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Death's Sweet Song
His face was burned to the color of old leather, and I guessed he was the type that spent a lot of time on a golf course, or maybe a tennis court. We talked a little about the weather and how hot it was, and then I hung up the hose and went to work on the windshield. That was when I got my first good look at the woman. And she just about took my breath away. Originally published in 1955.
150 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1955
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Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews
April 15, 2018
This is a hardboiled novel from 1955, in which the protagonist, Joe Hooper, falls into the classic noir spiral from which hardly any man ever recovers. Hooper owns a gas station and a rundown motel in a small town in Oklahoma. The tourists only stay at his place when all the good motels are full, and even though he only has five cabins, he's never yet had to hang out the "No Vacancy" sign.
Hooper's in something of a relationship with a good woman, and most of the people in town, including his own father, expect him to marry her. But Hooper isn't really happy in the relationship; he's about to lose his business to the bank; he's at loose ends, and he has no idea what he's going to do. And then, of course, as in every novel of this type, SHE shows up.
In this case, SHE is Paula, the sexy, sultry wife of a guy named Karl Sheldon. The couple shows up to buy gas and to rent a cabin, and from the moment Hooper sees the woman through the windshield of her Buick, he's done for. Prowling around the Sheldons' cabin that night, he hears them planning the robbery of a local factory. Hooper insists on cutting himself into the plan, mainly so that he can get next to Paula, and in an instant, he's in so deep that he'll never get out.
Things unfold from there as they usually do in a book like this, and even though anyone who's read many of these novels knows almost with certainty how it's going to end, it's a great ride. Paula Sheldon is the archetypal Hardboiled Bad Girl; Joe Hooper is the typical noir protagonist who's sucked into a trap he can't possibly escape, and the plot moves along swiftly from beginning to tragic end. A somewhat atypical theme in a novel like this is Hooper's relationship with his father, which helps set this book a bit above the standard for a mid-1950s Gold Medal pulp read. Black Curtain Press brought out a new edition of the book in 2013, and fans who enjoy this genre might well want to look for it.
Hooper's in something of a relationship with a good woman, and most of the people in town, including his own father, expect him to marry her. But Hooper isn't really happy in the relationship; he's about to lose his business to the bank; he's at loose ends, and he has no idea what he's going to do. And then, of course, as in every novel of this type, SHE shows up.
In this case, SHE is Paula, the sexy, sultry wife of a guy named Karl Sheldon. The couple shows up to buy gas and to rent a cabin, and from the moment Hooper sees the woman through the windshield of her Buick, he's done for. Prowling around the Sheldons' cabin that night, he hears them planning the robbery of a local factory. Hooper insists on cutting himself into the plan, mainly so that he can get next to Paula, and in an instant, he's in so deep that he'll never get out.
Things unfold from there as they usually do in a book like this, and even though anyone who's read many of these novels knows almost with certainty how it's going to end, it's a great ride. Paula Sheldon is the archetypal Hardboiled Bad Girl; Joe Hooper is the typical noir protagonist who's sucked into a trap he can't possibly escape, and the plot moves along swiftly from beginning to tragic end. A somewhat atypical theme in a novel like this is Hooper's relationship with his father, which helps set this book a bit above the standard for a mid-1950s Gold Medal pulp read. Black Curtain Press brought out a new edition of the book in 2013, and fans who enjoy this genre might well want to look for it.
June 24, 2016
But all things end, if you wait long enough.The plot is classic pulp noir. A man meets a married babe that he can't stop pining over and is ultimately drawn into a sandpit of crime that he can't crawl out of no matter how hard he tries. We've seen this plot many times before, obviously. But where lesser writers of the time expected us to just accept the fact that the man immediately falls for the fatale and would do anything for her, Adams takes time here to really build Joe Hooper's motivation. We quickly feel his disillusion with his motel/gas station business, his desire to get out of his dead-end hometown, his disappointment with his bland girlfriend Beth, and his excitement and hard-on for the seductive Paula Sheldon when she shows up in town with her husband. So by the time the plot kicks into high gear and Joe decides to get his hands on a payroll heist and his hands on Paula Sheldon's short shorts, we understand his desire to seize an opportunity and we're along for the ride.
