This is a brand-new release from Stark House Press who is doing the Lord’s(?) work by republishing these Orrie Hitt books. It is available right here.
This Wild Desire was originally published as The Passion Hunters in 1966
Sex Pros was the second to last book he ever wrote and was published in 1969 as a Softcover Library double with Mel Johnson’s Love Doll.
Written review below. Video review here:
First off, Sex Pros is a terrible title that has nothing to do with the story contained within. No character in this story is a working pro, although our leading man does visit one. It should have been called Carnival Stripper or Naked Desperation or something a bit more on topic.
Our hunky hero is Eddie. He recently graduated college with a degree in business but instead of being back home to share his bright future with his high school sweetheart Cindy he is working at the traveling carnival boxing random locals for five bucks a pop.
You are probably asking, but how did this happen?
A woman. Duh. This is a sleaze book man! The genre is rife with good natured folks on the path to middle class mediocre contentment who get sidelined either with well-meaning feelings of love to a person intent on self-destruction or to a straight and narrow guy succumbing to his most basic sexual instincts like a junkie who can’t help poking his arms with holes.
For devastating reasons revealed later on, Cindy, Eddie’s sweetheart, the once housewife to be, has taken a left turn, run away from her cozy upper middle-class family and is now jiggling her goods for money in the girlie show at the carnival. Eddie is confounded by this strange turn of events. All the way up until the last months of college they had loving communication and plans for the future. How could wholesome virgin Cindy go from chastity belt to G-string in just a few months?
In order to be near her he joins the carnival as the resident unbeatable tough man. It never states how Eddie is such a good boxer but it is mentioned that he grew up extremely poor so I guess we can fill in the gaps with street fights.
At the carnival Cindy wants nothing to do with Eddie, most of the time. We spend a lot of time in Eddie’s head and the big question is, what is she doing?
The Cindy character appears for short snippets at a time in the beginning but is mostly just a blur on the other side of the carnival or an idea of what Eddie thinks of her. Though he is madly in love and walks around with a broken heart he does take a break to bang Linda, one of the other carnival strippers and Cindy’s roommate, after they have an incredibly written conversation about love and life.
This book is despair incarnate. A reflection of people whose lives didn’t turn out to be what they were expecting. It hits a nerve in the psychological department of anyone who has been down on the bottom for a moment in their lives. It’s very raw and unfiltered with some of the characters essentially being expired food that is only fit for the trashcan.
This does have some of the unfortunate pitfalls of the softcore genre which is now properly labeled Sleaze. Eddie is absolutely disgusted by women taking their clothes off for money and prostitution, right? But during one scene after a fight with Cindy, he gets a prostitute and takes out his aggression sexually. In Cindy’s same hotel. In another Orrie Hitt book I read called The Promotor the protagonist was the same way. He is completely disgusted by what the women are doing but at the same time he’s way into their bodies and has no problem using them in the way that makes him look down on them. It’s bullshit, man!
But yes, the plot is about more than Eddie trying to get Cindy back. In fact, he kind of gives up halfway through. The daughter of the deceased carnival owner shows up. She’s a banging blonde and takes to big Eddie for not only his muscular fighter body but his degree in business. She needs him to help keep the carnival going and to satisfy her physical needs. There is a scummy pimp type hustler who runs the girlie show and is trying to get it in anywhere he can, including Cindy who becomes an absolute train wreck of a drunk.
The atmosphere is all carnival, and it’s written in a way that you are there. Of course, it helps that we’ve all been to one so maybe it’s just nostalgia. Either way, it works. It rains throughout most of the novel which adds to the dreariness. We spend lots of time in shitty hotels, strip clubs and carnival trailers. There are plenty of unsavory side characters and every interaction with a townie belittles the carnie as people. Why do I love bleak books so much?? I just do.
Ultimately Sex Pros was enjoyable and poetic in a way. The sex scenes are all softcore, lots of slapping skin and amusing analogies of intense gratification. It definitely falls into the noir category more than straight sleaze. There is more going on than broken hearts and uncontrollable lust. If you are into folks down at the bottom, who just can’t get it together and their own evaluations on why that is, this is a book for you.
Put the kids to bed folks because today we’re talking sleaze! Classic softcore sleaze paperbacks to enhance the romance in your pants on Valentines Day. So, yes, adults only from this point on. This is the afterhours episode. The skinimax episode. The USA UP all night episode.
I am going to do a review of this book The Hustler by Laura Pope. We’re also going to talk about this fanzine/book called Sleaze Alley by Peter Enfantino and then we’ll do a showcase of my modest little sleaze collection (video only).
Before we get started, I want to clear up some of the misnomers of sleaze paperbacks. Number one, they aren’t hardcore. They aren’t smut or porn. Well, not as people in 2026 think of that stuff. I’m sure back in the 1950s and 60s this was hot material but to our present day minds, these books are an R-Rated movie. But even more than that, these books actually do try and tell a story. No matter how naughty and salacious they make it look and sound on the cover, there is usually something beside surface level shit going on. And I think that’s what removes them from the world of pornography.
