Someone is Bleeding

by Richard Matheson

Young novelist Dave Newton is instantly smitten when he meets blonde, beautiful Peggy. But Peggy has a past full of abuse and terror—and she’s involved with Jerry, a lawyer with mob connections and an old rival from Dave’s college days. Soon, Dave finds himself caught in a love triangle with Peggy and Jerry, desperate to win her affections. But when corpses begin to pile up in Peggy’s wake, Dave must face the truth that either Jerry is a mass murderer—or Peggy is.

Genres: Mystery, Thriller, Noir, Crime, Fiction, Pulp

136 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1953

About the author

Born in Allendale, New Jersey to Norwegian immigrant parents, Matheson was raised in Brooklyn and graduated from Brooklyn Technical High School in 1943. He then entered the military and spent World War II as an infantry soldier. In 1949 he earned his bachelor's degree in journalism from the University of Missouri and moved to California in 1951. He married in 1952 and has four children, three of whom (Chris, Richard Christian, and Ali Matheson) are writers of fiction and screenplays.

His first short story, "Born of Man and Woman," appeared in the Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction in 1950. The tale of a monstrous child chained in its parents' cellar, it was told in the first person as the creature's diary (in poignantly non-idiomatic English) and immediately made Matheson famous. Between 1950 and 1971, Matheson produced dozens of stories, frequently blending elements of the science fiction, horror and fantasy genres.

Several of his stories, like "Third from the Sun" (1950), "Deadline" (1959) and "Button, Button" (1970) are simple sketches with twist endings; others, like "Trespass" (1953), "Being" (1954) and "Mute" (1962) explore their characters' dilemmas over twenty or thirty pages. Some tales, such as "The Funeral" (1955) and "The Doll that Does Everything" (1954) incorporate zany satirical humour at the expense of genre clichés, and are written in an hysterically overblown prose very different from Matheson's usual pared-down style. Others, like "The Test" (1954) and "Steel" (1956), portray the moral and physical struggles of ordinary people, rather than the then nearly ubiquitous scientists and superheroes, in situations which are at once futuristic and everyday. Still others, such as "Mad House" (1953), "The Curious Child" (1954) and perhaps most famously, "Duel" (1971) are tales of paranoia, in which the everyday environment of the present day becomes inexplicably alien or threatening.

He wrote a number of episodes for the American TV series The Twilight Zone, including "Steel," mentioned above and the famous "Nightmare at 20,000 Feet"; adapted the works of Edgar Allan Poe for Roger Corman and Dennis Wheatley's The Devil Rides Out for Hammer Films; and scripted Steven Spielberg's first feature, the TV movie Duel, from his own short story. He also contributed a number of scripts to the Warner Brothers western series "The Lawman" between 1958 and 1962. In 1973, Matheson earned an Edgar Award from the Mystery Writers of America for his teleplay for The Night Stalker, one of two TV movies written by Matheson that preceded the series Kolchak: The Night Stalker. Matheson also wrote the screenplay for Fanatic (US title: Die! Die! My Darling!) starring Talullah Bankhead and Stefanie Powers.

Novels include The Shrinking Man (filmed as The Incredible Shrinking Man, again from Matheson's own screenplay), and a science fiction vampire novel, I Am Legend, which has been filmed three times under the titles The Omega Man and The Last Man on Earth and once under the original title. Other Matheson novels turned into notable films include What Dreams May Come, Stir of Echoes, Bid Time Return (as Somewhere in Time), and Hell House (as The Legend of Hell House) and the aforementioned Duel, the last three adapted and scripted by Matheson himself. Three of his short stories were filmed together as Trilogy of Terror, including "Prey" with its famous Zuni warrior doll.

In 1960, Matheson published The Beardless Warriors, a nonfantastic, autobiographical novel about teenage American soldiers in World War II.

He died at his home on June 23, 2013, at the age of 87

http://us.macmillan.com/author/richar...

Reviews

[Peter · Rating 4 out of 5]

What an intriguing story. Part crime, part human relationship between man and woman. David falls in love with a mysterious girl named Peggy Lister. She is protected by a former friend and mobster lawyer Jim. His driver is a former mob killer named Steig. What is is about Peggy? Did she really murder her former husband? Why tries Jim to prevent David's engagement with Peggy? What are his plans? Things get interesting when more murders occur. Absolutely compelling and unusual triangular affair right to the end. Highly recommended!