And Clifton Adams, mostly known as a successful Western writer, proves to be a master at pacing, never letting the reader up for air for a second. He also crafts a strong lead character in Joe Hooper, especially in the anguish he feels at his father's growing disappointment in him as things go from bad to worse. The small handful of crime pulp that Adams wrote in his career, including this one, are considered some of the best of the classic noir era. While the plot may be very familiar to fans of classic pulp, it's only with the master writers that you see it done with such a knack for pace, tension, and command of the material.
"You wouldn't like my world," she said. "You wouldn't like me either, after you got to know me."
"The way I feel about you has nothing to do with liking you. I just have to have you. As for this world of yours, all I ask is that it be different from the one I've known all my life."
May 7, 2023
11/2018
From 1955. This is an excellent pulp crime book, well written and not missing a single satisfying detail. Plotwise this reminded me of Crime and Punishment, more than any other of these books I've read. The only differences were that the Dostoevsky has no integral sexy femme fatale, and Hooper, the hero of Death's Sweet Song, will not have to live out his prison sentence in Siberia.
From 1955. This is an excellent pulp crime book, well written and not missing a single satisfying detail. Plotwise this reminded me of Crime and Punishment, more than any other of these books I've read. The only differences were that the Dostoevsky has no integral sexy femme fatale, and Hooper, the hero of Death's Sweet Song, will not have to live out his prison sentence in Siberia.
March 22, 2011
I don't know if it's really the best Gold Medal ever, but it's one of the coolest ones I've read. Joe Hooper runs a dead-end motel just off of 66 in Oklahoma. He hates his life, his job, his town, his girlfriend and his own stinking face in the mirror. One day a Buick pulls into his motel with sultry babe Paula Sheldon in the passenger seat and Joe finally sees his way out of his loser life. All the classic 50's noir ingredients are lined up. Joe will do just about anything to feel Paula's blood-red nails dig into his skin. There is a scene, just past the mid-point in the novel, when Paula gets her hands on a tire iron and in one sudden, brutal act, brings a fresh hell into Joe's already out-of-control world. The kind of book fans of classic paperback noir look for. Recommended.
November 27, 2025
It started the day the Buick stopped at the filling station and Joe first looked at Paula: "to hell with the rulebooks". Then the roof fell in. The book was well-worth the 25¢ cover price, but the story was too formulaic to get me sweating. I appreciated Adams' Western-styled similes: "We stood out like tarantulas in the snow."
November 17, 2022
Western writer Clifton Adams set many of his novels in Oklahoma, including this crime novel. If you thought crime noir could only happen down dark alleys in foreboding cities, you haven’t tasted Clifton’s work. Set in a small Oklahoma town where everyone knows each other’s business, Joe Hooper is itching for something new that his failing gas station & tourist cabin couldn’t provide, something his steady girlfriend didn’t have. It just happened to be his lucky day when a blue Buick pulled into the station with a bewitching blonde in the passenger seat. And Hooper’s life would never be the same.
What Clifton does so well here is he let’s the reader see the beginning of the beguiling and Hooper turning to putty in Paula Sheldon’s hands. And while the reader might see all along that she’s toying with him like a cat with a mouse, Hooper is so wide-eyed he thinks Paula is his for keeps and that, once they get the money and she ditches her husband, they’ll be in the Garden of Eden. Little does he know he’s opened up Pandora’s box and there’s no way to push all the evil back inside.
Hooper, though a little wet behind the ears when it comes to crime, is not exactly an all time innocent. He literally cuts himself into the scheme, takes initiative to further it, and does quite a bit of the real dirty work. He might be bewitched by a gorgeous gal, but he goes all in with eyes wide open as to what the consequences could be. You can see how greed and lust completely undo him.