I’ve only read a few, but from what I have read they are often dark in tone. Where the characters have emotional misgivings about their actions but an overwhelming urge to dose their flames.
Why are they intriguing? It’s a time capsule. An era frozen in time. These books would never be written today. They are not on par with where we are now. It’s kind of adorable. The innuendos and ways that the authors had to come up with creative ways to write about doing the deed without flat out saying will make you chuckle. And the stories contained within? Though some were written by unknown authors of dubious talent there are many written by famous genre authors we know and love like, Donald E Westlake, Lawrence Block, Robert Silvberberg, Harry Whittington and Evan Hunter. And the cover art while not quite the McGinnis and Lesser quality was stylistically original. I feel the art style encompasses a bit of innocence while still being suggestive. More like the look of an old ratty copy lying around a frat house in 1962 than a book hidden in some dark shady porn shop. It’s dirty but not that dirty.
The Hustler by Laura Pope
Magenta 1965
Cover artist unknown.
Our protagonist is Ted. He’s a young good lucking hustler working as a waiter at Hillstar, a high-class resort located in the Catskill Mountains. He likes to bed ladies. All kinds. All ages. He also likes money. He makes good money at the Hillstar but more importantly there are a lot of lonely ladies there. The story is told from his perspective in first person narrative, so we get to hear his thoughts and insights into the world around him.
We open with a softcore scene of him bedding a rich man’s lonely wife. She’s older but Ted doesn’t mind that she’s forty. She’s hot to trot and can’t get enough. She wants Ted to spend the night. Her husband will be here tomorrow. It’s their last night together. But there are strict rules that the help is not to fraternize with the guests and Ted knows that the chances of him getting caught leaving in the morning are much greater than at the current time of 2am. She starts crying. He watches her, detached. He has a distant coldness to him. We hear his inner monologue. He psychoanalyzes her and her husband. He speculates on the mental damage they are doing to their kids. He realizes he should feel bad for what he’s doing but he doesn’t. He even states that he likes the husband, he’s a great tipper. But what the hell, if it wasn’t him, it would be someone else.
The next day he sees his buddy acquaintance, Bernie. Bernie is a journalist and comes up to the Hillstar to hook up with ladies. He hangs around the lobby pretending to read literary books. The two are kind of friends though more in a way that they respect each other’s skills in the game. Ted is one hundred percent a loner though.
It’s now Friday night and the Hillstar is jammed pack. Ted sets the ladies on the back burner and works on his second favorite love, money. He’s a damn good waiter. He reads people. He knows what they want. And once again we get his analysis of people and how they behave in relation to who/what they are.
He slams teachers. He says all teachers ever talk about is how little they are paid. He simply finds it annoying. He never states an opinion on whether they are or not. It probably would never come into his mind. All he knows is that he isn’t going to be getting a good tip.
The doctors are golfers. They eat light and healthy. They make a lot of money plus they don’t report all of their income taxes. Once again, no moral judgement. He’s very aloof when it comes to ethics. All he cares about is that they will give him a decent tip.
I'm kind of loving this so far. I was taken aback by how interesting I found the Ted character to be. He’s a cynical and shallow opportunist. But he’s also charming, intelligent and perceptive. The narrative has a very removed fly-on-the-wall feeling. Even though Ted interacts with this world he is very detached. Someone who most of the guests probably don’t notice or give a second thought to unless they need him and he uses it to his benefit. He has emotions but they are faint and he only acts upon them after logically thinking about the feeling. He’s not a complete narcissist but is extremely confident.
He reminds me a lot of the Bateman character in Rules of Attraction.
There is another mild sex scene where he hooks up with a younger gal from Bernie’s table. And don’t worry, Bernie gets the other lady and there are plans to swap tomorrow night. Considering this is supposed to be triple x territory we are in, the scenes are all pretty bland for today’s standards. A Shannon Tweed movie level of naughtiness.
Reporter Bernie gives Ted a tip about a high-priced call girl that is here with a very rich person of importance from New York City. Ted doesn’t really care. How does that benefit him?
Here is where Linda enters the picture. She is Ted’s age; twenty-three. She is drop dead gorgeous with the body to match but it would cost Ted a whole month’s worth of pay to spend a night with her. He waits on her and her old man boyfriend. He is instantly smitten. He notices the couple aren’t getting along. She is flirty with Ted.
The inevitable invitation to make a late-night stop in her bedroom arrives. Oddly, Ted is interested in her as a person and keeps trying to get a dialogue going. With all the other ladies we just wanted a quick bang and he’s out. She doesn’t want to chat, she wants to get it on, so she taunts him. He finally submits but oops, her rich John boyfriend just opened the door. Ted scurries away.
