This is the 3rd book in the Narc series by Robert
Hawkes and first published in 1974. It's action driven, and not
much in the way of a character study. But character study is for English majors
and action is what we read books like this for, right? This is upper tier grindhouse
men's adventure, and it's rather well written to boot. Narcotics agent John
Bolt is a force of fury, going from New York to Paris and back again on the
trail of professional working chick that has gotten her hands on a “black book”
containing the list of suppliers and customers and corrupt officials involved in the drug trade. The owner
of the list was gunned down during an orgy, leaving the parasites and vultures
of the underworld scrambling after it. It's violent and nasty. You can see the
blood-stained shag carpet and smell the cheap cologne throughout. I understand the Narc series
is available in ebook format now, but I think the fun of a novel like this is
finding an old paperback of it instead. My Signet copy is the one shown here.
Oh yeah, and the pages smell like stale Winstons.
 |
| Signet - September 1974 |
As a writer friend of mine observed, “You just don’t
get that from your Kindle!
Robert Hawkes is really Marc Olden who is also the
writer of the the Black Samurai series. I haven’t been able to find any of the
Black Samurai books in my used bookstore haunts yet. I suppose I’ll have to
break down and go on EBay for some. I’m sorry I didn’t find about Marc Olden
sooner. As so often happens, I’m late to the party again.
I’ve got three other
books in the Narc series in my collection: #5 Kill the Dragon, #6 The Beauty Kill and #7 Corsican
Death. I’m looking forward to stepping back in time to John Bolt’s world again
soon.
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