Rate this book

Fredda Come Il Ghiaccio (1969)

by John Lange(Favorite Author)
3.38 of 5 Votes: 4
languge
English
publisher
Garzanti
series
Hard Case Crime
review 1: I wasn't aware that was an early Michael Crichton novel. I am a fan of the Hard Case Crime series which is usually good but this one of the clunkers. It is, as one reviewer also noted, a pretty bad imitation of The Maltese Falcon with stock villians even Warner Brothers would have blushed at using. You can see elements of later Chrichton novels here which I imagine is the only reason it was republished.
review 2: What I like about the Hard Case Crime imprint is their penchant for uncovering novels with unique histories. Take, for instance, NOBODY'S ANGEL, which was written by a Chicago cab driver and for years sold only to his customers out of the back trunk of his cab. Or MEMORY, an unpublished early novel which, had it found a publisher, would have undoubted
... morely launched Donald Westlake's career in a wholly different direction. THE LAST QUARRY allowed Max Alan Collins to resume a popular pulp series that had been dormant for 20 years. One of my personal favorites is KILLING CASTRO, a lost thriller by Lawrence Block, so lost in fact that the author had to buy a used copy on the internet and mail it to the publisher.In that same vein, Hard Case Crime has re-released two novels--GRAVE DESCENT and ZERO COOL--by John Lange, which was an early pseudonymn of Michael Crichton. ZERO COOL is by no means a serious work of fiction, but it is still fun. There are murders, fights, and double-crosses on almost every page. The plot is so far-fetched that it borders on camp, but that's part of its charm. Crichton's affinity for fast pacing, exotic locales, and archetype characters is in full view here, although this book lacks any of his trademark research or love of scientific theories.A must-have for all Crichton fans, of course. For everybody else, it's not a book I can recommend on its merits, but I will say it is a pleasurable way to kill a couple hours by the pool. less
Reviews (see all)
Sarah
Great yarn! Quick and easy to read.Love the pulp covers from publishers Hard Case Crime.
Layla25
enjoyable, but pretty trashy and inconsistent. read "the venom business" instead.
mitsyl
Another awesome book!
rklanza
A fun pulpy read.
Write review
Review will shown on site after approval.
(Review will shown on site after approval)