Gold Medal, October 1953 |
Hell’s Our Destination is an earlier novel from Gil
Brewer, and falls into that ever popular “swamp-noir” genre in which characters
drink a lot, sweat a lot and feed upon their lusts toward no good endings. Who
doesn’t like a good swamp noir romp? This one has all the right ingredients:
buried loot, an eccentric loner, ex-cons out of their element, and sweaty babes
who smoke cigarettes and disrobe a lot. We have two such dames in this novel.
Vern, a raven-haired good girl from town, and Cora, the sultry blond from the
city whose sideways glances give the menfolk pause.
There isn’t much surprise that’s ahead for someone who
has made a steady diet of reading noir paperbacks from this period. You know a
couple chapters in that Cora is no good and is going to screw at least one of
the guys over before the end. In this case she’s got three suckers to pick
from. The most obvious being our hapless “hero” of the novel, Simon.
Simon hasn’t had it so well these past years. He’s been
obsessing over a wad of stolen loot that he knows is hidden out there somewhere
in the swamp. Six years before he took two hundred dollars to help a traveler
named Fred hide the loot. Problem is that he doesn’t know exactly where Fred
hid the loot, just that it’s a couple hours up the river from his cabin, by two
crossed “trees.” Simon figures that he’s going to get the money eventually, but
waiting for the opportunity has eaten into his soul. It’s also but a halt to
his relationship with Vern. With the money he figures he can make a life for
the two of them, leave the swamp behind them forever. But until
then…well…there’s booze and the bible to carry him along. But Vern can’t wait
forever.
Simon reads about a payroll heist, and that Fred is sent
up for it. The money is missing of course because Fred has hidden it in the
swamp. Simon figures that he’d have to wait for Fred’s release from prison in
order to get the money. But Fred is killed days after getting paroled, and
Simon has no choice but to wait for Fred’s killer to show up looking for a tour
guide into the swamp.
In the meantime Simon has to deal with a couple of
smartass insurance detectives sniffing around. They figure that Fred disposed
of the stolen loot in Simon’s swamp. They needle Simon. They dose him with a
Mutt and Jeff routine. They wear him down with insinuations. One of them in
particular, Steggins, seems to have plenty of time to just hang around the
swamp in his skiff, fishing and whatnot, just waiting for Simon to make a move.
If that isn’t bad enough, Fred’s old partner Bliss shows up. Bliss seems to
figure Simon isn’t as simple as he tries to be. He tells Simon that it’s best
for him that he shacks up in Simon’s cabin for a while, just to keep the heat
off. Oh, yeah, and what about that missing loot his old buddy Fred made off
with?
Then there is Cora. Ah...Cora, that icy blond who parades
around Simon’s cabin flashing her legs and blowing smoke at him. Her method of
attack is to play at a city gal looking for a local guide to take her out on a
photography safari. She’s hot and bored and maybe willing to share a hot
afternoon in Simon’s cot, but first, the guided tour into the swamp. As if she
doesn’t know what’s buried there.
These characters come and go in Simon’s cabin to the
point that you begin to wonder if they’re not manifestations of Simon’s
torment. He’s been putting life on hold
for a false promise that his mind is getting as tattered as his old bible. Personally,
I’d avoid a guy like Simon. Yeah, maybe Cora might be able to trip me up a
couple of time, but I’ll know not to follow her anywhere near any quicksand.
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