This tight noir fiction is perfectly plotted and entirely focused. Clifton hits every note correctly. There’s nothing out of key.
What Clifton does so well here is he let’s the reader see the beginning of the beguiling and Hooper turning to putty in Paula Sheldon’s hands. And while the reader might see all along that she’s toying with him like a cat with a mouse, Hooper is so wide-eyed he thinks Paula is his for keeps and that, once they get the money and she ditches her husband, they’ll be in the Garden of Eden. Little does he know he’s opened up Pandora’s box and there’s no way to push all the evil back inside.
Hooper, though a little wet behind the ears when it comes to crime, is not exactly an all time innocent. He literally cuts himself into the scheme, takes initiative to further it, and does quite a bit of the real dirty work. He might be bewitched by a gorgeous gal, but he goes all in with eyes wide open as to what the consequences could be. You can see how greed and lust completely undo him.
This tight noir fiction is perfectly plotted and entirely focused. Clifton hits every note correctly. There’s nothing out of key.
February 10, 2014
Death's Sweet Song by Clifton Adams is just about a perfect Gold Medal crime paperback. From 1956, it was clearly one of the great PPOs from the peak of that imprint. I give it 4.5 out of 5 stars.
February 8, 2015
Fast-paced hard - boiled crime novel. Once Joe decides to do the robbery, the whole thing spirals out of his control. A quick, tense read.
August 4, 2021
"I wanted her, but I also wanted to stay alive.” This escalates very satisfyingly. Joe Hooper’s 1955 version of a Travelodge isn’t the roaring success he hoped for. Monologuing darkly he hates his boring life, the boring town of Creston and his boring girlfriend Beth and – with icon-of-escape Route 66 right outside his motel door – he wants more, much more. Enter guest Karl Sheldon and his Cinemascope wife Paula (“One hell of a woman!”). One overheard robbery plot later and Hooper is going full on Dark Side in the rush to trouser $30k and bag himself a new life.
It’s a familiar set-up and this reconstructed 21st century office drone falls for it every time. There’s something quite delicious – and, in my opinion, rather healthy – in living vicariously through these snarky low lifes who rebel against inertia by taking a short cut in life only to get shat on from on high. I could, and probably will, read such tales forever. Indeed Kingsley Amis was reported to spend his later years only wanting to read novels that began with “A shot rang out” and with all due respect for the development of the life of the mind I can see where he was coming from. “Song”, however, distinguishes itself from others in the field not only by being a great escalator-to-hell read but through some rather unexpected little turns from author Clifton Adams. For one thing, out of nowhere, Hooper’s Dad turns up and Hooper genuinely respects and loves him. I would have put money on Hooper throwing snark at the old man but Adams doesn’t do that. He word-paints Doc Hooper as world-weary but moral which succeeded in disguising (to me at least) his walking plot device role (“How's the patient, Dad?”). While Paula Sheldon surprises no one by being Marilyn Monroe crossed with Ted Bundy Adams has fun deconstructing hubby Kyle who is one notch too boringly risk averse for his wife and the grease monkey listening in from the shrubbery. Hooper is successfully moved incrementally from being your average embittered no-mark to murderer and with the bodies dropping, Paula egging him on and his Daddy in play there’s a certain Shakespearian feel to proceedings.
Beth, Hooper’s good-girl girlfriend, on the other hand gets a rum deal – figuratively and literally. Dumped by Hooper and never seen again, she represents the honest life Hooper soundly abandons and by the end the chump is still so addled by Paula’s curves (“She was fire in my arms”) poor old Beth doesn’t get a second thought. Hooper’s town of Creston might be drably industrial but it isn’t the sort of moral quagmire you might find in a Jim Thompson novel. It has (inconveniently for Hooper) a switched-on Sheriff, elderly but tenacious night watchmen and the townsfolk get scandalised by the horrors Hooper and Paula unleash. Adams isn’t really interested in using his crime tale to critique the American Dream, he zeroes in on one man and the decisions he makes at each turn of the road; a man is what he does in this novel not what fate imposes on him. “Song” isn’t perfect – it’s got a title that feels like it should be a quote from somewhere and Hooper’s narrative voice sometimes comes across like he’s in “My First Noir” ("You'd better think fast, Hooper") but these are very minor complaints. It’s a very enjoyable cautionary tale with some bracing violence and a protagonist whose straitened social circumstances are shown to be no excuse for the dark chocolate choices he starts making. “The hell with the dead man outside, we had money to count.”