[Carla Remy · Rating 3 out of 5]

From 1953
I'm afraid I didn't much like this. A femme fatale story where the femme is too naive/stupid/crazy to be sneaky or a fatale.
Okay, I now see that this was Matheson's first book. As a first book...

[Dave · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Someone Is Bleeding" is Richard Matheson's first novel. It is an odd, atmospheric piece that builds up slowly in a sort of lost, dream-like life and, although at first, it seems like not much is happening, bodies start to pile up and suspicion and accusations are thrown about.

Matheson takes a David Newton, a writer, and pairs him with Peggy Lister, an ethereal blonde with legs that goes on forever, but is an emotional basketcase, having survived several traumatic experiences. Newton falls for her hard but she jumps from emotion to emotion and is excited about the oddest things. They begin by having a sweet handholding romance but Peggy is a little odd. She isn't your normal femme fatale, but almost without trying she has all these men twisted around her little finger. Is it a talent or a curse?

Peggy is also hooked up with her lawyer, Jim, an old college buddy of Newton's. There is a tug-of-war over Peggy between these two men and she has a curious past. Throw in a few bloody murders and boy do you have a story.

As a reader, throughout most of the story, it's hard to be sure whether Newton is telling the truth, whether Peggy is absolutely cuckoo, or whether they are all being manipulated.

What makes this story work isn't the plot necessarily, but the slow way it develops. Although it all takes place in sunny Southern California, there's nothing bright or sunny about this one. It is a world of fog and darkness. Even the carnival on the boardwalk has its dark side.

In some respects, it a raw first novel by a writer still finding his voice, but it has a lost and rootless quality about it that really makes it work. These people are consumed and trapped by their suspicions and their obsessions and seduced by their passions and desires even when they should know better.

[Tom Simon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Someone Is Bleeding
By Richard Matheson

You know that feeling when a friend starts dating a totally hot but totally crazy girl? You can see the crazy right away, but all he sees is the hot? You know it’s gonna go sideways, and you want to scream at him to be careful, but you know it’ll fall on deaf ears.

That’s what it was like reading Richard Matheson’s first published novel, Someone Is Bleeding.

During his life, Matheson mastered several genres from Science Fiction (The Shrinking Man), horror (I Am Legend & Hell House), and Westerns (Journal of the Gun Years). Someone Is Bleeding was published in 1953 by Lion Books, but it has the story structure of a Fawcett Gold Medal crime paperback where an Everyman is plunged into a world of violence by falling for a femme fatale.

In this case our hero-narrator is Los Angeles novelist Dave Newton. On a quiet day at the beach, Dave sees the irresistible Peggy sunbathing and decides he has to meet her. The reader quickly realizes that Peggy is a hot mess filled with neurosis and sexual hang-ups. It seems that every relationship in her life has been filled with dysfunction and sexual abuse - her ex, her lawyer, her father, her landlord -nobody knows how to function around Peggy in a proper manner, but Njce Guy Dave is sure going to try.

The first quarter of the novel is mostly a tepid relationship drama as Dave learns to navigate the cyclone of man-drama that follows Peggy everywhere. It’s not until a character winds up murdered with an icepick in the eye that the action and intrigue begins. Dave knows that Peggy is damaged goods and even finds himself asking if a woman can be “rape prone” in the same way that some men are accident prone (these were less compassionate times with such matters, it seems).

As the bodies pile up within Peggy’s orbit, a compelling murder mystery evolves for Dave to solve. Could Peggy be murdering these people? Or is a bigger conspiracy afoot? The novel’s violence escalates with vivid villains and some great action sequences making the reader grateful for not bailing during the first quarter’s tale of tormented romance.

Matheson was a remarkable talent, and it’s fun to visit his humble beginnings in this short crime story. Finding the original paperback is a pricey proposition, but the book has been reprinted as an eBook and in a Matheson compilation titled Noir. This one is definitely worth your time.

[Andrew · Rating 4 out of 5]

Solid, hard-boiled crime noir/pulp.

[Old Man Aries · Rating 3 out of 5]

Richard Matheson è entrato nella mia libreria da relativamente poco tempo, da quando ho deciso di leggere il suo romanzo più famoso.

