Review: Noir.  Really real noir.
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 06 23, 2012
Written in 1953, this is noir, without a doubt.  Loving that genre, this book was right up my alley.The P.I. (or shamus) is Ed Noon, who loves his work and couldn't survive in a 9 to 5 job.  He tried, it didn't work.  He felt suffocated in that world.  "This is my life.  Going into bars, pressing the wrinkles out of people's lives, getting all the ins and outs.  It's a filthy, dirty jungle but the air is what I go for."  Ah, just music to my ears; no, music to my eyes.With quotes like "My hat could stand a clocking, my clothes looked like hand-me-downs, and my face looked like it had lost a good argument.  But I still had to have that coffee first."  Noir, if I've ever read it.All crisp, clear, descriptive sentences, just like I love so much.A nice mystery with lots of vividly described characters seldom seen in today's novels.  You feel as though you're a bird, a hawk, on Ed Noon's shoulder watching the action, feeling his pain, and wanting to help him out (or step back.)Never heard the name Michael Avallone, but will put him on my list of 'must reads' in the future.