Day Keene, whose real name was Gunard Hjertstedt, started his writing career in the pulps and went on to become one of the most reliably entertaining authors of paperback suspense novels for Gold Medal and other publishers during the Fifties. In the Sixties, in addition to his crime and suspense novels, he also began writing glossy soap opera-type novels. ACAPULCO G.P.O., from 1967, fits quite nicely in that category.
Not that there’s no crime and suspense in this novel. There’s plenty, as there is in any good soap opera. Centered around Acapulco and a nearby former fishing village that’s now home to a number of wealthy jet-setters, Keene spins a yarn with a large cast and a number of intersecting storylines. Among the characters are a former Red Chinese army general who defected and wound up in Mexico, a beautiful movie star whose popularity has faded (you’ve got to have one of those in a book of this type), an angst-ridden artist and his model wife, and numerous horny teenagers. As for plotlines, you get drug smuggling, prostitution, kidnapping, murder, and lots of sex to go along with the crime and violence. Make no mistake about it, this is a lurid book.
Which, of course, is part of its guilty-pleasure appeal. Keene knows what he’s doing and does it extremely well. The storytelling skills he honed in the pulps keep things moving at a very fast pace, and then he springs a late twist in the outcome of one of the storylines that took me completely by surprise. While his earlier paperbacks are probably better (the Hard Case Crime reprint of one of his best books, HOME IS THE SAILOR, is still in print), ACAPULCO G.P.O. is well worth reading.
Not that there’s no crime and suspense in this novel. There’s plenty, as there is in any good soap opera. Centered around Acapulco and a nearby former fishing village that’s now home to a number of wealthy jet-setters, Keene spins a yarn with a large cast and a number of intersecting storylines. Among the characters are a former Red Chinese army general who defected and wound up in Mexico, a beautiful movie star whose popularity has faded (you’ve got to have one of those in a book of this type), an angst-ridden artist and his model wife, and numerous horny teenagers. As for plotlines, you get drug smuggling, prostitution, kidnapping, murder, and lots of sex to go along with the crime and violence. Make no mistake about it, this is a lurid book.
Which, of course, is part of its guilty-pleasure appeal. Keene knows what he’s doing and does it extremely well. The storytelling skills he honed in the pulps keep things moving at a very fast pace, and then he springs a late twist in the outcome of one of the storylines that took me completely by surprise. While his earlier paperbacks are probably better (the Hard Case Crime reprint of one of his best books, HOME IS THE SAILOR, is still in print), ACAPULCO G.P.O. is well worth reading.
6 comments:
Another for the list. Thanks so much. I hope to talk about these at Bouchercon.
I guess people forget about Day Keene's later books, (I know I do at times) One of my favorite authors, many top quality murder, mystery, and crime stories in his basket. Gold Medal, Lion, ACE, Graphic... many paperback publishers were willing to have him.
Wrote a good western in 1967, "Guns Along the Brazos" Remember it well, believe it was his only western.
It's nice to see reviews of his work, Thanks A.W.
Is that a McGinnis cover?
Nope, Robert Abbett.
This is the one I remember starting, but for some reason didn't read it very far (it wasn't bad, it just dropped out of sight and I had other books to read at the moment) and then I couldn't tell Steve Lewis if it's a crime novel and if it should be included in Hubin's cf biblio. Now it seems it should be there at least with the - mark, which indicates a crime content.
I hope Steve reads this. :)
Yes, there's enough crime in this book that it definitely belongs in Hubin's bibliography.
Post a Comment