The next afternoon he sneaks back up to her bedroom after a very odd breakfast meeting where she keeps telling him over and over in different ways that she is a whore. Mocking him with it. He hates it.
Yet here he is in her room again. This is the beginning of Ted losing his aloof exterior. Once again, he wants to talk. She goes off the rails this time, strips down and starts pleasuring herself in front of him all the while taunting him with “I’m a whore” talk and howling extreme orgasmic pleasure sounds. Finally, Ted leaves pissed without having ever touched her.
Deep stuff here, surprisingly! Linda is a real human being cracking at the seams. She’s not just there to pleasure you though at this point that’s how she sees herself. Why is Linda the one to melt Ted’s cold cold heart? Does he see himself in her and that’s why he is so disgusted when she debases herself?
The first half of this at the resort, is killer. I loved it. After the season is over he moves to New York City and here is where it takes a nosedive. He gets a job with a "motivational research outfit" which basically is a business where other businesses hire them to figure out why people buy one product over another. Ted admits that they usually just make it up. He finds it depressing and all of his coworkers are average men and he doesn’t connect. He lives a lonely life and thinks about Linda often.
He has random sexual encounters of an unbelievable nature. After paying ten dollars for a housewife turned hooker he decides, well, I might as well call Linda.
At her plush apartment he is very shitty with her about being a hooker. She admits that she doesn’t like the lifestyle, and her psychiatrist tells her she has self-destructive tendencies. Leaving Las Vegas!
They bang finally and she asks him to leave as she has a six o clock appointment. He is salty. Wants her to quit. In the midst of it all he tells her that he loves her. She tears up a little.
Absolutely tedious at this point. They argue a ton. He is so demeaning to her and acts like he owns her. He wants her to quit for him. And she’s like what will I do for money and he's like who cares. Quit for me. They go out on the town. Get wasted. At a fancy restaurant a man approaches her. He is some big wig and offers her a job for the night. She takes it and Ted flips. He finds a cheap hooker and bangs her. Goes home.
There are a bunch of people in the courtyard. Basically, an orgy. There is a girl on the porch who wants to go up to his room. She’s weird and asks all kinds of questions like how often married people do it. And then she wants him to nibble on her arm like a piece of corn.
All he thinks about is Lisa.
The playboy is gone. He's pathetic in this part but maybe that’s the point? He fell for a woman, and it ruins him. So, lame. Or maybe we are supposed to learn something else here? Maybe it’s a character study on people who suffer from self-destructive tendencies? Or maybe I am looking way too hard at a cheap and sleazy book that was probably written in an afternoon?
Lisa calls Ted. She tells him that she loves him and is quitting the life. He’s elated and then just as quickly defeated. She’s going back to her husband. Linda and Ted can’t be together because it will inevitably fail as neither of them are strong in character. There's no point. So, she might as well go back to her husband. This thing is depressing.
At the end of the day Ted is back at the Hillstar Resort. Everything is the same except him. The thrill he used to get hustling is empty. His buddy Bernie is there and tells him all about how he had to go out on a call. “Remember that hooker Lisa? She jumped off a building. Killed herself.” Bernie is amused that he couldn't afford her and now he's accidentally slipping on her brain matter on the sidewalk. It’s harsh but not unnecessary. This is the way the world saw Linda and the point is driven hard into Ted’s heart when he hears it.
Ted feels terrible. But what’s the point? Life is misery.
So, there we have it. Not very sexy. It was enjoyable on the front half and maybe even the back though the forced sexual encounters were ridiculous. It’s a bleak ending but if you are into movies like Rules of Attraction and Leaving Las Vegas this does have that same tone. Not to say that this is as well written but it’s not bad either. I give it a C+.
Sleaze Alley vol 1 by Peter Enfantino
Cimmaron Street Books 2025
It looks like it is sold out directly from the publisher, but it is available on Amazon.
My wife actually bought me my copy for my birthday last year. So, this isn’t a review copy or anything, I’m just sharing it because I think it’s cool.
Sleaze Alley is a zine/book containing nearly 100 reviews of vintage paperback sleaze from the 1960s all written by Enfantino himself. I haven’t read anything else by him but I do know of his Bare-Bones zine which has an online blog and physical issues, and he was a co-author of the Manhunt Companion which is a guidebook to Manhunt Magazine. And also, he lives in Gilbert Arizona which is where I used to work when I lived in Arizona. I wonder if we ever crossed paths at the bookstores??
What’s great about this other than the insightful and often-comical reviews is he’s done the hard work for you. He lists the pseudonyms and the cover artists, if at all possible. There are full color scans of the covers, and he has a four-star rating system where he judges the book on: The Story, The Sex and The Cover.
I marked a few interesting ones so we can take a closer look and see what he has to say about them.