Da allora, devo ammetterlo, faccio fatica a non comprare qualunque libro che abbia in copertina il suo nome, complice anche il fatto di essere uno dei pochi autori in grado di variare completamente non solo il proprio stile narrativo ma anche i generi che riesce ad andare a toccare.

Se, quindi, (e cito solo i libri letti da me) in “Io sono Leggenda” avevamo una netta vena Horror (anche se fortemente intimista), se in “Io sono Helen Driscoll” ci trovavamo davanti al paranormale ed al suo rapporto con un normale essere umano e se in “Tre millimetri al giorno” avevamo una trama dalle basi assolutamente fantascientifiche, ecco che “Ricatto Mortale” (pessima traduzione del ben più evocativo “Someone is Bleeding”) è un Noir che rispetta tutti i più classici canoni del genere.

Abbiamo il protagonista (voce narrante) che si trova in una nuova città ed in una nuova vita, abbiamo un incontro fatale con una donna che (si sa già, è praticamente nel contratto) lo farà impazzire di amore e dolore, abbiamo omicidi più o meno misteriosi, abbiamo azione, abbiamo coincidenze fin troppo particolari.

La narrazione è fluida, viva, degna di Matheson e la trama fa forse un po’ acqua in alcuni punti, giustificata solo dall’anno in cui è stato scritto (1953) e dalla giovane età dell’autore ai tempi.

La cosa intrigante in praticamente tutti i romanzi di Matheson, compreso questo, è la capacità dell’autore di inserire elementi più o meno “innovativi” in trame altrimenti prevedibili: anche in questo avviene, forse in modo meno evidente per i motivi succitati, ma ciò che alla fine viene fuori dei personaggi coprotagonisti è sicuramente non del tutto scontato, soprattutto pensando all’età del romanzo; il finale, poi, fa scorrere ben più di una goccia fredda lungo la schiena.

Un romanzo ben gradevole, quindi, che fosse stato scritto un decennio dopo, con l’esperienza in più acquisita da Matheson, sarebbe stato forse un piccolo capolavoro del genere.

[Rita Monticelli · Rating 4 out of 5]

Scroll down for the English version.

Godibile noir

Con questo libro ho iniziato la lettura della trilogia noir di Richard Matheson, che si distacca parecchio dalla sua produzione successiva legata ai generi del fantastico.
“Ricatto mortale” è un breve romanzo caratterizzato dal fascino del noir vintage (d’altra parte è stato originariamente pubblicato nel 1953).
Alcune parti sono forse un po’ affrettate, anche se, tutto sommato, sono quelle in cui non era necessario soffermarsi più di tanto.
Come spesso accade nei suoi libri, abbiamo il solito protagonista maschile nei guai che è coraggioso ma un po’ debole.
La trama in sé non è intricatissima, ma gli eventi accadono così in fretta che non si ha il tempo di pensare. Più che altro non si capisce cosa facciano nella vita i personaggi. Il protagonista è uno scrittore, ma non lo si vede mai scrivere nell’arco della storia.
Il finale non è prevedibile, anche se in parte il lettore può arrivare a immaginare chi sia il colpevole.
La prosa, come sempre, è molto bella e la traduzione, che è decisamente più recente, è ottima.


Enjoyable noir

With this book I started reading the noir trilogy by Richard Matheson, which deviates a lot from his subsequent production related to speculation fiction.
“Someone Is Bleeding” is a short novel characterised by the vintage charm of noir (actually it was originally published in 1953).
Some parts are perhaps a bit hasty, even if, all things considered, there was no need to dwell much in them.
As often happens in his books, we have the usual male protagonist in trouble, who is brave but a little weak.
The plot itself is not intricate, but events happen so quickly that you have no time to think. What you really don’t understand is what the characters do in their life. The protagonist is a writer, but you never see him writing throughout the story.
The ending is not predictable, although in part the reader can get to figure out who the culprit is.
The prose is excellent, as always.

