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The Dark Ages
Paperback
Series: A Harry Palmer/Crystal Eckart Mystery, Book 5
Publisher: Dennis Broe
Published: Dec 13 2024
Pages: 304
Weight: 0.90
Height: 0.64 Width: 6.00 Depth: 9.00
Language: English
Harrry and Crystal in their deadliest adventure yet.
Dennis Broe has done it again. On the one hand, we have his usual electrifying prose, dense atmospheric feel for LA, and sharp plotting. On the other, we have the sneaking sense that the backdrop of the 1950s Hollywood blacklist is becoming our own backdrop. Today. Dissident voices about world politics are being silenced even as we ... speak-Toby Miller, Global Media Scholar and author of Why Journalism? A Polemic.
Broe's novel, written in the terse, laconic hard-boiled style of Hammett and Chandler, is a gripping insight into the double-dealings, lies and betrayals that permeated Hollywood - and much of American society - during the time of HUAC and the infamous blacklist. Full of evocative descriptions and crisp dialogue, this murder mystery captures the feel of the period, oozing knowledge and understanding about the perfidiousness of studio bosses and the misery their craven conformism inflicted on their creative staff, especially writers--Andrew Spicer, University of Bristol, UK and author of Film Noir
The Dark Ages tells an interesting tale of intrigue during a dark time in US history. The author deftly follows in the hardboiled tradition of detective thrillers, with plenty of twists and turns. All in all, a good read.-Michael D Yates, Editor Monthly Review, Professor Emeritus at the University of Pittsburgh-Johnstown.
Harry is such a particular and complete character that you want to see him more. The subject matter is flabbergasting, allowing us to see how the system was created in order to profit only a certain group (much like how the Red Line in LA was destroyed to provoke a need for cars, tires and gas.) The novel weaves history and historical fiction together giving us a real feel for the period. This is a book with great intrigue that presents a vision not only of a dystopian Hollywood system but also a hopeful vision of a different landscape that we could be operating under-Mathilde Merlot, Film and Television Writer and author of Death at Vassar, the Madelaine Rosseau Mystery Series.
The novel provides a compelling and entertaining blend of private eye fiction (with a few nods to Chandler); expertly researched analysis of the structural roots of the blacklist; and a radical critique with implications for now as well as then. I particularly like the mix of fictional and 'real' figures from that era and the revealing analysis of the way studio heads and others thought about filmmaking and the blacklist at the time-Brian Neve, The Many Lives of Cy Endfield: Film Noir, The Blacklist and Zulu and Film and Politics in America: A Social Tradition.
A damn good job. The writing style works well with the content. It's gripping and, I believe, reflects these events as they would have occurred. Couldn't put it down. And now, of course, I want to read the rest of the series-Diana Anhalt, author of A Gathering of Fugitives: American Political Expatriates in Mexico 1948-65. It's 1951 and Repression is in the air. Against the backdrop of a congressional investigation of Hollywood, PI Harry Palmer is hired by a blacklisted writer to collect his money from a cheating front. Thus begins a trail of murder, betrayal, and lust that will bring Harry and Crystal close to dissolving their partnership and losing their lives. Beyond the intrigue, their investigation sheds light on the desire of the studios to pacify their workers and to wreak havoc on what was once a militant labor movement.
Dennis Broe is the author of the previous Harry Palmer trilogy Calamitous Corruption which includes Left of Eden, A Hello to Arms and The Precinct With The Golden Arm. The second Harry Palmer trilogy The Dark Ages includes The House That Buff Built, The Dark Ages and Pornocopia.
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