It’s a familiar set-up and this reconstructed 21st century office drone falls for it every time. There’s something quite delicious – and, in my opinion, rather healthy – in living vicariously through these snarky low lifes who rebel against inertia by taking a short cut in life only to get shat on from on high. I could, and probably will, read such tales forever. Indeed Kingsley Amis was reported to spend his later years only wanting to read novels that began with “A shot rang out” and with all due respect for the development of the life of the mind I can see where he was coming from. “Song”, however, distinguishes itself from others in the field not only by being a great escalator-to-hell read but through some rather unexpected little turns from author Clifton Adams. For one thing, out of nowhere, Hooper’s Dad turns up and Hooper genuinely respects and loves him. I would have put money on Hooper throwing snark at the old man but Adams doesn’t do that. He word-paints Doc Hooper as world-weary but moral which succeeded in disguising (to me at least) his walking plot device role (“How's the patient, Dad?”). While Paula Sheldon surprises no one by being Marilyn Monroe crossed with Ted Bundy Adams has fun deconstructing hubby Kyle who is one notch too boringly risk averse for his wife and the grease monkey listening in from the shrubbery. Hooper is successfully moved incrementally from being your average embittered no-mark to murderer and with the bodies dropping, Paula egging him on and his Daddy in play there’s a certain Shakespearian feel to proceedings.
Beth, Hooper’s good-girl girlfriend, on the other hand gets a rum deal – figuratively and literally. Dumped by Hooper and never seen again, she represents the honest life Hooper soundly abandons and by the end the chump is still so addled by Paula’s curves (“She was fire in my arms”) poor old Beth doesn’t get a second thought. Hooper’s town of Creston might be drably industrial but it isn’t the sort of moral quagmire you might find in a Jim Thompson novel. It has (inconveniently for Hooper) a switched-on Sheriff, elderly but tenacious night watchmen and the townsfolk get scandalised by the horrors Hooper and Paula unleash. Adams isn’t really interested in using his crime tale to critique the American Dream, he zeroes in on one man and the decisions he makes at each turn of the road; a man is what he does in this novel not what fate imposes on him. “Song” isn’t perfect – it’s got a title that feels like it should be a quote from somewhere and Hooper’s narrative voice sometimes comes across like he’s in “My First Noir” ("You'd better think fast, Hooper") but these are very minor complaints. It’s a very enjoyable cautionary tale with some bracing violence and a protagonist whose straitened social circumstances are shown to be no excuse for the dark chocolate choices he starts making. “The hell with the dead man outside, we had money to count.”
November 17, 2024
Clifton Adams (1919-1971) is on my Mt Rushmore of western authors. His westerns are absolutely great. I knew that he had also written 5 noir novels. Only recently did I get my hands on one. Death's Sweet Song was written in 1955 and is widely considered the best of the five.
The story focuses on Joe Hooper, the owner of an Oklahoma gas station that happens to have 5 run-down rental cabins behind it. Joe lives in cabin number one. When a classy-looking couple pulls in looking for a room, he assigns them to cabin number two. But Joe is mystified as to why an affluent-looking couple would want to stay in his run-down, out-of-the-way motel. And the wife...she is smoking hot to put it mildly. Is it his imagination, or did she actually give him a sultry look behind her husband's back?
Buckle up, dear reader. Mr. Adams is going to take you on a wild ride. There will be money stolen, murders committed, lies told, and more than a little hanky-panky. Our boy Joe will fall head over heels for a smoldering femme fatale and get himself into more trouble than most people could get into in ten lifetimes.
