Review: Man Chase - Joseph Chadwick

Dave Macklin is a man with plenty of trouble on his hands.He’s the president of a small electronics company that needs to expand but can’tget a bank loan in order to do so. The company is also the target of a hostiletakeover by a larger rival outfit eager to gobble it up and take advantage ofsome vital research done by Dave’s scientist partner. On a personal level, Dave’swife is an alcoholic who has just gotten back from rehab, swearing that she’scured, but is she really? Then there’s the beautiful redheaded receptionist atthe plant who has her eye on Dave, not to mention the equally gorgeous owner ofthe rival company who inherited it from her late husband. Yeah, betweenbusiness problems and beautiful babes, Dave’s got quite a juggling act goingon.

That’s the set-up of MAN CHASE, a 1961 novel by Joseph Chadwick, who happens tobe one of my favorite hardboiled Western authors. Published originally inpaperback by Beacon Books, this novel has been reprinted in e-book and paperbackeditions by Cutting Edge Books. I guess you could call it a hardboiledcorporate soap opera. Although there’s a private detective and some blackmail,it’s not really a crime novel. But it’s very fast-paced and well plotted asChadwick manipulates the business and personal elements to pile a whole heap oftrouble on Dave Macklin’s head.

This would have made a good early Sixties movie with, say, Jeff Chandler asDave, Dorothy Malone as the rival business owner, and Ann-Margret as the sultryreceptionist. For a novel published by Beacon, there’s not much sex, only acouple of scenes and they’re pretty restrained. It would have been easy enoughto fade out before things got too risque.

I really enjoyed MAN CHASE. Dave is a good protagonist. He can be kind of ajerk at times but isn’t really a heel, just a decent guy at heart with a lot todeal with. The plot takes a slightly unexpected turn here and there, always a goodthing, and works its way to a satisfactory conclusion. Chadwick was better as aWestern writer, but he was a solid pro who could turn out a book like this,too, and do an excellent job of it. He wrote at least one other book for Beaconunder his own name and several under the pseudonym Jim Layne. I may have to seeif I can get my hands on some of them.