Book description
The critic HRF Keating chose The Expendable Man as one of
his Crime & Mystery: The 100 Best Books. A late addition to the thirteen
crime stories Dorothy B Hughes wrote with great success in one prolific
spell between 1940 and 1952, it was, in his view, her best book.…
Why read it?
2 authors picked The Expendable Man as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?
Dorothy B. Hughes wrote one of my favorite 20th century noirs, A Lonely Place. This less well known book, though published in 1963, had incredible resonance today based on where we are socially and politically--I can't say more than that because what gives it that resonance are several spoilers.
From the opening pages (where the heat of the desert seeps off the page), I was hooked by this mystery. And then, the fun and games began.
There I was, enjoying the superbly-paced plot, the psychological realism, the stark beauty of Hughes’ prose when – suddenly – the book leapt from being very, very good to being a work of genius. I won’t share the twist, but it’s a powerful, provocative one.
Hughes, like all the authors on my list, shows that pulp fiction can be truly great, game-changing literature.
From Anna's list on unputdownable, game-changing crime fiction from the Queens of Pulp.
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A moving story of love, betrayal, and the enduring power of hope in the face of darkness.
German pianist Hedda Schlagel's world collapsed when her fiancé, Fritz, vanished after being sent to an enemy alien camp in the United States during the Great War. Fifteen years later, in 1932, Hedda…
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