First up is Beast of Shame from 1964. The author is credited as Don Holliday but it’s actually David Case. He looks to be mostly a horror author with many excursions into werewolf mythology. He even has an Arkham House release from 1980 titled The Third Grave. Cover artist for a Beast of Shame: unknown.
This is about a small-town detective with a bunch of murdered women on his hands. And a werewolf. A horny one who lays the babes and then slashes them to pieces. Enfantino tells us, not only is this sucker entertaining but it’s a real werewolf. No bait and switch.
Second up is Flesh Damned by Alan Marshall aka Donald E Westlake from 1964. Cover art by Robert Bonfils.
This one is a revenge story of a man who is out to kill the four men responsible for making his wife a drug-addled prostitute. He kills one and gets four years. When he comes out there is only one man left alive. The man keeps some young twins (adults!) around for carnal desires and when the husband finds him he ends up falling for the twins and lets just say, not a happy ending.
And finally, Flesh Hammer by John Baxter from 1963. Cover art by Robert Bonfils.
I picked this one because it is absolutely gnarly. There is a serial killer stalking the night called Jack the Hammer. He gets his namesake from smashing prostitutes with a hammer. Enfantino describes it as both an involving mystery and an absolute gore fest. The way he described it reminded me of a Herschell Gordon Lewis movie and coincidentally his movie Blood Feast was released the same year. Maybe a book to track down for all the slasher gore fans out there.
There are a lot of stinkers out there in the world of sleaze and the books aren’t usually cheap so to have a resource like Sleaze Alley is vital. Like I said, it’s available through Amazon and is a must have for anyone interested in the vintage sleaze genre. One other thing I learned while reading this book is that he mentions another book called Sin A Rama published by Feral House in 2004. I didn’t know this book existed and immediately ordered it directly from the Feral House website.
While you are waiting for your new books to arrive might I also suggest checking out Gary Lovisi’s youtube channel as he shows sleaze books from time to time and there is also a crazy extensive website called Vintage Greenleaf Classics which is a checklist of every book published by Greenleaf through 1959 to 1975.
I had a great time this year doing this here book blog thing. I started the Youtube channel on Oct 20th 2023 so like 14 months ago. I made quite a lot of friends which is something I didn’t expect; fellow channels, people in the comments who at first I thought didn’t like me but then ended up sending me books and being my pal- thanks Stiv. I got invited by Jake at Pulp Mortem to be a collaborator/cohost along with Tim at Secret Fire Books, on his book show, The Elusive Exclusive Book Society. Our last guest of the year was Eric from the Paperback Warrior which is crazy to me because their podcast was the reason I started this blog/ YouTube channel. So that was kind of surreal and then also in the past year I got mentioned in the Paperback Fanatic. It’s crazy. I don’t know anything. I’m not an expert. Hell, I barely graduated high school (because I was a JD, not because I was dumb.) I can’t believe people actually want to hear me stumble and bumble my way through these videos and watch as I learn this seemingly endless world of exploitive, explosive, sleazy and most of all fun vintage genre fiction.
I also wanted to give a shout to Bob from Menspulpmags.com and Justin from Fathompress.com for sending me their releases to review. I appreciate it immensely.
I made some shirts, by the way. I have a screen printing business so I printed these myself. The art was done by my good friend Bryan Brady. They are available on my business website streetlightprinting.com
If you don't feel like reading, I did make a video for this one:
For the list we’re not including new releases as this is primarily a vintage genre fiction blog. Though we will give a shout out to Terrance Layhew and his book One Man’s Treasure- it was incredibly enjoyable. We’re also not including art books, or magazines but we’ll mention them all here because I love them and everyone should support them by buying a copy; Paperback Parade, Paperback Fanatic and the MAQ. We will, however, be including the Men’s Adventure Library series collections as they are entirely reprinted fiction from the past.
We read 68 books:
17 horror
16 crime/mystery
9 sci-fi
8 spy
8 men’s adventure
5 westerns
4 S&s/fantasy
1 gothic
68. Deathworld 2- first book we read for EEBS. It was less a plot and more a vehicle for HH to speak at us about how religious people are horrible. I’m not religious in the slightest but this was totally unfair and the worst crime of all is it was boring. It was repetitive, lazy, pretentious and insulting. It’s one of the worst books I’ve ever read.
67. Vortex- this is a book about a huge tornado ripping through a town and the people fighting to survive! Just kidding. It’s a book about some dusty old politician visiting his dying side chick in a rural town where a tornado should be coming any minute now. Lots of dry reminiscing. Lots of republican/democrat BS. A very luke warm murder mystery side plot and two pages of tornado action at the end.
66. Stallion- if this was a cover art list this thing would be in the top five. Unfortunately, the book isn’t anywhere near as good. A horse-riding farm in the sticks in the UK. A giant horse next door. A sort of possessed horny teenage girl. Nervous breakdown mom. Hints of the supernatural but no follow through. Honestly, not much horror at all.
