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Fawcett Gold Medal, 1962 |
First Published: 1962
File size/Pages: 407KB / 221pp
Ebook Publisher: Stark House Press
Ebook Date: November 2019
Harry Whittington is known as either the "King of the Pulps" or "The King of the Paperbacks" depending upon your source; so it was only a matter of time before I read one of his books. Born in Ocala, Florida, he became a prolific writer of pulp fiction novels writing as many as 85 novels in a twelve year period. Most of these feature in the crime, suspense, hardboiled, and noir fiction genres. In total, he published over 200 novels during his lifetime.
A number of Whittington books were turned into motion pictures or television series. The most successful seems to have been tv-series "Lawman" airing orginally between 1958 and 1962. The list of pseudonyms he used is extensive, up to twenty it is believed. Among the house names he also wrote under is Tabor Evans for the Longarm western series
He sold his first novel, a western called Vengeance Valley, in 1945 and never looked back. In the fifties his output was mainly focussed on producing crime fiction for Fawcett and it's one of these, A Haven for the Damned, that I read for Digital Bibliophilia. Although he submitted the finished book to the publishers in 1960, they didn't release it as a Gold Medal paperback until 1962. I suppose, as we have experienced with other highly productive writers, their enormous output needed to be rationed by holding back on printing, or releasing under pen names. If you want to read more on Whittington, I can recommend an article on the Woody Hauts Blog.
A Haven for the Damned has as its central location the ghost town of Lust on the Mexican border, where eight people converge to take part in a harrowing event. The only person that resides in the old mining town set atop a high ridge accessible only by an out of the way road, is Josh Carrdell, lifelong resident and prosepctor accompanied by his mongrel George.
Joining him one late afternoon is Susan Bishop, who has been told to make her way to Lust in order to save the life of her husband, a bank clerk held hostage by a pair of bank robbers, ecaped prisoners Poole and Fletch. Her husband, Matt was accidentally shot by his Bank's security guard as the pair of hoods dragged him out to their getaway car.
Into this mix we also have a couple running away to get married, Milly and Harvey. Milly's estranged husband, Reed is tracking them down to try and convince her not to wed the new, older, man in her life. He has a gun and is determined to confront rich businessman Harvey.
As they all turn up in Lust, Carrdell does his best to make them welcome, or in the case of Poole and Fletch, keep them from shooting everyone. Poole after years spent incarcerated, takes a liking to the women, and Fletch has a hard time stopping his partner taking advantage of them. Their aim is to get safe passage into Mexico by any means necessary. Even if that involves blackmailing Susan Bishop using her seriously ill husband as a bargaining chip.
The book starts very well. The introduction of each character and their individual plight, Susan's desperation to find and rescue her wounded husband; Milly and Harve's frantic escape across country, being caught by speed traps and local police officers; and Reed's dogged tracking of the pair of lovers, never sleeping or eating in order to catch up with them before they can arrange a quickie divorce and marriage is great.
Whittington balances this against the story of lonely Josh Carrdell, trapped by his stubborness in a ghost town and the lure of a uranium vein hidden somewhere underground. With just George the dog for company, Carrdell is the mysterious stranger who has hidden strengths despite his apparent situation of living like a hobo among the decaying buildings of Lust.
As you'd expect, the writing is fast paced and snappy - there is not much to the tale really. It's just about a bunch of strangers who are thrust together unexpectedly, and who have to spend a short time cooped up together in a run down hotel.
The problem is that once all the characters have reached Lust, the plot begins to resemble a locked room whodunnit, but without a body or a murderer to identify. There are also a couple of scenes that don't feel quite in keeping with the pace of the story. For example, a convenient trap-door and a few hours alone enable Whittington to insert a very odd romantic interlude that feels very manufactured.
I didn't dislike the book, it was quite an ejoyable read - but the promise of the relatively fast paced start quickly stagnates into a book that feels like it has got 'this is a serious play' written all over it in the second half.
