Hardboiled American Crime and Worldwide Noir Fiction discussion

Fadeout

Hi All

The vote is in and counted.

And the winner is the first in the long running Dave Brandstetter series, comprising 12 books in the series this is the first and is quite a revolutionary read for the time it was written (1960s).

The later books advance in years and politics as the world turns.

Hope you all enjoy it.

If your planning on taking part, do add your name below and say Hi!

Zain has informed me that the book is not available as a new print currently.

Ebay or maybe a download option should be around. The book has been in constant republishing cycle since it was first published so should be not to difficult to find?

From Amazon..
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Fadeout-Dave...

This is the UK link remember though if you are using it.

Regards

Hello, Douglas. I thank you for the link for $1.99. Would you happen to know about a link for the United States?


Zain 🤷🏽‍♀️

I'm happy this book won - I will definitely be reading it. I'm just waiting to get paid on Friday; then I'll be able to get my hands on it. : )

Douglas wrote: "Zain has informed me that the book is not available as a new print currently.

eBay or maybe a download option should be around. The book has been in constant republishing cycle since it was first ..."

Sorry Zain, I have no idea, I am UK-based. Not sure why it is not released stateside when it is available elsewhere?

Does anyone know how to share an existing download?

They would need my email address. That’s how I lend books. 📚


Zain 🙃

Ah, then that is a choice you must make.

If you wanna put a call out and have someone send you it, if that is legal?

Then no problem.

I have shared my email more than once and it doesn't bother me but I appreciate others value their privacy and I can respect that.

Regards

I found (and purchased) a previously owned copy of the book for $4.28 including tax and shipping to my U.S. address on bookfinder.com. I noticed a number of others available for under $6 total, a few for about $5, all included.

Brand new copies can be had for about $10 (again listed by bookfinder.com). If ordering new, that is from the left side, all the best priced ones are coming from Britain and include the shipping cost. Maybe the pound is super weak against the dollar right now. Anyway, when ordering from reliable Blackwell, no book took more than ten days to reach me here in the U.S. and most came in 5-7 days. All were brand new and nicely packaged. Blackwell is a really good company.

Yeh, I have an account with them, they do a lot of photography books and big reductions.

Although I would say with fadeout pick the cover you want first as their is various designs and I always like a nice cover.

I've gotten my copy of Fadeout - and am ready to start reading it on the 1st of October! : )

You can read before of course? :)

Hopefully, there will be a lot of us, Zain is in as well so that is gonna be 4+

Douglas wrote: "You can read before of course? :)

Hopefully, there will be a lot of us, Zain is in as well so that is gonna be 4+"

I'm trying to resist the urge to start it before - thankfully I'm busy reading other books in the meanwhile! X D

What helps me resist is that the U.S. mail system currently holds my previously owned copy of the book and will until some time between September 28 and October 8.

I have never before heard of this son of a South Dakotan shoemaker before. However, I have heard of the title of the last of his Dave Brandstetter novels because of its famous film version: A Country of Old Men (1991) (Viking Penguin).

Fadeout or Fadeout both look like great places to begin a Joseph Hansen reading.

Dan wrote: "What helps me resist is that the U.S. mail system currently holds my previously owned copy of the book and will until some time between September 28 and October 8.

I have never before heard of th..."

Living in South Africa I have to get most of my books via kindle - trad pub I can still go to my local bookstore to see if it's there, but with self-pub, kindle all the way.

Carmen wrote: "Dan wrote: "What helps me resist is that the U.S. mail system currently holds my previously owned copy of the book and will until some time between September 28 and October 8.

I have never before..."

???? There was a film version of a Dave Brandstetter novel ????
And it was the final book?
That does seem odd as the book works best if you have read the series, this is his only book that is back issue reliant almost.

Just checked, it isn't alas. I figured I would have heard of a Joseph Hansen movie.

blurb...
No Country for Old Men is a 2007 American neo-Western crime thriller film written and directed by Joel and Ethan Coen, based on Cormac McCarthy's 2005 novel of the same name. Starring Tommy Lee Jones, Javier Bardem, and Josh Brolin, the film is set in the desert landscape of

Ah, okay then. I guess it was the homosexual angle of both works that caused me to fail to notice the slight differences in title. Thanks for catching my mistake, Douglas. Anyway, looking forward to reading and enjoying Fadeout on its own merits.

Yes. I have ordered the paperback, which is something I haven’t done in many years. I love to read ebooks. But I’m sure my book will be here by the first and ready to read.


Zain 😎

I saw that movie, Douglas.


Zain 😨

Maybe we should consider a movie/book read section as a comparison also?

Although I am hard-pressed to think of a movie that is as good as the book, even Godfather and The Crow had something missing in comparison.

My copy of Fadeout is still on its way. It started in Toledo and has made its way nine days later to Atlanta. Now if we could just move it 200 miles east of there....

I am about to start Killstreme and the Fadeout with an occasional dip into Providence between times.

Zain wrote: "Hello, Douglas. I thank you for the link for $1.99. Would you happen to know about a link for the United States?


Zain 🤷🏽‍♀️"

A little cheat for you: Open the book on the UK Amazon, then in the address bar simply change ".co.uk" to ".com" or other domain (e.g. ".com.au" for Australia) and 99% of the time it is the same book on the other site.
Hope this helps you all!

Just finished my second read of it and frankly, it was better the second time. He remains in my books one of the finest writers out there, albeit he will never write again alas.

The book is so beautifully written and the topics are explored so perfectly.

I see Zain is a good way through it already.

We have a death or maybe a missing person of Fox Olsen the local celebrity. In the early stages, we uncover the various locals and a little about Fox`s past and of course Dave Branstetter the Insurance Agent investigating.

