Ride the Pink Horse

Rating:
Summary: Great 40s hardboiled novel
Review: Anyone who thinks only men write hardboiled fiction--and great hardboiled fiction, at that--is in for a shock with this novel. Dorothy Hughes, the author, has to be classed as one of the best of the breed, based on this novel alone--although two of her other works, The Fallen Sparrow and In a Lonely Place, were also made into film noirs.

The real pleasure here is the crackling dialogue that lashes back and forth between Sailor (basis for Barry Gifford's character's name in Wild at Heart?), a down at the heels drifter, and the Sen--short for Senator Willis Douglass, a corrupt sleaze who had his wife killed so he could be with his floozy of a mistress.

Both meet up in Mexico where Sailor has tracked the Sen to get the rest of the dough Douglass promised him for keeping his mouth shut about what happened. But also there is Mac, a Chicago cop hot on the trail of one or maybe both of the two men.

If you want a strong, gripping read that creates a tense world dripping with 40s atmosphere, look no further. Noir fiends, like me, should rejoice that Canongate Crime has reissued this title in a very nice trade paperback. Just the ticket for the holidays!