The Silent Wall & The Return Of Marvin Palaver

by Peter Rabe, Rick Ollerman (Introduction)

THE SILENT WALLMatty Matthews has been to the town of Forza d'Aguil before. Stationed there with a small group of soldiers during WWII, it was here that Matty fell in love with Rosanna. It was a sweet, short-lived affair until the soldiers unexpectedly got orders to pull out. Matty never got to say goodbye. Now he's back in Sicily, drawn to the mountain town after all these years. But the citizens of Forza d'Aguil are easy to offend, and when Matty inadvertently crosses Pino, the mafioso sabotages his leaving. Trapped in Forza d'Aguil, hemmed in on all sides by the oppression of the town and its silent citizens, he's stuck in the middle of mafia country with no way out. He has only the help of the innkeeper Vinciguerra, a man he can't understand, and the passion of the sweet Sophia. Or is she part of the sinister web, too?THE RETURN OF MARVIN PALAVERMarvin Palaver dies at the worst possible moment in life, just when he is coming out even with his nemesis, fellow scrap seller Sidney Minsk. He is so close. The contract is signed and Sydney has just bought back his own scrap, the deal of a lifetime. Marve knows happiness supreme. But as the tears of joy make his eyes swim, there comes a bump in his chest, and he is dead before he hits the floor. But death doesn’t stop Marvin. His masterful schwindel must be complete. So Marve finagles his way back to the material plane for a bit of artful ghosting. Sidney has hidden the contract away, confident that he’s the only one who knows about it. All Marve needs to do is get him to reveal it—he should live so long!

250 pages, Paperback

Published January 10, 2020

About the author

Peter Rabe aka Peter Rabinowitsch, was a German American writer who also used the nom de plumes Marco Malaponte and J.T. MacCargo (though not all of the latter's books were by him). Rabe was the author of over 30 books, mostly of crime fiction, published between 1955 and 1975.

Reviews

[Victor Whitman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Just finished The Silent Wall, Rabe's novel that went unpublished for 20 years. Rabe is billed in the cover as one of the unkown greats of noir fiction but I had mixed feelings about this 200-page story set in Italy...Not quite sure about it. He has such an odd style and way of telling a story. My first impression, though, is that overall it was a slow read and hard to follow, like a brilliant first draft that could have used another edit. At the same time there were parts that had me thinking the guy is a genius. I might like it better if I read it again.