[Darryl Sloan · Rating 4 out of 5]

The great Richard Matheson's first novel. Not science fiction or horror, but crime, albeit pretty horrific crime. The movie "Basic Instinct" is clearly a homage to the film noir genre, and I have a strong suspicion that this noir novel was a significant part of the inspiration for the movie. Icepicks abound, for one. Sharon Stone as Catherine Tramell bears little resemblance to the femme fatale in Matheson's novel; Peggy is sweet and naive, but blindingly beautiful, and hence unwittingly attracts the attentions of many men. The two characters are, however, similar where it counts. In both cases, we spend the duration of the story - as the body count rises - wondering whether she is secretly a psychopath guilty of several murders. The novel is told from the perspective of a flawed man, David, who is besotted with her. Like Michael Douglas, he has his suspicions, but hopes that the game is worth the candle. Trouble comes in the form of another interested party, equally entranced: Jim, Peggy's lawyer, a man capable of doing anything to get what he wants.

It's an enjoyable yarn. Lots of suspense. Mostly good pacing. Nothing deep. I struggled to become invested with the protagonist's plight because I struggled to like him initially, but he was sufficiently relatable. Realism is jettisoned at the very end for pure shock value, but it doesn't really spoil the story. You kind of expect it with pulp fiction.

Has Matheson written much better novels than this? Of course. "I Am Legend" is stellar. But a rating of 3.5 out of 5 ain't bad.

[Alex · Rating 1 out of 5]

No. No. No. This book is dated and did not age well. You know that's going to be the case when you start reading phrases like "she was dressed like she wanted it" and "she was probably asking for it by the way she blah blah blah" OMG JUST NO.

[Pat Roberts · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an oldie from the 50’s, written at the beginning of the author’s career. While a little repetitious which made the book longer, I found it to have good twists and turns. I listened to the audio version and actor/audio book narrator Robertson Dean brought the book to life with his wonderful deep voice. I downloaded a trilogy, so on to the next one.

[Anna · Rating 3 out of 5]

Primo romanzo della "Trilogia in nero", "Ricatto mortale" è un'affascinante e morbosa opera noir anni '50. Scritto agli inizi della carriera di Matheson, ad appena ventitre anni, il libro tratta di David Newton, giovane scrittore trasferitosi a Los Angeles, che si ritrova il mondo sconvolto da Peggy, bellissima e ingenua ragazza dal passato oscuro. Ispirato dalla vita che conduceva all'epoca, Matheson stesso confessò che l'incontro tra David e Peggy fu la trasposizione quasi identica del primo incontro che ebbe lui con la propria moglie Ruth, ma fortunatamente per lo scrittore il paragone fra le due giovani donne si ferma qui. Come sempre, Matheson riesce a trarre il meglio da un genere che sembra aver detto tutto, sapendoti ancora sorprendere.
Lo stile di Matheson è inconfondibile, così semplice e scorrevole, tuttavia qui si sente d'essere di fronte ad un'opera scritta agli esordi dello scrittore, a tratti ancora immatura. Infatti, la trama funziona piuttosto bene, ma in molti momenti pare trattata in maniera frettolosa. Inoltre, questo senso di immaturità è percepito proprio nella psicologia dei personaggi (da sempre cavallo di battaglia di Matheson), soprattutto per quato riguarda il taglio psicologico del protagonista che a volte risulta piatto o cambia personalità in funzione della trama, non risultando quindi molto lineare. Sicuramente, il personaggio più funzionante è Peggy, in cui si avverte proprio la cura di Matheson nel realizzare una "creatura" così complessa e credibile. Per essere stato scritto agli inizi degli anni '50, i temi trattati attraverso il personaggio di Peggy sono incredibilmente attuali e questo fa davvero riflettere su come Matheson sia sempre stato all'avanguardia nelle sue opere.

[Queensupercat · Rating 2 out of 5]

Rating : 2.5
This text has some nice moments and Anda great ending, but it got pretty tedious. As well, the character of Peggy was underdeveloped and not likeable for the intrigue Matheson wanted to associate with her. It's in my copy of "Noir," and as a bug Matheson fan, I'm glad to have read it, but probably wouldn't recommend it to anyone.

[Théo · Rating 2 out of 5]

"Les Seins de Glace" est le deuxième roman que je lis de Richard Matheson (le premier étant "Je suis une légende"). Contrairement à celui-ci, l'auteur opère ici dans une veine policière/roman noir, dans un cadre tout à fait réaliste ; ce fût pour moi une grosse déception.

