Run Man Run

Rating:
Summary: A suspense-filled chase through 1950's Harlem.
Review: A murderous racist cop trying to cover up hisdrunken mistakes and a black truck driver who'sthe only surviving witness have a suspense-filled chase through Harlem. Not always believable, but always thrilling. A good introduction to the hard- boiled fiction of Chester Himes, and a piercing look into the sources of racism.

Rating:
Summary: Tough look at racism
Review: Here's a tough crime novel by Chester Himes without Coffin Ed Johnson and Gravedigger Jones that takes an uncompromising look at American racism in New York City. Though published in 1966, it has a strong '50s feel that comes through in the language and the cultural references both.

Himes' dialogue and language can be occasionally stilted, but there are chase scenes here that will make you sit up and take notice, and the focus on black-white relations is especially good. It's the story of a white cop who accidentally on purpose shoots to death two black 'porters' (workers who unload trucks for a restaurant) and then goes after a third, Jimmy, who manages to survive the cop's onslaught.

The depiction of the cop as sometimes conflicted by his actions is well done and his liaison with Jimmy's black girlfriend is strong stuff indeed. There's a somewhat uneasy mix here, though, of academic and street thinking. Jimmy is studying at Columbia University and shows it in his speech, but when other characters speak, it sometimes sounds like they're struggling to catch up to Jimmy's psychology and often it doesn't feel right.

Nevertheless, what makes this compelling is, as mentioned, the focus on race relations and racism, the chase scenes, and the cop's wacked psychology.

An interesting read.

Rating:
Summary: Tough look at racism
Review: Here's a tough crime novel by Chester Himes without Coffin Ed Johnson and Gravedigger Jones that takes an uncompromising look at American racism in New York City. Though published in 1966, it has a strong '50s feel that comes through in the language and the cultural references both.

Himes' dialogue and language can be occasionally stilted, but there are chase scenes here that will make you sit up and take notice, and the focus on black-white relations is especially good. It's the story of a white cop who accidentally on purpose shoots to death two black 'porters' (workers who unload trucks for a restaurant) and then goes after a third, Jimmy, who manages to survive the cop's onslaught.

The depiction of the cop as sometimes conflicted by his actions is well done and his liaison with Jimmy's black girlfriend is strong stuff indeed. There's a somewhat uneasy mix here, though, of academic and street thinking. Jimmy is studying at Columbia University and shows it in his speech, but when other characters speak, it sometimes sounds like they're struggling to catch up to Jimmy's psychology and often it doesn't feel right.

Nevertheless, what makes this compelling is, as mentioned, the focus on race relations and racism, the chase scenes, and the cop's wacked psychology.

An interesting read.