I loved this book. The writing is fabulous. The story interesting. The characters are spot on for this kind of novel. Like all good noir novels, you read with a sense of dread. You know this train is leaving the tracks at some point. The fun is in finding out when and why.
Currently on eBay, an original paperback copy of this book ranges in price from $50 to $185. Thanks again to Stark House Press for putting out an affordable reprint edition.
The story focuses on Joe Hooper, the owner of an Oklahoma gas station that happens to have 5 run-down rental cabins behind it. Joe lives in cabin number one. When a classy-looking couple pulls in looking for a room, he assigns them to cabin number two. But Joe is mystified as to why an affluent-looking couple would want to stay in his run-down, out-of-the-way motel. And the wife...she is smoking hot to put it mildly. Is it his imagination, or did she actually give him a sultry look behind her husband's back?
Buckle up, dear reader. Mr. Adams is going to take you on a wild ride. There will be money stolen, murders committed, lies told, and more than a little hanky-panky. Our boy Joe will fall head over heels for a smoldering femme fatale and get himself into more trouble than most people could get into in ten lifetimes.
I loved this book. The writing is fabulous. The story interesting. The characters are spot on for this kind of novel. Like all good noir novels, you read with a sense of dread. You know this train is leaving the tracks at some point. The fun is in finding out when and why.
Currently on eBay, an original paperback copy of this book ranges in price from $50 to $185. Thanks again to Stark House Press for putting out an affordable reprint edition.
March 8, 2019
From Paperback Warrior Blog:
Apparently in the 1950s, American highway motels were often organized as a series of small, stand-alone cabins on a plot of land. For some reason, the cabin-style motel was often used as a setting for hard-boiled crime novels, including “A Ticket to Hell” by Harry Whittington and “Vanishing Ladies” by Richard Marsten (Ed McBain).
“Death’s Sweet Song” by Clifton Adams is a compelling 1953 crime paperback with a dilapidated cabin motel as the setting. Adams was mostly known for his writing in the western genre, but his contemporary hard-boiled crime novels were absolutely top-shelf entertainment, and this one is no exception.
Right off the bat, Adams does a great job of establishing a setting filled with dust and despair. Our narrator, Joe Hooper, owns a super-crappy cabin motel and gas station along Route 66 in rural Oklahoma. No self-respecting tourist would ever stay in Hooper’s unattractive and sweltering cabins in the blistering summer heat. But that’s not the only thing that’s got Hooper down. In addition to the depression of economic failure, he’s also experiencing the malaise of an unenthusiastic relationship with an unremarkable girlfriend. Hooper is a man with a theory: everybody gets one shot in life to make it big, and if you squander that opportunity, there won’t be another. Seething with bitterness over his own failures, Hooper is worried that he either missed his one shot or that it will never come at all.
Enter Mr. & Mrs. Karl and Paula Sheldon.
When the seemingly upscale Sheldons arrive at Hooper’s motel, he is immediately suspicious. Why would a classy guy with a super-hot wife stay in a dusty fleabag? Why is Karl Sheldon lying about having car problems? And why is Paula Sheldon being so flirtatious with Hooper? Some snooping and eavesdropping reveal that the Sheldons are planning a payroll heist in the nearby town. After some proforma ethical waffling, it occurs to Hooper that this heist could be his fabled One Shot to make it big if he can convince the Sheldons to make him a partner in their scheme. The fact that this would entail working closely with the impossibly sexy Paula is an added bonus to the riches that await him now that his potential big break has arrived. But first, Hooper needs to sell Karl on the idea of taking him on as a partner.
Of course, complications arise, and that’s the fun of these femme fatale short crime novels of the 1950s. Not everyone’s agenda is clearly spelled out, and the honor among thieves is always in question. The author keeps the tension and anxiety high by constantly putting the reader inside Hooper’s inner monologue for the entire 150-pages. There is also a scene of brutal violence like nothing I’ve seen in a novel from the 1950s.