As a primer for Whittington, it probably isn't the best book I could have chosen, but A Haven for the Damned was the first Stark House Press book published under the Black Gat Book banner, so I took a punt and purchased the eBook. A number of other Whittington paperbacks have been released by Stark House in electronic format, so if you want to try one out, or are already a fan, check their website out.
Ebook Publisher: Stark House Press
Ebook Date: November 2019
Harry Whittington is known as either the "King of the Pulps" or "The King of the Paperbacks" depending upon your source; so it was only a matter of time before I read one of his books. Born in Ocala, Florida, he became a prolific writer of pulp fiction novels writing as many as 85 novels in a twelve year period. Most of these feature in the crime, suspense, hardboiled, and noir fiction genres. In total, he published over 200 novels during his lifetime.
A number of Whittington books were turned into motion pictures or television series. The most successful seems to have been tv-series "Lawman" airing orginally between 1958 and 1962. The list of pseudonyms he used is extensive, up to twenty it is believed. Among the house names he also wrote under is Tabor Evans for the Longarm western series
He sold his first novel, a western called Vengeance Valley, in 1945 and never looked back. In the fifties his output was mainly focussed on producing crime fiction for Fawcett and it's one of these, A Haven for the Damned, that I read for Digital Bibliophilia. Although he submitted the finished book to the publishers in 1960, they didn't release it as a Gold Medal paperback until 1962. I suppose, as we have experienced with other highly productive writers, their enormous output needed to be rationed by holding back on printing, or releasing under pen names. If you want to read more on Whittington, I can recommend an article on the Woody Hauts Blog.
A Haven for the Damned has as its central location the ghost town of Lust on the Mexican border, where eight people converge to take part in a harrowing event. The only person that resides in the old mining town set atop a high ridge accessible only by an out of the way road, is Josh Carrdell, lifelong resident and prosepctor accompanied by his mongrel George.
Joining him one late afternoon is Susan Bishop, who has been told to make her way to Lust in order to save the life of her husband, a bank clerk held hostage by a pair of bank robbers, ecaped prisoners Poole and Fletch. Her husband, Matt was accidentally shot by his Bank's security guard as the pair of hoods dragged him out to their getaway car.
Into this mix we also have a couple running away to get married, Milly and Harvey. Milly's estranged husband, Reed is tracking them down to try and convince her not to wed the new, older, man in her life. He has a gun and is determined to confront rich businessman Harvey.
As they all turn up in Lust, Carrdell does his best to make them welcome, or in the case of Poole and Fletch, keep them from shooting everyone. Poole after years spent incarcerated, takes a liking to the women, and Fletch has a hard time stopping his partner taking advantage of them. Their aim is to get safe passage into Mexico by any means necessary. Even if that involves blackmailing Susan Bishop using her seriously ill husband as a bargaining chip.
The book starts very well. The introduction of each character and their individual plight, Susan's desperation to find and rescue her wounded husband; Milly and Harve's frantic escape across country, being caught by speed traps and local police officers; and Reed's dogged tracking of the pair of lovers, never sleeping or eating in order to catch up with them before they can arrange a quickie divorce and marriage is great.
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| eBook cover |
As you'd expect, the writing is fast paced and snappy - there is not much to the tale really. It's just about a bunch of strangers who are thrust together unexpectedly, and who have to spend a short time cooped up together in a run down hotel.
The problem is that once all the characters have reached Lust, the plot begins to resemble a locked room whodunnit, but without a body or a murderer to identify. There are also a couple of scenes that don't feel quite in keeping with the pace of the story. For example, a convenient trap-door and a few hours alone enable Whittington to insert a very odd romantic interlude that feels very manufactured.
I didn't dislike the book, it was quite an ejoyable read - but the promise of the relatively fast paced start quickly stagnates into a book that feels like it has got 'this is a serious play' written all over it in the second half.
As a primer for Whittington, it probably isn't the best book I could have chosen, but A Haven for the Damned was the first Stark House Press book published under the Black Gat Book banner, so I took a punt and purchased the eBook. A number of other Whittington paperbacks have been released by Stark House in electronic format, so if you want to try one out, or are already a fan, check their website out.
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