The Devil's Wind (Hardcover)

~ (Author) "I first met Mallory Walker high in the hills above Silverlake, at one of those parties where Luis Barragan announced his continued existence to the..." (more)
Key Phrases: counting room, Las Vegas, Mallory Walker, Beth Dyer (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Smooth, callow architect Maurice Valentine scores a calculated marriage to a wealthy senator's daughter, casually names names for Joe McCarthy, designs casino hotels and builds mock suburban subdivisions to be vaporized by atomic testing. But when cool, blonde femme fatale Mallory Walker appears, noir strictures demand that the moral house of cards that is this cynical operator's life be slated for demolition. They also require a thrillingly lurid plot machinery—including a troubled mob patriarch and son, a land scam involving Jimmy Hoffa, heroin, murder, revenge and periodic nuclear blasts—to embroider an elemental struggle pitting 1956 Las Vegas, aka corruption and hollowness, against insurgent beatnik romance. Rayner (The Cloud Sketcher) mines such Nevada gothic sources as The Godfather Part II and Bugsy for inspiration, and he handles his classic pulp materials with style. The novel's tacit theme—why the '50s deserved to be annihilated by the '60s—is conveyed by reiteration of Nietzschean truisms ("[E]verybody wants power.... Power, not goodwill, not democracy, not love," muses Maurice, while Mallory opines, "God quit a long time ago") that combine jaded worldliness with apocalyptic anticipation. Plot twists and betrayals, bomb blasts and unrequited love all add up to a classy neo-noir.
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From Bookmarks Magazine

Rayner, an English-raised author who lives in Southern California, has written a Hollywood noir for his sixth book. Filled with money and power, lust and revenge, Devil’s Wind resembles the dark crime fiction of Raymond Chandler, Dashiell Hammett, James Ellroy, and Elmore Leonard. It also has a taste of Fitzgerald’s Great Gatsby, as everyone’s reinvented themselves a few times over. Rayner’s set pieces and characters-from his casino hotels and Las Vegas parties celebrating A-bomb tests to his gangsters-turned-tycoons, African-American jazz musicians, and cameos by Frank Sinatra and Jimmy Hoffa-evoke the glossy sheen covering the era’s massive social corruption. Only the novel’s plotting, while ingenious, generated some confusion. Still, Devil’s Wind is a fine addition to its genre.

Copyright © 2004 Phillips & Nelson Media, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 352 pages
• Publisher: HarperCollins; 1st Printing edition (February 1, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0066212928
• ISBN-13: 978-0066212920
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.3 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,539,421 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars "People who live in glass houses.....................", November 19, 2004

By	G. Pruszkowski "bookworm_gp" (Philadelphia, PA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I was lucky enough to get an advance copy of "The Devil's Wind" by Richard Rayner.
The world of architecture brings in an environment that is different from most other novels and gives us a look at the lives of some interesting people. Throw in a dash of 1950's Las Vegas history and a story full of twists and turns and you have the basis for a good film-noir mystery.
I can't wait to see the movie!

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars wonderful 1950s Noir , February 1, 2005

By	Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews (#1 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

In 1956 California, highly regarded Los Angeles architect Maurice Valentine feels he rid himself of his past culminated when he changed identity from Maurizio Viglioni after coming home from World War II battle fatigued. Instead, he Anglicized his name, married a wealthy senator's daughter, and has connection is politics and with the mob. Maurice is going places perhaps in DC.

At a party, the womanizing Maurice meets self-claimed heiress Mallory Walker, who seduces him; for the first time in years he wants more. However, he is stunned when, Mallory fires a shot at him. Not long afterward, she is found dead in what appears to be a car accident. However, Maurice knows how sly and deadly his connections are; he wonders if Mallory was murdered and begins making inquiries though he knows that is a mistake. He has to know why she wanted him dead. Soon he will find a strange twist involving an obsessed actress and soon to be someone else's wife Beth Dyer, who sends him seeking Vegas mobster Paul Mantinelli at a gala celebrating the latest atomic bomb test.

The story line is action-packed, very graphic (the scene with the bomb exploding nearby is brilliant), and contains strong characters. The twists and turns will initially shock the audience, but quickly make sense as no one is quite like they seem; just ask Viglioni in his Valentine persona. Richard Rayner provides a wonderful historical (makes me feel ancient to say the 1950s in a historical context) Noir that pays homage to the Barbara Stanwick femme fatale movies.

Harriet Klausner

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars almost...but not quite, June 22, 2009

By	natalie balentine (madison, al United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: The Devil's Wind: A Novel (Paperback)

The Devil's wind had plenty of noir atmosphere, and the period detail and lingo down pat. There was sly humour and some good sex scenes, however the characters were only sometimes interesting, complelling...our main guy, Maurice was not much likable, or fully formed...his sketchy past was not really that sketchy...as written, it was hard to beleive he would embark on his journey for answers...didn't fit his character to care that much...i just didn't buy that he was motivated enough...Beth Dyer was a great character...as was Jackie. The climax got a little messy...i loved the tone and mood, just wanted more character development maybe...and please, since when do architects talk like gangsters? and are so savvy and world weary wise...i know a few, and they are not jimmy cagny cum brad pit..:)