Scan barcode
nickdleblanc's review against another edition
3.0
I’m a sucker for pulp and @hard_case_crime is a great publisher for it. This is the second of their books I’ve read this year, the first being the Charles Willeford classic, “Understudy for Death.” Though Willeford is probably a better writer with a deeper grasp on character development and mood, Block here is a great time. Pulp stories are prime for intellectualization. It’s less than 200 pages, and the whole time I was craving deeper character insight. In most cases this would make an argument for a bad book, but with pulp, it’s sort of the point. You get sketches of characters that infect your mind and root around in there until you decide what to do with them. You fill in the missing pieces with your own psychology. It’s good stuff. This book follows a gambler, a divorcee, a sex worker, and a psycho killer and traces how their lives fatefully interact. It’s impossible to read without thinking about adapting it into a play or film. I deeply enjoy this type of stuff, but I acknowledge it isn’t for everyone. There’s an astonishing amount of sex and violence—especially given it was published in 1958. Even if you don’t check this one out, I’d definitely recommend checking out Hard Case Crime as they publish consistently good stuff.
-
-
tl;dr—all book nerds should read at least a few pulp novels, they are the basis for so much of what our culture understands as entertainment and their influence is vast, from the Beat Generation to Tarantino to 50 Shades of Grey, it all has roots in pulp. Do the right thing and read some.
-
-
tl;dr—all book nerds should read at least a few pulp novels, they are the basis for so much of what our culture understands as entertainment and their influence is vast, from the Beat Generation to Tarantino to 50 Shades of Grey, it all has roots in pulp. Do the right thing and read some.
carlottacauthon's review against another edition
4.0
An unusual choice on my part. I hadn’t previously read anything of this style or theme and it was an interesting read. I did feel gripped and it was certainly addictive. The writing style was very good, and I’d be interested in reading more of his work in the future. It did surprise me how focused the book was around the characters’ sexual exploits, when there wasn’t really an indication of that in the synopsis. The ending did take me by surprise, in a good way.
trudilibrarian's review against another edition
2.0
What a nasty piece of work this turned out to be living as it does at the seedy intersection of pulp and pornography, violence and depravity. I thought I was a big girl and could handle stepping over the borderline into such dark corners, but this one shook me up quite a bit and left me feeling a bit sick and dirty. The only thing I can compare it to is how I felt after watching Requiem for a Dream.
I blithely walked into this one expecting a lighter, fluffier piece of pulp fiction -- an exaggerated "put your lips together and blow" Hollywood-style noir. Instead I got closer to a Larry Flynt fantasy than I ever wanted to get in this life. Kemper perfectly describes the experience this way:
This is a solid little piece of pulp with an edgy nastiness to it, like popping a piece of candy in your mouth and finding out it was actually a hunk of broken glass.Yup. And I can still taste the blood.
So giving this a star rating is tough. I didn't enjoy it and found most of the story and the characters vile and despicable. However, the fact that I was so unsettled and left feeling so out of sorts is a testament to Block's ability as a writer. I'm really, really happy he found another way to make his living as a novelist however.
tommooney's review against another edition
4.0
BORDERLINE by Lawrence Block.
Do you enjoy the following: tightly written noir, detailed descriptions of women's breasts, detailed descriptions of horrific murders, pornograhy?
If you answered yes to all or any of these, you will love Borderline.
This old pulp novel, republished by Hard Crime, brings together a cast of debauched characters in Juarez and El Paso for what must be the most extreme book I have ever read.
There's a recently divorced sexpot, a professional gambler, a horny lesbian, a girl selling her body for car rides and a maniac with a stright-edged razor and a penchant for young girls.
It is a sordid, sexy, violent, offensive, shocking look at the Juarez underbelly of the 1960s.
And, though I hesitate to say it for fear of seeming a pervert or a maniac, I really quite enjoyed it.
I should say, as if it wasn't already obvious, it aint for the faint hearted.
I got this from the library shelves but it really should be locked in a safe room somewhere, only to be accessed by those who've passed a screening.
Good grief.
Do you enjoy the following: tightly written noir, detailed descriptions of women's breasts, detailed descriptions of horrific murders, pornograhy?
If you answered yes to all or any of these, you will love Borderline.
This old pulp novel, republished by Hard Crime, brings together a cast of debauched characters in Juarez and El Paso for what must be the most extreme book I have ever read.
There's a recently divorced sexpot, a professional gambler, a horny lesbian, a girl selling her body for car rides and a maniac with a stright-edged razor and a penchant for young girls.
It is a sordid, sexy, violent, offensive, shocking look at the Juarez underbelly of the 1960s.
And, though I hesitate to say it for fear of seeming a pervert or a maniac, I really quite enjoyed it.
I should say, as if it wasn't already obvious, it aint for the faint hearted.
I got this from the library shelves but it really should be locked in a safe room somewhere, only to be accessed by those who've passed a screening.
Good grief.
bobf2d33's review against another edition
2.0
While it may be a classic of the mystery noir genre, today it is just dated and it wasn't very interesting.
maccymacd's review against another edition
4.0
Great plot, exciting characters and really conjured up the sleaze and sweat of a noir-ish 1950s film. Only downside was it was too short, and ended without rounding off all of the characters properly. I could definitely have read for another 100 pages at least!
whatmeworry's review against another edition
4.0
I'm a big fan of Block's Matt Scudder books so was interested to read some of his earlier work. This is a collection of one short novel and 3 short stories. All 4 are very much in the pulp style and the novel in particular is extremely saucy (to the extent that it gets in the way of the story a little). I enjoyed all of them though, especially the final story about a PI investigating a murder at a stag party
hcq's review
2.0
Not his best work, by a long shot. The title story was too long and had too many sex scenes--not that there's anything wrong with sex scenes, per se, but they were so detailed, in comparison to everything else, that they threw the whole piece off balance. Meh.
The other stories were better, especially the detective one. That showed promise, which he later delivered on, so I'm glad to have read it.
The other stories were better, especially the detective one. That showed promise, which he later delivered on, so I'm glad to have read it.