Heist novels are a blast, and this one is no exception. Fans of Richard Stark and Lionel White will be able to sink their teeth into this one as crime fiction comfort food. And thanks to a recent reissue from Stark House - packaged as a double along with “Whom Gods Destroy” - you can enjoy this Clifton Adams paperback without breaking the bank. Highest recommendation.
(Check our the Paperback Warrior blog for hundreds of spoiler-free reviews of books like this one.)
Apparently in the 1950s, American highway motels were often organized as a series of small, stand-alone cabins on a plot of land. For some reason, the cabin-style motel was often used as a setting for hard-boiled crime novels, including “A Ticket to Hell” by Harry Whittington and “Vanishing Ladies” by Richard Marsten (Ed McBain).
“Death’s Sweet Song” by Clifton Adams is a compelling 1953 crime paperback with a dilapidated cabin motel as the setting. Adams was mostly known for his writing in the western genre, but his contemporary hard-boiled crime novels were absolutely top-shelf entertainment, and this one is no exception.
Right off the bat, Adams does a great job of establishing a setting filled with dust and despair. Our narrator, Joe Hooper, owns a super-crappy cabin motel and gas station along Route 66 in rural Oklahoma. No self-respecting tourist would ever stay in Hooper’s unattractive and sweltering cabins in the blistering summer heat. But that’s not the only thing that’s got Hooper down. In addition to the depression of economic failure, he’s also experiencing the malaise of an unenthusiastic relationship with an unremarkable girlfriend. Hooper is a man with a theory: everybody gets one shot in life to make it big, and if you squander that opportunity, there won’t be another. Seething with bitterness over his own failures, Hooper is worried that he either missed his one shot or that it will never come at all.
Enter Mr. & Mrs. Karl and Paula Sheldon.
When the seemingly upscale Sheldons arrive at Hooper’s motel, he is immediately suspicious. Why would a classy guy with a super-hot wife stay in a dusty fleabag? Why is Karl Sheldon lying about having car problems? And why is Paula Sheldon being so flirtatious with Hooper? Some snooping and eavesdropping reveal that the Sheldons are planning a payroll heist in the nearby town. After some proforma ethical waffling, it occurs to Hooper that this heist could be his fabled One Shot to make it big if he can convince the Sheldons to make him a partner in their scheme. The fact that this would entail working closely with the impossibly sexy Paula is an added bonus to the riches that await him now that his potential big break has arrived. But first, Hooper needs to sell Karl on the idea of taking him on as a partner.
Of course, complications arise, and that’s the fun of these femme fatale short crime novels of the 1950s. Not everyone’s agenda is clearly spelled out, and the honor among thieves is always in question. The author keeps the tension and anxiety high by constantly putting the reader inside Hooper’s inner monologue for the entire 150-pages. There is also a scene of brutal violence like nothing I’ve seen in a novel from the 1950s.
Heist novels are a blast, and this one is no exception. Fans of Richard Stark and Lionel White will be able to sink their teeth into this one as crime fiction comfort food. And thanks to a recent reissue from Stark House - packaged as a double along with “Whom Gods Destroy” - you can enjoy this Clifton Adams paperback without breaking the bank. Highest recommendation.
(Check our the Paperback Warrior blog for hundreds of spoiler-free reviews of books like this one.)
November 25, 2015
clifton adams top notch 50s pulp
February 20, 2015
When small town Motel owner Joe Hooper meets the suspicious couple Karl and Paula Sheldon one evening little does he know how crazy his world is going to become. Stuck running a dead end business Hooper has been waiting for a lucky break to come his way but will a surefire robbery plan really work out? As he sinks deeper into trouble becoming mixed up in a love triangle and murder, things really start to go sour. As the net closes in on Hooper and the Sheldon’s the pages begin to crackle with desperation and bleakness. Clifton Adams was the author of many great Western novels but here shows an amazing skill for taking a standard crime plot and investing just enough tension, greed and lust to create a simmering fireball of noir. For any Jim Thompson fans I would recommend this truly stunning novel.