65. Rogue Agent no 1- started off kind of cool with an undercover spy which then leads to sneaking into West Germany to grab this defector scientist and then on the way out it all falls apart and it looks like the spy guy has been set up. Great premise but then he just kind of hangs out for most of the rest of the book. He goes to the beach. Visits some friends. It gets a little more spy toward the end but it has zero climax.
64. Ghostbusters- imagine the script of the movie and now take out all of the jokes and actors charm.
63. Aftershock- underground mutant monster comes to the surface to eat human brains after an earthquake. The monster is depressed and spends most of the book sulking. The humans up top spend most of the time talking biology and medicine. Not nearly enough brain eating. The kills were splendid though. Heads ripped off with attached spines.
62. The Last Rangers- Post apocalypse Texas ranger takes on all manner of bad doers in the pretty much lawless wasteland that is Texas. I remember this having a really solid middle. Like it was a short story and they tacked on an awkward beginning and ending.
61. 13 Horrors of Halloween- This is a case of wanting one thing and getting another. I wanted a spooky book to read during Halloween. What I got was a genre mash up of stories that happened to take place on Halloween but have zero spook factor.
60. Blue Sunshine- one of my favorite B movies. It’s about some bad acid that people took in the 60s that is making them psycho killers in the 80s. And lose all of their hair. This suffers the same fate as Ghostbusters. Pretty much the script and missing the actor’s performances.
59. Foxx no 1- This is an adult western about a Railroad detective who is a manly man named Foxx who goes after some guys that tried to blow up a train. This had lots of detail descriptions of the old west setting. It was impressive but dragged it down and made it feel very dry. The dialogue was basic, the writing was at a 5th grade level. Pretty bland all around.
58. Sliders- one of my favorite tv shows. This one was pretty enjoyable. Unfortunately, I was under the assumption that it was a new story but it was just a novelization of the pilot episode. So, for that it lands towards the bottom. Unlike Blue Sunshine and Ghostbusters though, it was written way better with lots of extra panache added.
57. Caviar- a collection of short stories by Theodore Sturgeon originally published in the pulps. I had high hopes for this when I picked it up because I really enjoyed his story in another collection coming up much later in this list. These were pretty disappointing though. Some a little too cheeky. Some flat out boring. Out of the 8 I really only liked 1.
56. Deathworld 3- the final installment in the Deathworld trilogy. Coming right after the trudge through the second one, this one didn’t stand much of a chance. The crew end up on a brutish Conan type world and instead of just giving us some hack and slash release after the preaching of the second one we instead do lots of sneaking around and undercover work. If this was a standalone it might have been rated better but I just couldn’t shake number 2.
55. Bumsider- another EEBS books. A lackluster noirish mystery lightly sprinkled with some sci-fi stuff. This books main issue was that the main character didn’t want to be there and it made you feel like you didn’t want to be there either. I was into it at first. The world was very Soylent Greenish. It unfortunately meandered too much.
54. Operation Atlantis- French author writes a French spy book where the actual hero is a US spy. This had moments of 60s schlocky spy fun, but I really wanted it to be more about the French hero.
53. Badman- the cover states, “he was an outlaw out for revenge.” This had some great shoot outs and action scenes as the main character is on the run from the law after getting set up for a train robbery gone wrong. It read like parables as he travels from place to place getting into morally grey encounters. He spends a lot of time reevaluating his life and it was smart and insightful but a little too deep for what I was hoping for.
52. Dead Man Dead- beautiful Robert Maguire cover. I love the Exotica theme of Calypso and voodoo and mix it with crime and a murder mystery, and I’ll be buying that book in a second. This was just average. Nothing mind blowing. The fact that it had almost zero calypso or voodoo as the cover suggests drops it a little further down the list.
51. Hunger- a group of killer biologically enhanced mako sharks escape their government testing pin and head out to the open ocean to eat people. This was pretty enjoyable but had too much padding. Too much filler not enough killer…sharks.
50. Cherry Delight no 14 In a Pinch- Cherry is a super sexy agent of NYMPHO- New York mafia Prosecution and Harassment Organization. In this one she helps a fellow busty lady take out some mafia button men who were responsible for killing the girl’s brother. As far as Cherry’s go, this one was pretty meh. The sleaze wasn’t that sleazy and the plot got a bit repetitive.
49. Drowning Pool- an entry in the Lew Archer PI series. He investigates a wealthy family because the wife is being black mailed for cheating and they have dirty pictures. This was a pretty good read. It reminded me of Chinatown a lot. Nothing really stuck out as mind blowing but nothing stuck out as bad either.