So many well-crafted scenes that just jump out of the page.

How is everyone else getting on with it?

I haven't started reading my copy yet - but hoping to do so within the next day or two. : )

Its fine, I just jumped ahead and read it sooner was all :)

I have my copy. It's got the cover on the masthead that's second from the right. Finishing up a femme monster short story anthology. Then I can pick either this or Harlem up.

Zain just finished it also, just read her review :)

Financially this one's a bit out of my reach while I'm unemployed (nearly $20 for me) but hoping to join in next month!

Jac wrote: "Financially this one's a bit out of my reach while I'm unemployed (nearly $20 for me) but hoping to join in next month!"

Fadeout is $20!! I need to sell my copy quick :)

It's a pity it's not available as a download currently.

I can get the ebook (for USD $16 +bank fees). But paperback is coming out of either US or NSW (Australia) which means not currently accessible in WA due to covid restrictions.
Who thought my favourite pastime would be interrupted?

There is something hinky going on here (as the Scooby gang would say). The US is expensive and limited and the UK is cheap and plentiful availability?

Including a downloadable version which carries no risk of Covid :)

There are plenty of previously owned copies of the book available in the United States that can be easily located using bookfinder.com. I paid $4.28 for mine, which arrived last week, and that included shipping and tax. $4.28 total. I see another copy is currently available for the same price. I also saw about ten more copies from various sellers available in the $5-$7 (all included) range. Nope, there's no problems getting a copy here in the U.S. for those who truly want one. If the book has to be brand new, bookfinder.com lists one seller in California selling the book for under $10 (shipping and tax included).

Fear of contracting Covid and purchasing books are related only in the minds of the distinctly overfearful as well as utterly uninformed on matters biological. Covid is spread through breathing air containing Covid viral particles, not through touching inanimate matter (as was originally thought possible but that we now have known better for more than a year).

Way to go Dr Dan..

Personally, I will always prefer paper books whether Covid is a factor or not :)

I'm in Australia. There are shipping restrictions at the moment from the US, and an overworked and understaffed postal service in NSW.

Yeah, we've only recently been getting some news coverage here in the U.S. of the goings on relative to Covid and your government's bizarre over-reach reactions to it, mostly in the east. Here's an example: (https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/tucke...). My sympathies. At least it looks like western Australia has good policies and a handle on the crisis. I hope you join us if and when you can obtain a non-Covid riddled copy of the book from somewhere other than the U.S.

Okay: Philip McLaren "Scream Black Murder".

McLaren is a Kamilaroi author, one of the first (if not the first) Indigenous Australian crime writer. This one is set in the time following a famous (real life) shooting in Australia. We don't have many, and even less Indigenous Australian crime writers.

I had a look at the reviews, and there is a fair amount of bias. This book is written more for the Indigneous Australian community than the white community, therefore some things don't need explaining (we don't, after all, explain our white-centricness). So please take those reviews with a grain of salt, and reach out to me if you need clarification.

Jac wrote: "Okay: Philip McLaren "Scream Black Murder".

McLaren is a Kamilaroi author, one of the first (if not the first) Indigenous Australian crime writer. This one i..."

Marked it as a want.

So keen to see how well the book flows :)

Ouch, just realised this is a site discussing Fadeout, sorry folks, my bad :)

Normal service will be returns and myself and Jac can continue in the general chit chat group :)

https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

Oops! Sorry dudes!

Interesting little point on this book, one of the other Pulp groups reviewed this previously and the main discussion revolved around the young man he beds late on in the book.

Fear not this is not a big plot giveaway fellow readers. But I thought it was interesting that the story seemed to be secondary to something Joseph had added merely to highlight the times or maybe the sexual mores of the gay community back then.

Odd that noir is banded around so often and yet it is not correct for the book?

Personally I rather enjoy books that give insight into a culture even if it is not the aim or expected outcome of a book.

I recently read Sci5 by Perillai and although it is an interesting and fun Scifi collection it was as of much interest concerning his presentation of Indian? culture.

So, back on point, has anyone else read this yet? :)

I am off to a late start on Fadeout, maybe 20% of the way in now. I like Hansen's cystal clear writing style. I also enjoy the mystery. Did Fox off himself for insurance fraud? Otherwise, how exactly did he die and where is his body? Is his less than grieving wife who wants it to be purely an accident, cha-ching, right?

I like that this is an insurance fraud investigation. It harkens back nicely to the first Continental Op story that way. I'm looking for a similar twist to come to light here.

What I'm not picking up any of is why one would consider this book to be noir. All we have had is daylight so far minus a little rain to grease the plot. There's no gangsters, no femme fatale, maybe not even a murder. No one has been beat up yet, or looks about to be. And no one is talking tough, although Brandstetter does have a no-nonsense, straight ahead way that's refreshing.

Just checking in. Other voters for this book, you're missing a treat if you're not reading yet.

My hand up on this on Dan!

Yup, the Noir connection is more to do with the detective angle for me, it is not a pure breed Noir novel in anyway but it is a bastard offspring of the great detective style.

The later books when he and Cecil live together are darker, the late night beatings. The investigations and so forth.

My review of Fadeout, such as it is: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Just read your review, disappointed you werent blown away, as I said on your review. This series of books have kept me captured for years and have lost none of its power.

Maybe we will find that elusive book that stuns you yet! :)

I unfortunately didn't quite get to this book in October - though I am hoping to read it at some stage in November. : )

You have all the time in the world, so worry not :)

Actually, I'm only willing to grant an extension through November 7.

Dan wrote: "Actually, I'm only willing to grant an extension through November 7."

Then I better get reading! X D