December 18, 2010
Hardboiled crime story. Fast paced.
August 2, 2011
A pretty compelling noir tale.
February 15, 2013
A Jolly good read.
July 8, 2025
This quick read from 1955 is Unmistakably pulp through and through but there is something about it between the words, the elevates it beyond a lot of stuff I’ve read from this era. It reminds me of earlier Westlake in some ways…… Just really fast and clean and somehow able to tow the line between noir and cringe.
July 16, 2024
It starts as a typical civilian getting involved in a heist story that just keeps getting better as the protagonist discovers he has a surprising aptitude for his new avocation, while the femme fatale keeps upping the hardboiled ante. Highly recommended.
November 8, 2025
This is just a rip roaring good noir crime thriller that is among the best I've ever read. Up there with Black Wings Has My Angel but that one has now been picked up and republished where this still seems to be almost completely unknown. weird.
September 21, 2013
DEATH´S SWEET SONG ist ein klassischer Noir-Thriller von 1955 aus der Feder von Clifton Adams, der neben einigen weiteren Krimis vor allem Western geschrieben hat.
Das Buch beschreibt, wie der Ich-Erzähler von der ersten Begegnung an in den Bann der blonden Sirene Paula Sheldon gerät. Und obwohl er alle seine Moralvorstellungen und seine Ethik über Bord werfen muss, wenn er künftig mit dieser Frau zusammensein will, ist er der eiskalten Schönheit bedingungslos verfallen. Er gerät in einen Strudel von Gewaltverbrechen, während seine bürgerliche Existenz in Scherben fällt und er alles aufgibt in der unrealistischen Hoffnung auf eine gemeinsame Zukunft mit Paula.
Beim Lesen sieht man unwillkürlich einen schwarz-weiß Film vor seinem inneren Augen ablaufen, DEATH´S SWEET SONG ist ein Musterbeispiel für einen Noir-Thriller, hardboiled und aussichtslos. Der trostlosen Prärielandschaft Oklahomas kann der Erzähler, der eine runtergekommene Tankstelle und fünf ewig leerstehende Appartmenthütten bewirtschaftet, nicht entkommen.
Wenn auch psychologisch nicht immer feinsinnig und bis ins Letzte nachvollziehbar ist es die doch fesselnde Geschichte eines scheinbar ganz normal ins Gemeinwesen eingebundenen jungen Mannes, der zum Mörder wird, um dem Mythos der eiskalten blonden Schönheit und ihrer Verlockung nachzujagen und ein besseres Leben zu finden.
Das Ende der Geschichte ist sehr gelungen und könnte Stewart O´Nan zu THE SPEED QUEEN inspiriert haben.
Dieses ist einer der raren Fällen, wo ich etwas zur Ausgabe sagen muss:
Die alte "Gold Medal Book"-Ausgabe ist heute kaum noch zu finden, so dass ich zu der "Black Curtain Press"-Ausgabe gegriffen habe. Diese Ausgabe verdient mit Pauken und Trompeten
0 von 5 Sterne!
Ich habe ewig nicht ein so lieblos produziertes Buch in Händen halten müssen. Womit beginnen? Zum Einband: Auf dem grobpixeligen Coverbild räkelt sich eine verängstigte Blondine in weißen Bettlaken. Vom Typus her entspricht sie Paula überhaupt nicht, aber man wird sich gedacht haben: ach was, blond ist blond. Auf dem ansonsten nachtblauen (also tiefst dunkelblauen) Einband wurden Autor und Titel in schwarz aufgedruckt. Es gibt tatsächlich Lichtverhältnisse, in denen es mir gelungen ist, diese Schrift zu entdecken! Wem es nicht gelingt, dem sei geraten, das Buch anhand der Rückenbeschriftung zu identifizieren, dort ist die Schrift weiss (dass im Impressum Cover und Layout aufgeführt sind, wirkt da schon wie ein Hohn).