48. Deathworld- a psychic gambler gets hired to figure out why a planet is trying to kill it’s people. When this first started I loved it. It made me excited to read more sci-fi. But then it just comes off the rails. Plot points are thrown to the side. The reasoning behind the conflict was meh. It did have lots of action though and the world was fun, brutal and interesting.
47. Nine Princes in Amber- one of the princes of the real world of Amber tries to take the throne from his brother. I had no idea this was such a well-loved series when we covered it on an episode of EEBS and if I had I probably wouldn’t have been so harsh on it. Ultimately though, what can I say, I still feel the same. It was a bit too dreamy and loose for me and I just felt like the ho hum motivation of the characters infected me as a reader. Not to say that there weren’t great parts in this; I loved the tarot card idea, the accessible other worlds, one of the coolest fight scenes ever where two armies fight through a single file line…but yeah I don’t know, I am going to try out the second in the series. It really bothers me that so many people who I usually agree with loved it so I’m going in for another round. I hated Lost Highway when I first watched it and now it’s one of my favorite movies. Now THAT’S a nonsensical plot.
46. Devil World- a star trek book featuring the original characters. Kirk and co go to a Forbidden Planet- quite literally it’s just like the movie Forbidden Planet to help a young looker find her dad. This was fun and essentially feels like a lost episode from the original run.
45. Hawk no 1 The Deadly Crusader- Reporter playboy Michael Hawk’s humble beginnings. This is before he inherits his fortune and is just a working reporter. I was surprised by how different this was than the later entries. It’s written really well. Like functionally well. The plot is wishy washy though and it just didn’t have that 80s action b-movie feel that the other Hawk books have.
44. The Golden Stag- I was in the mood for some treasure hunting which is what this was selling but instead it turned out to be a run of the mill men’s adventure which would have been great if they would have thrown in the treasure hunting as mentioned but it was like five pages of the entire book and that’s what I was there for.
43. Ninja Master no 1- we went over this in EEBS so just briefly, I read a later entry in the ninja master series and loved it so I wanted to see how it all began. It began with a whimper. Not enough fighting, not enough ninja. It did however nail the low budget vigilante movie in tone and for that I enjoyed it.
42. The Executioner no 2- the series that started off the one-man-versus-the-mob genre. I had never read one before and wanted to start at the beginning, but I found number 2 for $1 so we started there. Lots of action. Gun fights. Action. Military talkin. Killin. Guns. Action. Bombs. Missiles. Buddy comrade. Guns and action. No plot. No tension. Just shootin.
41. Cosa Nostra- Small town Maine sheriff takes on the mob as they try and infiltrate his small town. Sleazy and kind of ridiculous plot about the mob wanting to set up a spot close to the border of Canada so they can connect with gangsters in Montreal. It’s more like a PI story as you follow the main cop character in trying to figure out what the mob is even doing there. It’s really tough talking. Politically incorrect. Violent and gritty. It was a little slow though and kinda meh plot wise.
40. Hawk no 12 Virgin Stealers- later era style Mike Hawk that we’re used to and love. This one was mid-teir Hawk only because it had all this snuff stuff in it and I just hate that shit. I hate the idea of it. I hate torture. If you took the snuff out it would have gotten much higher.
39. Angel Eyes- E Howard Hunt’s hardboiled CPA character Steve Bentley got the number one spot last year with the Calypso Caper. In Angel Eyes Bentley is back in DC and it just didn’t stand out as much as Calypso Caper. I think this is the case of loving the last one so much that the bar was raised high. This was still enjoyable but I wanted another home run.
38. Hook no 5 Corpses in the Celler- Insurance investigator and former boxer, The Hook, kicks ass, beds ladies and denies you your insurance claim on the fire at your nightclub. This was ridiculous. Which made it fun. It had some decent fist fights and a decent little mystery.
37. Gun Code- A young man returns to the town is father was murdered in 15 years after him and his mother were chased out. He wants the land that is still in their name and half of his fathers business but the other half is owned by the man everyone says killed his father. So what actually happened? A pretty decent cold case murder mystery that pulls you back and forth between the two possible killers.
36. The Walking Dead- sequel to the Sinking Pit. A supernatural pit in the woods that hypnotizes people into killing their loved ones. I mean...
35. The Book of Skulls- four college bros traveling from NY to Arizona to find a cult who one of the lads believes will make you live forever. The only problem is, they will only accept groups of four and one of them must die. What an incredibly original novel. When they get to the cult it was eerie and filled with tension. I NEEDED to know what was going to happen!! So why wasn’t it higher? Most of the book is a road trip of college bros doing college bro things. I get that the end doesn’t work if we don’t know the guys well but man, it was a little too much. Still. What a memorable book.
34. Brood of the Witch Queen- A serialized novel originally published in the pulps. Black magic. Ancient Egypt. 1930s occult out the yin yang. This was in three parts. The first was a little better than good. The middle was outstanding. The third was forgettable. Which places it right in the middle of the list.
