Wild Wives

Rating:
Summary: A Fun, Exciting Read
Review: Although this book can be read in a day, it is full of excitement. This story is both gripping and amusing. Willeford's style is very simple and lends itself well to the story and kept my interest throughout. I recommend this book to anyone who likes to read, especially those who want something exciting.

Rating:
Summary: a Willeford novella deserving of more attention
Review: Charles Willeford certainly wrote an interesting mix of novels during his long career. His early works, such as 'Wild Wives', written in the 1950s is very much like the works of James Cain, David Goodis and Jim Thompson. Greed, desperation, and violence of the poor and forgotten (, alcoholics, druggies, psychotics) provide the backdrop of psychological dramas/crime stories.

In 'Wild Wives' we have a San Francisco rarely employed private eye who is hired by a rich socialite. Of course he finds this woman irresistable who, unsurprisingly, puts him on a course of "misadventure". The woman we discover possesses many secrets (..no spoilers here), and Willeford treats us with a terrific ending. The book is very enjoyable and wonderfully lean (packs a punch in only 100 pages).

Bottom line: an unjustly forgetten classic.

Rating:
Summary: a Willeford novella deserving of more attention
Review: Charles Willeford certainly wrote an interesting mix of novels during his long career. His early works, such as 'Wild Wives', written in the 1950s is very much like the works of James Cain, David Goodis and Jim Thompson. Greed, desperation, and violence of the poor and forgotten (, alcoholics, druggies, psychotics) provide the backdrop of psychological dramas/crime stories.

In 'Wild Wives' we have a San Francisco rarely employed private eye who is hired by a rich socialite. Of course he finds this woman irresistable who, unsurprisingly, puts him on a course of "misadventure". The woman we discover possesses many secrets (..no spoilers here), and Willeford treats us with a terrific ending. The book is very enjoyable and wonderfully lean (packs a punch in only 100 pages).

Bottom line: an unjustly forgetten classic.

Rating:
Summary: Another Willeford Classic
Review: Ok, you've got this guy Blake, a detective and a real piece of work. Blake gets involved with a real kook of a broad. He mixes business with pleasure and starts thinking with the wrong head. At the end Willeford delivers the kind of twist only he can. Blake is kind of a prototype for Hoke Mosely but he's not as nice. Great Book!

Rating:
Summary: Willeford was one of the best at Noir
Review: Originally entitled Until I Am Dead and published in 1956, Wild Wives' only blemish is its ending. I'm not saying that the ending is terrible, or even bad, but it did strike me as lazy. That being said, I can't find anything else wrong with this book and everything right. Willeford brings to the table a sophistication and class that most noir books are lacking. His knowledge of art, clothing and style strongly tempers his unforgiving toughness. I think Willeford was only rivaled in noir by Jim Thompson, but I must confess that Willeford's stories are tighter, more concise. This edition of Wild Wives weighs in at a light 102 pages. It's a fast, exciting read and Willeford packs a full, well-rounded story into what few pages he has given us here. This isn't as good as Pick Up, which was published in 1954, but not many crime books are. This book, as with most of Willeford's work, is very plausible. It's a quality that allows you to fall right into his stories. Jake Blake & Florence Weintraub are great characters. Despite their many quirks and abnormalities, Willeford manages to keep them consistant through the whole yarn. I highly recommend this one, Pick Up and Willeford's memoir- I Was Looking For A Street.

Rating:
Summary: Willeford was one of the best at Noir
Review: Originally entitled Until I Am Dead and published in 1956, Wild Wives' only blemish is its ending. I'm not saying that the ending is terrible, or even bad, but it did strike me as lazy. That being said, I can't find anything else wrong with this book and everything right. Willeford brings to the table a sophistication and class that most noir books are lacking. His knowledge of art, clothing and style strongly tempers his unforgiving toughness. I think Willeford was only rivaled in noir by Jim Thompson, but I must confess that Willeford's stories are tighter, more concise. This edition of Wild Wives weighs in at a light 102 pages. It's a fast, exciting read and Willeford packs a full, well-rounded story into what few pages he has given us here. This isn't as good as Pick Up, which was published in 1954, but not many crime books are. This book, as with most of Willeford's work, is very plausible. It's a quality that allows you to fall right into his stories. Jake Blake & Florence Weintraub are great characters. Despite their many quirks and abnormalities, Willeford manages to keep them consistant through the whole yarn. I highly recommend this one, Pick Up and Willeford's memoir- I Was Looking For A Street.