TWO TOUGH GUY TALES: W.R. BURNETT'S THE LOOP/ MAN WITH A THOUSAND ENEMIES

W.R. Burnett put his stamp on last centuries pop culture. Books like Little Caesar, High Sierra and The Asphalt JUngle set templates for both fiction and film and his work on screenplays for movie classics like original Scarface and The Great Escape. Recently, Stark House Press published two previously unpublished works of his, The Loop and Man With a Thousand Enemies.

The Loop is a heist yarn set in 1925 Chicago. Our "hero" is Dooley, a rough crook heading out to meet up with Hamm, the brains to his brawn. Hamm has just come out of the honor farm with plans for a big knockover. Dooley finds his partner murdered in his hotel room. He believes Hamm was killed for his scheme and plans to rob the robbers who killed Hamm for it with the help of an ex-cop and charming pimp. Before it's done, both of sides the law will be violently closing in.

The book gives us a lower depths, working class version of Prohibition Chicago. Everyone has a tough history and attitude. Smiles prove suspect. It takes you through cheap hotels and apartments, second rate speakeasies and Chinese restaurants. I don't remember any part of it taking in full daylight. It's all black and grey, no white. We learn to except and possibly like Dooley on his own terms.

Man With A Thousand Enemies is a more streamlined tale with less mood and more plot than The Loop. The title character is Gordon Minot, the millionaire who has stepped on a lot of toes operating the plant and practically everything else in the fictional Steel City. However,, the central figure is Jimmy Devore, the ex-cop who took a prison bid for Minot's brother. He now works for the power player as his chief of security. When an a rogues gallery comes to town and an attempt is made on Minot's life, Jimmy must play detective to uncover ti figure who is behind the plot dethrone his boss. If that's not enough, Jimmy finds himself caught between his girl, Kay, and Minot's daughter Pearl who he has become attracted to..

Burnett packs a lot of Glass Key style plotting in a tight package. With less location detail than the Loop the action and dialogue power the tale on a slicker if more winding road to speed along. That dialogue and action also expresses the relationships. Like Key's Ned Beaumont and Miller's Crossing's Tom Reagan we admire Jimmy Devore's loyalty to Gordon Minot.

Both books feel like they were tailor made to be turned into crime films of their time. The hard guy patter, sudden violence, and bullet out of the barrel pacing reflect the hard boiled style and attitude W.R. Burnett helped build. If your thing is tough men in trenchcoats firing "choppers", The Loop and Man With a Thousand Enemies are like opening two chests of buried treasure.

-review by Scott Montgomery