Sign in with Facebook
Loading...
42nd out of 80 books
—
1 voter
Shooting Star/Spiderweb (Hard Case Crime #42)
by
Robert Bloch
TWO COMPLETE NOVELS, PUBLISHED IN THE CLASSIC BACK-TO-BACK "DOUBLE" FORMAT!
SHOOTING STAR: A famous movie star found dead on the set of his latest picture...drugs hastily disposed of at the scene of the crime...it’s the stuff of Tinseltown scandal and could ruin the investment Harry Bannock made in the dead man’s library of films. For help, Bannock turns to Mark Clayburn, a...more
SHOOTING STAR: A famous movie star found dead on the set of his latest picture...drugs hastily disposed of at the scene of the crime...it’s the stuff of Tinseltown scandal and could ruin the investment Harry Bannock made in the dead man’s library of films. For help, Bannock turns to Mark Clayburn, a...more
Mass Market Paperback, 320 pages
Published
April 10th 2008
by Hard Case Crime
(first published 1958)
Friend Reviews
To see what your friends thought of this book,
please sign up.
Community Reviews
(showing
1-30
of
219)
Spiderweb:
Loser wannabee actor Eddie Haines falls in with a blackmailing ring led by the sinister Professor. But when Eddie falls for one of the Professor's targets, he has to get out any way he can...
The first of the short novels in this collection was pretty good. Eddie's slide into life as a con man was well done, as was his romance with Ellen. The Professor and Dr. Sylvestro were suitably chilling yet still plausible. When Eddie decides to get out, his uphill climb was believably done.
Bloch...more
Loser wannabee actor Eddie Haines falls in with a blackmailing ring led by the sinister Professor. But when Eddie falls for one of the Professor's targets, he has to get out any way he can...
The first of the short novels in this collection was pretty good. Eddie's slide into life as a con man was well done, as was his romance with Ellen. The Professor and Dr. Sylvestro were suitably chilling yet still plausible. When Eddie decides to get out, his uphill climb was believably done.
Bloch...more
21 likes · like · see review
view all 5 comments
Apr 27, 2008
Andy
rated it
2 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
old detective TV shows
Shelves:
hard-case-crime
"Spiderweb" reads like a poor man's "Nightmare Alley" : a showbiz never-was gets groomed to play psychic to neurotic rich folks all too eager to part with their money. The story didn't have anything special about it.
"Shooting Star" was like an old detective show from the Sixties (when this was written) complete with drunken movie starlets and murdering agents in the Hollywood Hills. Again, nothing distinctive about this either. Robert Bloch has written some good short stories, and these two lous...more
"Shooting Star" was like an old detective show from the Sixties (when this was written) complete with drunken movie starlets and murdering agents in the Hollywood Hills. Again, nothing distinctive about this either. Robert Bloch has written some good short stories, and these two lous...more
1 like · like · see review
On a micro level, highly skilled. Robert Bloch has writerly chops to spare, and I enjoyed almost every page of these novels. But on a macro level, completely forgettable. The protagonist of Shooting Star is Mark Clayburn, a small-time literary agent who, because he works in the true-crime field, also has a private investigator's license. This combination has interesting possibilities, but they go untapped. The literary agent fades mostly from view; the private investigator takes center stage; an...more
Shooting Star
has as its hero a one-eyed man who is both a LITERARY AGENT and PI. You've just got to give 5 stars to that combination. :)
I thought both stories were very entertaining.
I thought both stories were very entertaining.
Let me qualify my grading first.
The first novella is 4-star material, with a one-eyed detective, a femme fatale, and ususal red-herrings and other stuff that have been the hallmark of these novels. It also has examples of Bloch's characteristic wit that made the work quite readable. Recommended.
The second novella is 2-star material. It is only Bloch's prose that makes the stuff readable, but otherwise all the characters appeared watered down and the plot was so contrived that I felt disgusted. N...more
The first novella is 4-star material, with a one-eyed detective, a femme fatale, and ususal red-herrings and other stuff that have been the hallmark of these novels. It also has examples of Bloch's characteristic wit that made the work quite readable. Recommended.
The second novella is 2-star material. It is only Bloch's prose that makes the stuff readable, but otherwise all the characters appeared watered down and the plot was so contrived that I felt disgusted. N...more
Two novels by the author of Psycho, both set in Hollywood - one about a quasi one eyed private eye, the other about a man seeking dreams of stardom but ultimately ends up involved in a blackmail scheme.
The first of these novels 'Shooting Star' is about Mark Clayburn, small time literary agent and private eye, brought in by a friend in the film industry to investigate the murder of one of the stars of his recently acquired motion pictures. Shooting Star started well and quickly introduced what w...more
The first of these novels 'Shooting Star' is about Mark Clayburn, small time literary agent and private eye, brought in by a friend in the film industry to investigate the murder of one of the stars of his recently acquired motion pictures. Shooting Star started well and quickly introduced what w...more
I read only the Spiderweb half of this double-feature, but it was good pulpy fun. In places it even gets a little arty, particularly when the protagonist goes to the beach at Santa Monica, and is completely alienated by the scene. The description of the crowd lands somewhere between Nathaniel West, R. Crumb and Hieronymus Bosch. So, you know, icky.