33. Black Canaan- REH’s horror stories. This is a short story collection also originally published in the pulps. The Black Canaan story was the main standout. Completely memorable. It takes place in the swamps. There are voodoo zombies and atmosphere galore. The rest of the stories were just ok. Fun horror pulp stories but nowhere near as good as Howards action and adventure stuff. I think this is another case of the bar set high.
32. None of Maigret’s Business- Maigret’s are my comfort read. If I’m feeling stressed, overwhelmed or depressed I read one of these and it never fails to completely take me in. I love this series. LOVE IT. If you don’t know, Jules Maigret is a chief inspector in Paris France. He solves puzzling mysteries. I always say he is the bridge between Sherlock Holmes and those early hard-boiled novels. This one was different. Basically, Maigret takes a vacation and solves the mystery by reading the articles of the murder in the newspaper.
31. Texas Israeli War 1999- We read this one on EEBS and Jake picked it because he thought it was going to be a hilarious shit fire. Turns out it was actually pretty great. A mix of post apocalypse, alternative future history, and a war novel. After the world has been nuked, everything is in disarray. Texas succeeds. They kidnap the US president. Israeli mercenaries are brought in to rescue him.
30. The Face of Night- This was an odd one. It comes out of the gate as an ultra grimy 70s urban crime novel. Lots of heroin and pimps and crooked cops etc. As it goes on it becomes less about an exact crime or plotline and more about the psychological destruction of the main character. This guy starts off as the shining knight and by the end just an absolutely hateful piece of shit.
29. Crown no 1 The Sweet and Sour Kill- Ridiculously fun kung fu cop exploitation novel about a detective in Hong Kong getting revenge for the murder of his grandparents. Look. It’s dumb. I know. I have it above REH. That’s just not right but the thing is I was loving it. I looked forward to it every night.
28. Overkill- I read a book by Dorothy Daniels and while doing research for the review I saw that her husband was also an author and I happened to own one of his books. This is a great spy book that takes place in Albania and involves Russians and Chinese and big surprise a nuclear bomb. Classic Cold War era espionage.
27. Shanghai Incident- Another great cold War era spy book. This one takes place in China and has an ex-soldier returning to find a missing geologist. What was great about this book is it was a spy plot but the style was classic hardboiled detective. It wasn’t a straight narrow mystery but more of a conspiracy mystery.
26. Maigret Sets a Trap- a serial killer is loose on the streets of Paris and Chief Inspector Maigret is tracking him down. This one probably would have been higher but they had made a movie out of it and not only have I watched it like twenty times but the movie was actually better. They didn’t just add scenes but really fleshed out the killers motivation. Regardless, it’s a great entry in the Maigret series.
25. Nighthunter no 1- Part one in a six part series about a psychic killer who uses supernatural elemental forces. What a well researched occult horror novel. The lore in this thing was incredibly on point and the kills were brutal. My biggest complaint is I would have rather just had the story in one book and not stretched out over six. But who knows, maybe it’s worth it to read all six. It’s pretty great as just one though.
24. The Quick Red Fox- this is my third in the Travis McGee series and so far my favorite. Florida houseboat lovin PI Travis McGee is hired by a famous actress to hunt down the guy who is blackmailing her with scandalous photos taken at an orgy she attended. Like other TM entries, the mystery in depth, with many layers and the outlook is bleak.
23. Tight Case- cop book about hunting down the mob. The cops are drunk and willing to break the law to catch the mob. This was written by a real world FBI man who took on the mob. One of the grimiest books I’ve ever read. Everyone in this is a shit heel.
22. To Renew the Ages- Laser books no 26- Post Apocalyptic sci-fi about a man and woman who band together to travel across the wasteland. They get into inventive random encounters and fall in love. This was action and romance and I loved it.
21. The Running Gun- A man is set up as the fall guy in a murder and must travel to the rugged deserts of Mexico to clear his name. Much like the last book this is about a man and woman who band together to travel across a wasteland and fall in love. Sci-fi or Western apparently this is a plot line I enjoy.
20. Panic- Halloween horror book about a boy and then man haunted by a group of wispy imps who only he can see. This was recommended to me by odditypardonme on Instagram and he was right. It rules. No filler. Great Scottish folklore. The main villain is unsettling. And it delivers on the Halloween.
19. Silverglass no 1- sword and sorcery with a female lead written by two female authors. It was tough and exciting. Sleazy. Lots of sex scenes. These ladies get their freak on and they are in control of it. Conan esque type main character who is quick with the sword and hates magic. Reminiscent of a great D&D campaign. Just a lot of fun.
18. Shadow Over Innsmouth- this was a reread so I dropped it lower than it should be. Lovecraft’s haunting story of a town of fish people who made a deal with the old gods.
