Wednesday, April 19, 2006

Hank Janson: The Deadly Horse-race


Finished the Hank Jason/Janson The Deadly Horse-race last night. It was pretty OK to the middle, then it started to drag badly. There was suddenly too much dialogue and everything got too explanatory.

The "best" part was when it was revealed that the Chinese commies blackmailed American junkies to sell heroin cheap to kiddies by denying them their coke unless they sell the quota first! You'd think they'd just use the coke that's for sale instead of trying to sell it for 25 cents per kilo (or whatever the ridiculous price was).

The Finnish publisher used a McGinnis illo with this. I don't know in which book this first appeared. But facing the danger of being called male chauvinist I'll say: Man, what a curve! what a back! The Finnish title "Lootuskukka" means "Lotus Flower" and refers to one of the Chinese characters - a counter spy, very luscious-looking female. The headline says: "National destruction faces the United States!"

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