Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)Originally entitled Until I Am Dead and published in 1956, Wild Wives' only blemish is its ending. I'm not saying that the ending is terrible, or even bad, but it did strike me as lazy. That being said, I can't find anything else wrong with this book and everything right. Willeford brings to the table a sophistication and class that most noir books are lacking. His knowledge of art, clothing and style strongly tempers his unforgiving toughness. I think Willeford was only rivaled in noir by Jim Thompson, but I must confess that Willeford's stories are tighter, more concise. This edition of Wild Wives weighs in at a light 102 pages. It's a fast, exciting read and Willeford packs a full, well-rounded story into what few pages he has given us here. This isn't as good as Pick Up, which was published in 1954, but not many crime books are. This book, as with most of Willeford's work, is very plausible. It's a quality that allows you to fall right into his stories. Jake Blake & Florence Weintraub are great characters. Despite their many quirks and abnormalities, Willeford manages to keep them consistant through the whole yarn. I highly recommend this one, Pick Up and Willeford's memoir- I Was Looking For A Street.
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Jake Blake is a private detective short on cash when he meets a rich and beautiful young woman looking to escape her father's smothering influence. Unfortunately for Jake, the smothering influence includes two thugs hired to protect her—and the woman is in fact not the daughter of the man she wants to escape, but his wife. Now Jake has two angry thugs and one jealous husband on his case. As Jake becomes more deeply involved with this glamorous and possibly crazy woman, he becomes entangled in a web of deceit, intrigue—and multiple murders. Brilliant, sardonic, and full of surprises, Wild Wives is one wild ride.