Die alte Taschenbuchausgabe wurde eingescannt und das Ergbnis ohne Überarbeitung und frisch drauflos neu abgedruckt, nicht ein einziger Blick wurde auf Einlesefehler geworfen. Ich habe noch niemals ein Buch mit so vielen "Druckfehlern" gesehen. Selbst ein flüchtiger Blick auf das fertige Produkt hätte den Verlag bewegen müssen, den Text noch einmal Korrektur zu lesen. Dass dieser Nachdruck für bummelig 12,- Euro verkauft wird, ist eine bodenlose Unverschämtheit.
Das Buch beschreibt, wie der Ich-Erzähler von der ersten Begegnung an in den Bann der blonden Sirene Paula Sheldon gerät. Und obwohl er alle seine Moralvorstellungen und seine Ethik über Bord werfen muss, wenn er künftig mit dieser Frau zusammensein will, ist er der eiskalten Schönheit bedingungslos verfallen. Er gerät in einen Strudel von Gewaltverbrechen, während seine bürgerliche Existenz in Scherben fällt und er alles aufgibt in der unrealistischen Hoffnung auf eine gemeinsame Zukunft mit Paula.
Beim Lesen sieht man unwillkürlich einen schwarz-weiß Film vor seinem inneren Augen ablaufen, DEATH´S SWEET SONG ist ein Musterbeispiel für einen Noir-Thriller, hardboiled und aussichtslos. Der trostlosen Prärielandschaft Oklahomas kann der Erzähler, der eine runtergekommene Tankstelle und fünf ewig leerstehende Appartmenthütten bewirtschaftet, nicht entkommen.
Wenn auch psychologisch nicht immer feinsinnig und bis ins Letzte nachvollziehbar ist es die doch fesselnde Geschichte eines scheinbar ganz normal ins Gemeinwesen eingebundenen jungen Mannes, der zum Mörder wird, um dem Mythos der eiskalten blonden Schönheit und ihrer Verlockung nachzujagen und ein besseres Leben zu finden.
Das Ende der Geschichte ist sehr gelungen und könnte Stewart O´Nan zu THE SPEED QUEEN inspiriert haben.
Dieses ist einer der raren Fällen, wo ich etwas zur Ausgabe sagen muss:
Die alte "Gold Medal Book"-Ausgabe ist heute kaum noch zu finden, so dass ich zu der "Black Curtain Press"-Ausgabe gegriffen habe. Diese Ausgabe verdient mit Pauken und Trompeten
0 von 5 Sterne!
Ich habe ewig nicht ein so lieblos produziertes Buch in Händen halten müssen. Womit beginnen? Zum Einband: Auf dem grobpixeligen Coverbild räkelt sich eine verängstigte Blondine in weißen Bettlaken. Vom Typus her entspricht sie Paula überhaupt nicht, aber man wird sich gedacht haben: ach was, blond ist blond. Auf dem ansonsten nachtblauen (also tiefst dunkelblauen) Einband wurden Autor und Titel in schwarz aufgedruckt. Es gibt tatsächlich Lichtverhältnisse, in denen es mir gelungen ist, diese Schrift zu entdecken! Wem es nicht gelingt, dem sei geraten, das Buch anhand der Rückenbeschriftung zu identifizieren, dort ist die Schrift weiss (dass im Impressum Cover und Layout aufgeführt sind, wirkt da schon wie ein Hohn).
Die alte Taschenbuchausgabe wurde eingescannt und das Ergbnis ohne Überarbeitung und frisch drauflos neu abgedruckt, nicht ein einziger Blick wurde auf Einlesefehler geworfen. Ich habe noch niemals ein Buch mit so vielen "Druckfehlern" gesehen. Selbst ein flüchtiger Blick auf das fertige Produkt hätte den Verlag bewegen müssen, den Text noch einmal Korrektur zu lesen. Dass dieser Nachdruck für bummelig 12,- Euro verkauft wird, ist eine bodenlose Unverschämtheit.
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