Lucky at Cards--Lawrence Block

Lately I have discovered the wonderful world of Hard Case Crime. It's an outfit that publishes out-of-print pulp novels, as well as new works by authors such as Stephen King. As you can see here--and at the website--the books also boast impressive cover art and design very reminiscent of the golden age of the pulp novel.

Lucky at Cards is a novel by Lawrence Block published pseudonymously almost forty years ago. Its plot is fairly conventional;unlucky cardsharp meets bad-hearted broad and they plot to get rid of her husband. The twist here is that they can't actually kill him, so the cardsharp applies his intelligence to concocting an elaborate frame-up.

This novel is well-written, with a kind of noirspeak that communicates simply but eloquently. Characters are well-realized and fairly memorable, even if they are somewhat stock (the sultry dame, the good-hearted local girl, the sympathetic cardsharp). The plot moves along at a brisk clip--it's a fairly easy read, and someone with time on their hands could probably knock it out in a few hours.

The most interesting thing to me was the tension of self-identity present in the protagonist. He is a man who has lived his life just outside the bounds of normal society. Suddenly, as he begins to live his life among the townspeople, he realizes that he actually likes the honest life. Of course, fate conspires against him, but it is this tension that drives him, and therefore drives the plot, to its conclusion. (This is, I think, a fairly common convention of the genre, but I'm not familiar enough with it to be certain).

In all, Lucky at Cards is an exciting and well-written book; I look forward to delving into Block's other work.