À préciser qu'il s'agit du premier roman écrit par l'auteur, et que certains défauts ressortent peut-être à cause de cela. Malheureusement j'ai tout de même eu beaucoup de mal avec les remarques machistes et sexistes qui parsèment ce roman ; elles ne sont heureusement pas présentes tout le temps, mais la façon dont les personnages réagissent suffit à maintenir cette ambiance malsaine. Le deuxième point négatif (puisque je suis lancé) est la narration : autant elle est très claire et fluide dans les passages où il y a de l'action, autant elle est plus heurté avec des formulations plutôt maladroites et floues lorsque l'on se retrouve dans des scènes plus lentes.

Cette enquête m'a fait pensé à un vieux téléfilm que l'on peut trouver l'après midi à la télé : c'est déjà vu, avec des personnages pas très intéressants, une enquête où l'on devine à peu près la fin, et on passe un moment plutôt convenable. En plus de ça, on frôle parfois l'exagération et le non-sens dans l'intrigue (ok Peggy a eu une vie horrible, mais on sent que l'auteur a vraiment forcé pour qu'on le comprenne bien). Également, je n'ai pas trop compris la relation que voulait entretenir le narrateur avec Peggy, certaines scènes m'ont vraiment dérangées.

Mais il y a quand même 2 choses qui m'ont plu dans ce livre :
- le mystère qui plane tout au long du récit : les révélations finales ne sont pas surprenante, mais j'ai toujours eu des doutes sur chacun des personnages jusqu'à ce que le roman se termine.
- la fin, et surtout la dernière phrase du récit, qui marche totalement dans ce genre d'histoire assez courte (un peu moins de 200 pages), un peu horrible, et c'est quelque chose que j'aime beaucoup.

Au final, je ne vous recommande pas ce roman. Ce n'est sûrement pas un des meilleurs livres de l'auteur, et vous ne loupez rien si vous ne le lisez pas. C'est un roman étrange, mais ce qui est sûr, c'est que je vais très vite l'oublier.

[Jack Bell · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Noir's all right, it just means 'dark'. But hard-boiled, I mean, maybe these private eye things, you know, where the guy is getting sapped every other chapter and falling down on the ground and down a black tunnel and then coming to, or he's punching people out -- I never wrote that, I never came anywhere near hard-boiled. But noir is fine, sure. They have a darker cast on storytelling." -- Richard Matheson

"I came to California for the weather, the phrase occurred inanely. I came for the weather and about two months later a man was chasing me in a car because he wanted to shoot me."

Like almost all pulp writers, famed fantasy, horror and sci-fi maestro Richard Matheson could really write in whichever style was popular at the time and would pay the bills.

Someone Is Bleeding is one of his few excursions into the psychological suspense-thriller-noir domain of David Goodis, Cornell Woolrich, Jim Thompson and the like. And he dives head-first into the genre, pulling out all the stops of psychotic femme fatales, ice-pickings and beheadings, and deeply dated shock values of sexual assault and mental illness.

And the effect is... something. This book is wild, folks. It grabs you in the first sentence and never lets up the tension. Matheson really knows how to pack a huge amount of detail and power into an incredibly tightly packed shot of prose and it makes the book a huge amount of fun to read.

In true noir fashion it's a nightmarish fable about a hapless and pretty stupid (okay, very stupid) man whose obsession with a particularly spellbinding woman leads to a maelstrom of murder and psychosis. And like all nightmares it doesn't have a lot of logic -- so much of the plot is based around the characters doing deeply stupid things, deliberately ignoring sensible choices, not noticing the really, really obvious...

But at the end of the day it doesn't really matter, because the effect is so hard-hitting and powerful that you don't really notice the motions of the fist -- you just feel the punch.

[Gualtiero · Rating 3 out of 5]

David Newton è uno scrittore che si trasferisce in California per scrivere il suo libro in un luogo più caldo. Qui conosce Peggy, una donna bellissima ma molto misteriosa.
Un classico noir che ricorda un film in bianco e nero degli anni '50, ma la trama è un po' troppo scontata.
Il lato positivo è costituito dal fatto che la storia di Peggy fa riflettere sul rapporto uomo/donna e, letto ai nostri giorni, potrebbe anche far riflettere su alcuni fatti di cronaca che riguarda la violenza. Tuttavia le riflessioni sono lasciate alla sensibilità del lettore e non viene approfondito in nessun modo il ruolo che la poca sanità mentale di Peggy ha nelle varie vicende.
Insomma, un libro corto, abbastanza piacevole da leggere, ma che non lascia molto.

