forget it!