I love the many ways guns are described in books like this. "They were in the doorway now... Both of them had convincing arguments pointed my way." "H...more
I love the many ways guns are described in books like this. "They were in the doorway now... Both of them had convincing arguments pointed my way." "H...more
SPIDERWEB
Pure pulp poetry. Pithy, exquisitely paced, noir as all-get-out, hardboiled as hell (with a lot of bad eggs). Bloch just has it--always just enough tongue-in-cheek somehow to convince me more than the writers who try and sell noir or horror as 100% serious stuff. A tad silly is less silly than not silly at all. This one's even somewhat poignant as an indictment of human frailty and those who would exploit it for gain, suckers and hawks, helpers and abusers, and, dare I say it, Nazis and...more
Pure pulp poetry. Pithy, exquisitely paced, noir as all-get-out, hardboiled as hell (with a lot of bad eggs). Bloch just has it--always just enough tongue-in-cheek somehow to convince me more than the writers who try and sell noir or horror as 100% serious stuff. A tad silly is less silly than not silly at all. This one's even somewhat poignant as an indictment of human frailty and those who would exploit it for gain, suckers and hawks, helpers and abusers, and, dare I say it, Nazis and...more
This double-sided novel concept is so great it made me nostalgic for something I am too young to ever have experienced! And for Robert Bloch it is great because both novels show a very different side to him. Shooting Star is more of a hardboiled detective yarn, and a pretty good one at that. Nothing too original or new, but the plot moves fairly quickly which makes up for any lack of originality. The climax seems very Spillane inspired. Spiderweb is a very different sort of novel, it is much mor...more
Sep 18, 2009
Dissident Books
rated it
4 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
noir fans
Shelves:
other-publishers
A great package! I knew nothing about Robert Bloch when I picked up this book at the library. I selected it largely because of my experiences with other Hard Case titles. Bloch was the author of "Psycho" and the youngest within H. P. Lovecraft’s circle.
For more of my review, click on http://dissidentbooks.com/blog/?p=156
For more of my review, click on http://dissidentbooks.com/blog/?p=156
Shooting Star is what I've read so far. He's the author of Psycho which Hitchkok made into the movie.
Interesting view of grass as addictive and psychosis inducing. Saw it coming though.
I've read Spiderweb now too. It is also good in a B movie sort of way. Again, Hollywood, but here con artists, ex-Nazi psychos etc. Fun.
Interesting view of grass as addictive and psychosis inducing. Saw it coming though.
I've read Spiderweb now too. It is also good in a B movie sort of way. Again, Hollywood, but here con artists, ex-Nazi psychos etc. Fun.
Read "Spiderweb" in this paperback two-fer. Nifty little noir. Maybe 3 1/2 stars. Maybe even 3 3/4 or 3 and 7/10 or...
Anyway, I was surprised by how good it was. I liked it better than his "Psycho."
Anyway, I was surprised by how good it was. I liked it better than his "Psycho."
Master of psychological horror. I think that's what King (Steven) called him. These are not horror, but the psychology is sure there, but not to a fault.
Shooting star has a one eyed detective (see cover!) investigating some hollywood murderings and . . . let's just say there's some 'grass' involved.
Fun stuff.
Spiderweb is also set in Hollywood, involves con artistry, a manipulative german, some psychology and a hot actress.
They're both pretty entertaining and contain a heaping helping of psychol...more
Shooting star has a one eyed detective (see cover!) investigating some hollywood murderings and . . . let's just say there's some 'grass' involved.
Fun stuff.
Spiderweb is also set in Hollywood, involves con artistry, a manipulative german, some psychology and a hot actress.
They're both pretty entertaining and contain a heaping helping of psychol...more
Good story line but funny writing style - but abrupt
Zwei nette Geschichten für zwischendurch. Bloch kann's besser, aber unterhaltsam war's trotzdem.
Spider web is a very good book . I enjoyed it I had read the other side of the paperback shooting star earlier
Just arrived a few days ago. Haven't even had a chance to crack it open. Christ! Too many books.
Spiderweb - 4 Stars
Shooting Star - 3 stars (a reefer madness thriller!)
Shooting Star - 3 stars (a reefer madness thriller!)
Two for one Robert Bloch pulpdom!
Apr 22, 2013
William Cook
marked it as to-read
Apr 11, 2013
Laima
marked it as to-read
Apr 03, 2013
Brandon
marked it as to-read
Mar 28, 2013
Lc Everstz
added it
There are no discussion topics on this book yet.
Be the first to start one »
Robert Albert Bloch was a prolific American writer. He was the son of Raphael "Ray" Bloch (1884, Chicago-1952, Chicago), a bank cashier, and his wife Stella Loeb (1880, Attica, Indiana-1944, Milwaukee, WI), a social worker, both of German-Jewish descent.
Bloch wrote hundreds of short stories and over twenty novels, usually crime fiction, science fiction, and, perhaps most influentially, horror fict...more
More about Robert Bloch...
Bloch wrote hundreds of short stories and over twenty novels, usually crime fiction, science fiction, and, perhaps most influentially, horror fict...more
Share This Book
No trivia or quizzes yet. Add some now »
