—And the Girl Screamed

by Gil Brewer

They would stop at nothing! The willowy blonde, in a fluffy white skirt, stood over him. She was smoking a cigarette through the black mask that covered her face. "Hello, honey," she said softly. "Do you like me?" She knelt on one knee. Her hand caressed his cheek, the other hand holding the cigarette. As the blonde kissed him on the mouth she ground her cigarette into his fleash. He yelled, but she kept up the kissing and the burning. "Atta girl! Give it to him again!" one of the boys shouted. "Next?" They were teen-agers - kids. But they were capable of anything. And one of them had been capable of murder!

Genres: Noir

First published January 1, 1956

About the author

Florida writer Gil Brewer was the author of dozens of wonderfully sleazy sex/crime adventure novels of the 1950's and 60's, including Backwoods Teaser and Nude on Thin Ice; some of them starring private eye Lee Baron (Wild) or the brothers Sam and Tate Morgan (The Bitch) . Gil Brewer, who had not previously published any novels, began to write for Gold Medal Paperbacks in 1950-51. Brewer wrote some 30 novels between 1951 and the late 60s – very often involving an ordinary man who becomes involved with, and is often corrupted and destroyed by, an evil or designing woman. His style is simple and direct, with sharp dialogue, often achieving considerable intensity.

Brewer was one of the many writers who ghost wrote under the Ellery Queen byline as well. Brewer also was known as Eric Fitzgerald, Bailey Morgan, and Elaine Evans.

http://www.gilbrewer.com/

Reviews

[Steven · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is one of those books where I wish Brewer had spent the time to revise instead of cranking it out in five days because it is just completely uneven. Incredibly written scenes are followed by stretches of lackadaisical writing. The beginning was atypical for Brewer, just a grindingly slow setup. And then blammo! Finally, at the start of chapter four, the girl screamed and the novel got going, as ex-cop Reddick witnesses a murder but manages to become the prime suspect and while the police are searching for him he is trying to find the murderer. Unfortunately Brewer didn't then go back and trim the first three chapters down to five pages! There's some really great stuff in this one but you also have to wade through some crap.

[Kurt Reichenbaugh · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fast read about an ex-cop and his girlfriend (who just happens to be married to a climbing attorney) who witness a murder. As things tend to go in novels of this type, the ex-cop is the number one suspect. The chase is on.

[Jeff · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had very low expectations of this one going in, what with a two star rating and all, but was pleasantly surprised that it wasn't that bad after all. Hell, I'll take bad Brewer over the best of some authors from the same time period.

[Dave · Rating 5 out of 5]

And The Girl Screamed is a 1956 pulp classic by Gil Brewer, who wrote like crazy for many years, churning out top-notch pulp novel after top- notch pulp novel. This one centers around a familiar theme of a man on the run from the law because of a murder he did not commit and his single-minded pursuit of solving the crime before he is put behind bars for good. It also features other pulp motifs such as an obsession with a illicit affair and juvenile delinquency. Like all of Brewer’s novels, this one is fast-moving and the action does not let up from page one to the end.

He’s on the run and the law is on his heels as he tries to solve the crime himself, first going to the murder victim’s parents and posing as the investigator and then visiting the girl’s best friend, who lives without parents and thinks Cliff is just another man sent over for her to entertain for a few kicks and a few bucks. There is a theme running throughout the book about the teen delinquents who are running over town and acting immorally, without regard for the law. The narrator explains that the town had been getting hot on a delinquent kick. High schools had been torn up and painted up with gang names. “Kids would be kids, but the past few years it sometimes got so it would scare you.” There are some vivid scenes of a teen party out of control and the drunken parent partying with the kids and teens assaulting adults who are out to stop them.

Overall, it is another excellent piece by Brewer that moves quickly and vividly through the man-on-the-run plot. Well done.

[David · Rating 2 out of 5]

Cliff Reddick. Cliff Reddick. Cliff Reddick. As I was reading this book, I kept having to repeat the narrator's name to myself so that I would not forget it. Though this behavior is generally not the hallmark of a memorable book, —And the Girl Screamed is by no means terrible. On the whole, reading it was rather like watching Gil Brewer cash a check. He's doing his job, going through the motions to earn his pay. Cliff Reddick is an ex-policeman who has been implicated in a murder that he had nothing to do with, other than being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Thus, he works to solve the murder while trying to evade the police who want to arrest him for it. To my mind, this is lazy plotting: The book would have been much more interesting if Reddick had actually been connected to the victim in some way, rather than just happening upon the murder scene. As the plot progresses, Brewer mixes in some 1950s hand-wringing about the rise of juvenile delinquency, and then he wraps things up and heads to the bank. For diehards only.

[Tim · Rating 3 out of 5]

AND THE GIRL SCREAMED was an enjoyable & fast-paced read that held my attention throughout in a story involving a cop who recently resigned after failing a physical following an on-the-job injury, only to have a series of events place him in a situation where he has to investigate a crime he's accused of while fleeing the law including his former partners and associates.
Gil Brewer writes in the classic noir style that makes his books consistent in the 3 to 4 start range for me, which means I'll probably read anything of his that I can get my hands on at this point.

[Jim Davis · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have decided to read some of the old pulp crime novels I had read previously. I'm 75 years old now and my memory is slipping a little so even though I read this in 2018 I didn't remember that much. I will stick with the 3 stars I gave it then. It is a little slow in the beginning and the voyeuristic soft porn scenes seem out of place but it turns into a pretty good noirish crime novel eventually.

[Carla Remy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not, I didn't feel, amazing. But it was fast with good dialogue, things I like.

[Matt Micucci · Rating 1 out of 5]

full of cliches, really not worth looking at.

[Viktor · Rating 3 out of 5]

Prologue Crime edition for Kindle has lots of typos.