I’m a long-time reader of science fiction (since the 1970’s) and a moderately recent devotee of classic pulp fiction of the 40’s, 50’s, and 60’s and as such it would be nigh impossible to not be familiar with the name Robert Silverberg. However, I haven’t really read much Silverberg. There’s no particular reason other than ‘so many books, so little time’ and his books just never found their way to the top of my TBR pile.
Hard Case Crime books has pulled some classic Silverberg pulp fiction out of retirement and presented it again. Thanks, Hard Case Crime!
The Hot Beat, originally published in 1960 under the pseudonym Stan Vincent, is a hardboiled crime novel set in the seedy world of postwar Los Angeles nightlife (I think hardboiled crime novels are always set in a seedy world). Bob McKay, once a successful and celebrated bandleader, has lost his career, reputation, and relationship with a beautiful aspiring actress because of his increasingly destructive drinking. Now struggling to survive in cheap bars and rundown neighborhoods, McKay becomes the prime suspect when a woman working the nightclub scene is found strangled.
Convicted of a murder he insists he did not commit, McKay faces execution while the police and public seem ready to accept his guilt. His former girlfriend, determined to save him, joins forces with a sympathetic newspaper columnist who begins investigating the case. Together, they search through Los Angeles’s underworld for evidence that will identify the real killer and expose the truth before McKay reaches Death Row.
The book has just about everything you might look for in a hardboiled story: a noir atmosphere, plenty of pulp-style violence, betrayal, alcoholism, lusty ladies and raw, savage sex, and a race-against-time investigation.
Like a lot of authors who made their living as writers in the 50’s and 60’s and 70’s, Silverberg wrote quickly and for a lot of different pulps. The Hot Beat is an excellent example of his versatility beyond the science fiction for which he is best known.
When I think about what I am looking for when I read some classic noir, pulp fiction, this is EXACTLY what I’m looking for. Silverberg brings the reader right into the story – you really feel as though you are in these seedy bars or in a run-down motel room with a willing woman.
While McKay is the figure around whom the story revolves – and there’s a solid mystery here, which is part of the true appeal – the main character is really Terry, the former girlfriend who is trying to help McKay. It seems slightly unusual to have the fallen starlet lead such a mystery, but it works.
The book is rounded out with three short noir stories originally published in pulp magazines in the late 1950s. They are “Drunken Sailor” – which really doesn’t do much for me, about a young, rather innocent sailor on leave – and “Naked in the Lake” about a married man who decides it’s time to get rid of his side piece before she ruins the wonderful things he has going – only to have some uncomfortable surprises waiting for him. This was pretty straightforward but still enjoyable. A good space filler for a pulp. And finally, “Jailbait Girl,” about a con artist that has a nice bite to it.
Looking for a good book? If you’re curious about what makes the noir, hardboiled fiction of the classic pulps appealing to readers, then you really must pick up The Hot Beat by Robert Silverberg. Fans of the genre will definitely want to include this in their libraries.
I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Edelweiss, in exchange for an honest review.
4-1/2 stars
* * * * * *
The Hot Beat
author: Robert Silverberg (writing as Stan Vincent)
publisher: Hard Case Crime
ISBN: 9781789099928
paperback, 236 pages
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