Fade to Blonde (Hard Case Crime)

Dammit, blondes should definitely not be forced to fade away. Instead, the little vixens filled with honey and curves and dimpled noses should prance around from town to town just for the hell of it. I have no idea why, but I continue to be fascinated by women with honey-colored hair. If I'm being truly honest, though, I don't discriminate if she's brunette, or raven-haired, or a redhead, but for whatever reason blondes pack a little extra wallop when I step in the ring.So, yes, I liked Rebecca LaFontaine even I couldn't trust even six words out of a sixty word monologue that she might spout off to me between the sheets. FADE TO BLONDE felt like a true icon in the midst of my two star slump fest. But it had more bite to it than a piece of chocolate covered in chili pepper. Ray Corson had an attitude that just wouldn't quit, and the pages clipped along faster than a pair of scissors through tissue paper. So I did what seemed appropriate: I gripped my chair with both hands and held on tight. The dialogue had more firepower than a machine gun; there wasn't a spineless character to be found; the race was over in record time and it was nearly a photo finish.The ending was a blow to the gut and a jammed toe, but in a good way, and I may have lost a tooth before the ride ended. But I did manage to keep myself apprised of the situation, even if I had to blow my nose on more than one occasion. If you like your cases hard and your women loose, then find yourself a video camera and saddle up my friend, because this is one ride where you might want to hold on tight.Robert DownsAuthor of Falling Immortality: Casey Holden, Private Investigator

I read FADE TO BLONDE about ten years ago, and I keep checking to see if Mr. Phillips has written another book for HCC- because this book is so completely satisfying and perfect in every way .. The ending was fabulous.. I'd give it ten stars if I could. Its right up there with the best of Chandler, Cain, Ross MacDonald and Jim Thompson. The real crime is that Mr. Phillips has withheld is considerable talent from us all these years..

... There was a door to the side of the parlor, and she opened it and peeked inside and stopped. In there was a plain-looking bedroom, and in the corner of the room was a movie camera on a stand. Halliday came out of the kitchen holding two drinks, saw her standing there, and made a face. “Looking over the old workroom, huh?”“You make those movies,” she told him.“Sure. I told you, I’m a hood. I do lots of things. C’mon, close the door. Let’s not think about things like that tonight.”She was shaking her head. “You make those movies.”“Rebecca,” he said softly. “What? C’mon. I do worse things’n movies. I told you.”“You didn’t tell me movies.”Reading the reviews to this 2004 homage to midcentury paperback originals, I found myself agreeing with the three-star reviewers more than the five-stars. The book was engaging. The dialogue was quick-witted, and the plot, while not exactly tight, did keep things rolling.But the entire situation, however noirish, struck me as inescapably nineties, not sixties (and note that the bossa nova and Chubby Checker records playing at the drug party preclude the fifties)- a slacker and a porn star, and a small-time gangster who doesn't want rival coke dealers on his territory- look at that movie camera(= camcorder) in the spare bedroom! It's the 90s with a few references to Studebakers and sharkskin suits to throw us off slightly.Still, I expected to like it, and I did. Better than OK.“You could say something nice,” she said bleakly. “You could tell me I’m beautiful.”“You look ridiculous,” I said. “You look like two balloons on a string.”“Thank you. I know. And you,” she went on savagely, “look awful. You did look stupid with my gun. You looked like some big horrible stupid hairy animal. And so pleased with yourself. You don’t look a bit like a bear. Bears look nice. [...]They have little eyes, and they always look like they’re looking around, trying to figure things out.”“Well, that’s me in a nutshell. How did we got onto bears?”“I don’t know. It was something I thought of.”

When selecting any of the Hard Case Crime series, you pretty much know what to expect. And if you don't, then the blurb, and the fantastic artwork provide plenty of clues. 'Fade to Blonde' is no exception: a riveting, page turner which, like its main protagonist Ray Corson, pulls no punches. The prose is both skilful and succinct, with witty dialog to match. There's plenty of memorable characters and enough twists to hold your interest. As Corson says: "I only buy books by people I wish I wrote like" and I suspect many crime, noir, hardboiled writers would have been more than satisfied to have written this.

"Fade To Blonde" von Max Phillps gehört zwar zu den Erstveröffentlichungen in der amerikanischen Taschenbuchreihe Hard Case Crime, welche ansonsten vor allem Klassiker aus der Pulp-Fiction-Ära neu herausbringt, spielt jedoch in den 60er Jahren und ist ein typischer hardboiled Krimi. Held und "Ich"-Erzähler Ray Corson ist ein gescheiterter Drehbuchschreiber in Hollywood und ehemaliger Boxer, welcher sich mit Gelegenheits-Jobs durchs Leben schlägt. Er wird von der Schauspielerin Rebecca LaFontaine engagiert, um sie vor dem Gangster und Pornoproduzenten Lance Halliday zu beschützen. Hierzu läßt er sich gefährlich nah mit der Mafia ein. Doch es stellt sich heraus, daß seine Auftraggeberin alles andere als aufrichtig mit ihm war. Das Buch ist spannend, witzig geschrieben, und die Auflösung ist überaschend (wenn auch ein wenig unglaubwürdig). Leider nur auf Englisch erhältlich, aber ein echter Geheimtip.

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