[Jimmy Allen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Richard Matheson was a writer for the original Twilight Zone. I never pass on one of his novels. This particular one is a 1940-50 noir. Clearly, It is without today's technology and would not have made sense today. Davie, the main character, falls in love quickly and is ready to marry. Short romances weren't that unusual in the noir genre. To enjoy this story, accepting this outmoded period is essential.

Regardless, the story takes the reader for a ride about who did what and who is telling the truth. Tensions build as that antagonist tries to control the situation. The more I read, the more my curiosity grew. The ending was highly satisfying for me and should be for any reader.

[Clark Young · Rating 5 out of 5]

Classic Noir

When I think of classic noir, I usually think of the movies from the 1950s. This is a novel that could—maybe should—be made into a classic noir movie.

The usual formula—boy gets girl, boy loses girl, boy gets girl back—has a plot twist that I will not reveal here. Suffice it to say that Richard Matheson shows why he is a master of his craft. The story he tells will have you guessing until the end. Not bad for a novel first copyrighted in 1953!

[Bob · Rating 5 out of 5]

This early Richard Matheson crime/suspense novel that keeps one guessing from start to finish. Plenty of twists and turns. The very ending would make Hitchcock smile and wish he'd made it into a film. Highly recommended.

[Eddie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked the story but I felt the main character was always switching between being horrified by what he learns, but then immediately goes to defend the same girl though he is told and shown she's not well

[Joel Wiedrich · Rating 3 out of 5]

Apparently this was Matheson's first novel and his signature writing style is all over this one. A classic who-done-it character drama. I enjoyed it, though Matheson could probably write instructions on how to operate a toaster oven and I would enjoy it immensely.

[Alexander Dove · Rating 2 out of 5]

Fun but definitely did not age well.

[Brock · Rating 4 out of 5]

My first book by Matheson and it was great fun. No horror, just some good thriller stuff. I loved Peggy.

[Niki Menton · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was so excited to read this as a long time Richard Matheson fan, reading one of his first works was amazing it was an amazing read and it’s quick.

[Nyssa · Rating 4 out of 5]

A quick, easy and fun read. I could see this story being shortened into a Twilight Zone episode. Since it is New Years Eve I've been watching a TZ marathon. Fitting that I also read a Matheson book today.

[Chris · Rating 3 out of 5]

Richard Matheson's first novel, a noir/thriller from 1953. Young author Dave is caught in a love triangle with Peggy, a beautiful and frightened woman-child, and his old college rival Jerry, a shady lawyer with mob connections. Dave knows one of the other two is a killer. But which one? Jerry tells him that Peggy stabbed her first husband to death; Dave isn't sure if this is some attempt to scare him away or a veiled warning She is terrified of men and has a history of being abused... but she likes Dave, and Dave will gamble it all on his love for her.

Enter some brilliant psychological tension, an excellent car case, and a twisty-turny plot that has several tricks up its sleeves. Very early Matheson, but you can see his masterful ability to create tension and build fear at work, and while it's a bit rough the novel has a lot of neat elements. The unpredictable plot is a ride, and you could spend months trying to unpack Peggy---she's a melting pot of psychosexual fear and naive innocence.

(Full review found here.)

[Blair Hodgkinson · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is one of Matheson's earliest novels. Even at this early date he demonstrates the concise, punchy style that characterized his writing career. The plot of this nourish crime thriller is pretty far-fetched.

All the same, I would guess it has had some influence. I seem to recall a movie picking up the premise of a certain femme fatale suspected of killing her victims with an icepick that may have borrowed some inspiration from this book....

[Benjamin Card · Rating 4 out of 5]

Characterization: 4 stars

Plot: 4.5 stars

Writing style: 4 stars

Page turner: 4.5 stars

Heart factor: 4 stars

[William Retherford · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great mystery suspense story that I’d love to see republished by Hard Case Crime