17. Nolan no 1- Heist novel. Retired thief anti-hero Nolan is being hunted by the mob and is forced to do one last last job to get out from under their scopes. Strong characters. Well written. Exciting which is weird because a lot of it is planning the robbery.
16. The Mexican Connection- Another book where the “bad guy” is the hero. A group of drug runners are trying to do one last big run of quaaludes, so they can retire. A walking hard-on of a cop is on their trail. Someone is snitching. Who is the weak link, can they get away with it? I had no idea the drug dealers were the good guys until the halfway point and it blew my mind when it dawned on me. I think that made me rate it higher.
15. The Night Stalker- The original novel the TV movie was based on. What’s great about this is that the book was actually first even though it wasn’t published until after the movie. It’s different but not in a bad way. Kolchak isn’t the main hero here. He’s the vehicle for telling the story. He gathers together a network of people, so we get lots of other great characters which only adds to the enjoyment.
14. The Maya Temple- the one and only gothic on the list. A woman travels to the jungles of Mexico to find her missing archaeologist father. I loved the setting. The mystery. The Mayan folklore. It was so fun and completely grabs you. Plus, there is a hilarious scene where the main character eats some magic mushrooms and trips out.
13. Atomic Werewolves and Man Eating Plants- I’ve read a few of the Men’s Adventure Library collections and this one has been my favorite. It’s all Weird Tales-ish horror type stories that originally appeared in the pages of Men’s Adventure mags from the 50s-70s. So many great selections that really stick in your mind. In fact, since I’ve read this I have been judging all other short story collections on how great this was.
12. The Golden Child- ok this guy’s trippin. He’s putting the golden child novelization at number 12. Look man. Number one, I love that movie. And even though it doesn’t have Eddie Murphy’s charm and humor it was great but in a different way. This was an entirely different monster. Hardboiled occult detective steeped in Eastern folklore. I looked forward to reading this every night.
11. Monster from Earths End- learned about this book from the Paperback Warrior blog when they reviewed it. Reminscent of The Thing/Who Goes There. Classic b monster horror movie.
10. Sorcerers- spy book with a black magic cult written by E Howard Hunt. This has cold war political intrigue, world traveling, undercover and action scenes. It’s romantically spy and it has a witchcraft cult.
9. A Stir of Echoes- I loved the movie so I decided to go back and read the book. It’s just as eerie but not in your face. There were moments in it that genuinely creeped me out. Excellent haunted house story.
8. Black is the Color- John Brunner writing spy fiction. He takes all of this South African political strife and moves into the swinging hip jazz scene of 60s London and spices it up with voodoo. And he does it well.
7. The Dead of Winter- A group of buddies find one of their own murdered in a strange and violent way. They dig through his life and uncover some shady connections. I thought this was going to be a straight vigilante action book and instead was floored by this complex but understandable mystery novel and they didn’t forget to bring along the vigilante action.
6. The Seth Papers- This is an entry in the occult detective series Dr Owen Orient. He is hired by a woman as a translator for the locals as her and her partner do and archeology dig. They find the Hand of Seth which is a mummified hand that gives prophetic powers. Dr Owen realizes these people are in an evil secret society and must stop them. Halfway through a female CIA agent comes in and takes over the narrative and it’s equally as fun as it turns into a spy novel.
5. Jirel of Joiry- Early sword and sorcery starring a female warrior written by a female. Jirel of Joiry is different from Conan in that she goes about defeating her enemies in other ways. The worlds, creatures and scenarios are completely one of a kind. It borders on horror a lot of the time.
4. Crime Partners- Donald Goines Kenyatta series entry with two hitman who team up with a black militia group to take on cops and drug dealers. Low down and gritty. This is the hardest novel I’ve ever read. This is from the street, written by an author who was in and out of prison.
3. The Gang Girls- I got this for the wonderful juvenile delinquit exploitive cover art and was surprised to find a completely engrossing story. A young lady and her drunk prostitute mom move from Ohio to New York City. The girl gets jumped by a girl gang. Fights back. They invite her to join and from then on its fight, drugs, violence and crime.
2. Assignment Burma Girl- another exciting entry in the Sam Durell spy series. When you read one of these books you not only get an enjoyable history lesson but you get to experience exotic locations from the comfort of your home. Sam Durell is stern and serious but not dry bureaucratic spy fiction. He’s also not martini’s and poonanny. It’s always a great mystery with exciting action and realistic with a tinge of pulpy fun.
1. The Hanging Stones- Manly Wade Wellman comes in at number one on my list this year with this Silver John entry. Someone is building a replica Stone Henge on top of Teatray Mountain. Being a curious fellow John heads up the mountain. We get werewolves, druid folklore, ghosts, fist fights, greed, philosophy, Christian mysticism, occult detecting and songs as John is a travelling folk singer. Such an incredibly inventive and different idea Manly Wade Wellman had come up with. He really brings this world to life.
