Andrew Diamond's 3 favorite reads in 2024

This is one of the best novels I’ve ever read. The author, Humphrey Cobb, fought with the Canadian army on the front lines in France in World War I. While he points out that the events of the novel are fiction, much of what he describes is obviously based on what he witnessed in the trenches, and the core of the book’s horrifying plot comes from actual historical events.

Fourteen-year-old Mattie Ross sets out to avenge the murder of her father in 1880s Arkansas. She hires the hardened and hard-drinking US Marshal Rooster Cogburn to track the murderer, Tom Chaney, through Indian country and bring him to justice. Along the way, they pick up a Texas Ranger named LaBoeuf who is seeking Chaney for crimes committed in Texas.

Mattie is iron-willed, single-minded, guileless and pure in her intentions. She comes from a salt-of-the-earth Christian family, which puts her at odds with the jaded Cogburn who has spent his career hunting down men who have proven themselves immune to ordinary justice. Both characters are practical and unsentimental, though their temperaments have evolved from very different experiences.

Mattie’s unsentimental pragmatism is based in idealism. There is one right way to live, which the bible plainly spells out. Rooster’s unsentimental pragmatism came from having to make his way in a hard and unjust world where criminals like Ned Pepper will run all over whoever they please until someone bigger and stronger and meaner comes along to stop them.

As the trio–Mattie, Rooster, and LeBeouf–make their way on horseback through what is now Oklahoma, they learn that Tom Chaney has joined a band of train robbers led by Rooster’s nemesis, Lucky Ned Pepper. The gang has just robbed a train, provoking a posse of US Marshals to join the hunt a few days behind Rooster and his crew. This introduces time pressure. Mattie wants to reach Chaney first, so she can bring him to justice back in Fort Smith.

Now we have quite an interesting setup, with each of the three main characters on a personal quest with life-or-death stakes. The joy of this book is seeing the world through Mattie’s eyes. The girl is absolutely sure of herself, even when tested to the limit. She grew up on a farm and is not entirely out of her element in the lawless Indian territory.

She understands horses, nature, people, and describes them all in clear, unvarnished language. Her language, like her moral outlook, is uncorrupted by common usage. Her statements and descriptions are literal and concrete, not metaphorical. They refer directly to the physical world around her. On the few occasions when she does use jargon or current idioms, she puts quotes around the words so the reader will know she does not mean these words literally.

Mattie’s fixation on her mission and her extreme literal-mindedness would probably get her tagged today as autistic. She’s not. She’s just very sure of who she is and well-grounded in a literal, physical, concrete world, as reflected in her language.

The author, Charles Portis, is a master storyteller, both in the broad structure of the tale and in the host of minor details that ring true and bring the individual scenes to life. The story is well paced, with no wasted words, and the tension builds throughout, leading up to an unforgettable ending. This is justly considered an American classic. If you get a chance, check out the Coen Brothers' 2010 film version, which is quite true to the book.

This book is a classic among fans of hard-boiled crime fiction. Stephen King called it the hardest of the hard-boiled, and I have to agree with him on that. The plotting is relentless and so is the main character. I’ve never seen a character who so purely embodies animosity and determination.

The story opens with Earl Drake and his partner Bunny robbing a bank in Arizona. Things go awry halfway through the job, and Earl shoots several guards before getting shot himself. To make things worse, their getaway driver loses his nerve just as they’re exiting, and he winds up taking a bullet too.

But Earl is a pro and has an iron nerve. He manages a clean getaway and sends Bunny off to Florida with most of the cash. They plan to meet up later, after Earl gets medical treatment and recovers from his gunshot wound. In the meantime, Bunny mails an envelope of cash every now and then to keep Earl afloat.

Until one day the cash stops coming and Earl knows something has happened to Bunny. Time to go to Florida and investigate.

As a kid, Earl developed a deep hatred of bullies and of authority. He also developed an ability to patiently endure the most savage of beatings while coolly plotting his revenge. When three thugs take turns beating the crap out of him in an alley, he warns them that if they don’t kill him, he will track them down and kill them. And he does, patiently and methodically.

The cop who beats him blind in a jail cell suffers the same fate, as does the cop who railroads his friend into a long prison sentence on false charges.

On the long drive from Arizona to Florida, Earl picks up a new license and a new name. He shows up in the small town of Hudson as Chet Arnold, picks up work pruning trees and takes his time sussing out info about his partner, Bunny. He knows that Bunny, a deaf mute, likes to keep his distance from the general public. He knows Bunny would likely choose an isolated house in the swamps east of town, where no one would likely bother him, so he starts his search there.

As he begins his search, a nosy, violent sheriff’s deputy named Blaze Franklin begins to stalk him. Franklin doesn’t like strangers, or most other people for that matter, and he can’t think of any legitimate reason for a stranger to be poking around the swamps.

Franklin is used to bullying people, and even killing men who show an interest in his girlfriend, Lucille. He expects to give Chet Arnold (Earl) the same treatment. Good luck with that…

As Chet/Earl continues his search for Bunny, his troubles mount. Not only does the local deputy have it out for him, but so do a number of his former criminal associates. They read about the bank robbery, they know how much money was taken (a lot), and the recognized it as the work of a seasoned pro. Now they know that pro is searching the swamps of Florida, and there can be only one reason why.

I won’t give away the plot, except to say that Chet/Earl soon learns why Bunny’s money stopped coming and who was taking it. This is where the book really heats up.

In any crime novel, there’s only so much that can happen. Car chases, shootouts, fights, betrayals. What sets a good book apart from a mediocre one is the telling of the story. This is where Dan Marlowe truly excels. He has an excellent character in Earl, a terse, sharp-eyed narrator who thinks four steps ahead of his enemies and has no fear of anything. The plot never slackens. There are twists in almost every chapter, and Marlowe’s ability to describe action is superb. This book definitely earned its reputation.

Being as much a lover of the genre as I am, I was surprised when I first heard of Marlowe a few years ago that I hadn’t heard of him before. I learned of him after reading Rook, Stephen G. Eoannou’s excellent biography of real-life bank robber Albert Frederick Nussbaum. The actual bank robbery that opens Eoannou’s book is almost a mirror of the one that opens Marlowe’s novel.

Nussbaum was so impressed by the realism of Marlowe’s novel, the two became friends and eventually roommates. After leaving prison, Nussbaum himself became a crime writer.

Marlowe’s Name of the Game is currently published in a single volume with the sequel, One Endless Hour. Without giving anything away, I’ll say the first book ends with a bang that sets up the second. I can’t wait to read part two.