The Vengeful Virgin (Hard Case Crime, 30)

Hard Case Crime strikes again with a noir gem from the 1950’s. This is pure, unabashed femme fatale noir. Don’t expect to get out alive. That music you hear in the background is la forza del destino.Jack Ruxton runs a TV sales and repair shop in Florida. He meets Shirley Angela, a smoldering-hot teenager who is the principal caregiver for her dying stepfather. While he is imperious and obnoxious, he has a hefty bank account that looms in the distance as compensation for Shirley’s current state of near-servitude. When she and Jack collide with Olympic-level passion, they quickly figure out that this process could be hurried along a bit. Yes, we’ve heard that song before but we’ve heard it because it works. This is one of the tried-and-true noir plots and Gil Brewer knows how to wring every bit of blood, sweat and tears from it. Most important are the subsidiary female characters: Jack’s old flame who won’t let go and has a habit of following him (wherever he might go) and Shirley’s next-door neighbor, a very “lonely” woman whose husband has been working in Alaska for months and months. Count on them to add mega-complications to the plot. The dying stepfather also has a nosy physician who likes to dabble in amateur detective work. Put all of these elements into a bag, shake gently, and wait for Jack and Shirley’s dreams to come a cropper.This is not Dostoyesky, more like James M. Cain. The writing is slick, the plotting urgent. The author has been compared with Hemingway and there are one or two one-liners worthy of Elmore Leonard. Once you start you will want to read it straight through.This is the kind of noir thriller that we read for the aesthetic pleasure of seeing a common form worked and reworked with a master’s touch. Very nice stuff and the sex and violence shouldn’t upset the squeamish.

While this novel probably cannot be said to add anything new to the existing body of noir literature, it is thoroughly entertaining from start to finish. Short, bloody, and fun in a can’t-turn-away-from-the-wreckage sort of way.The first half of the plot is basically a remake of The Postman Always Rings Twice. Jack is a television repair store owner who falls for a beautiful, amorous eighteen-year old named Shirley Angela. She is the titular virgin, although that state of being does not persist much longer than the second chapter. The two of them hatch a plot to kill her ailing rich stepfather. In real life, almost anyone could have pulled this crime off, since the old man was practically on death’s door anyway. However, the pair overthink things, there are plenty of twists and turns, more than one body ends up in the morgue, and then events quickly spiral out of control.Once again, I wonder why Hollywood has not transformed this Hard Case Crime novel into a low-budget drama. A story like this could be a great vehicle for a pair of up-and-coming actors.

If this novel teaches us anything, it's this: Virgins are Dangerous. Very Dangerous. Sure, the prospect of bedding a virgin sounds glamorous, but let's face it: It's not really the stupendously fantastic experience that it might appear to be on first glance. Unless you're a suicide bomber with a severe mental illness and the prospect of a twenty year lifespan to be followed by a severe and violent death appeals to you and you're under the rather misguided notion that the pearly white gates hold forty virgins in white wedding dresses waiting to fulfill every one of your wildest fantasies, the thought quickly loses luster.And as THE VENGEFUL VIRGIN aptly proves, these beautiful rosebuds can turn into what we in the medical community like to refer to as a "Stage Five Clinger." When that happens, run, do not walk to the nearest exit, even if you're missing a few clothes and possibly even your car keys. You can send the police back for the rest of your stash later, after the threat of imminent demise has worn off. If you're lucky enough to have your car keys handy, and even luckier to have a buddy present, have him discreetly move toward the nearest exit right before you both run like hell.The pages and my Kindle burst with dames and broads and TVs rammed into the ceiling and dialogue punctuated with colorful language. The pages overflowed with poignant prose and distressed damsels. But I like my hard-boiled novels filled with PIs and detectives, and these folks were relegated to secondary status. While I continuously flipped the pages and devoured this little gem rather quickly, I did feel a bit unfulfilled in the end, even with more than one dead body gracing the pages.Shirley Angela and Grace (no last name) proved as intriguing as Jack Ruxton, and filled with more curves than a string of back country roads. The detours proved small and short lived with the story reaching its dramatic conclusion in rather explosive fashion. And while liking this story was rather easy, really liking this story might prove to be dangerous. So, in the end, I was rather glad I found this story, and also happy that I reached the end in just a few sittings.Robert DownsAuthor of Falling Immortality: Casey Holden, Private Investigator

like a Hard Crime cross between Hemingway's "To Have And Have Not" and Zola's "Theresa Raquin" The Vengeful Virgin rattles on at a murderous pace.taut and gripping from the start this everyman's tale is all about Money , Sex and Death .but the dream of riches soon starts to unravel when the crime doesn't go to plan .as the Law closes in on our everyman, he works out something its taken him a lifetime to learn ."Some can make it, others can't. It was that simple"somewhat reminiscent of the last words of the dying man at the end of To Have And Have Not"no matter how. a man alone. ain't got no chance "

From the outset you know that Jack Ruxton is on a journey to hell. He latches on to the teenager Shirley Angela who is caring for her rich dying stepfather. Her life seems hell - it's as if she's just waiting for the rather unpleasant old boy to die. True, but Jack and Shirley decide to speed things up. He has a bit of expertise; it won't be easy, but there's a lot of money in Shirley's inheritance...As with many noir stories, none of the characters are particularly likeable, but the writing is so mesmerising that you're quickly sucked in. Believable and tense with lashings of not too explicit sex, this is definitely worthy of being reprinted. But the title probably gives away at least one twist. Atmospheric cover which shows that the artist Gregory Manchess has read the book.

Another cracker from Hard Case Crime. Beautiful cover, as always, and great story.Brewer is a complete diamond: roughneck prose, sharp dialogue and a breakneck pace all making for an easy and fast read. But it’s with characterisation he excels: THE VENGEFUL VIRGIN’s two leads, Jack and Shirley, are far from good people – they’re planning to murder an old man with no other motive than to grab his inheritance – yet still we get behind them. In fact, despite their many flaws, we want them to succeed.Quick-fire read with an explosive ending.

A good read with characters that you wouldn't expect to sympathise with. The plot keeps a good pace and gives a satisfying conclusion.

Cracking little novel that refuses to release its grip on you.