Burly Reading: NIGHT OF THE PHOENIX by Nelson De Mille

Sometime in the heyday of 1975, Nelson DeMille, or De Mille as it's spelled on this book, had a paperback release of a novel called NIGHT OF THE PHOENIX. The publishing house is "Manor Books Inc. God knows what became of Manor Books Inc. It looks to be a Brit company. The cover shows a yellow police badge graphic with the name "Keller", with the startlingly cool image of a hardened police dick (who bears more than a physical resemblance to Bruce Dern in THE LAUGHING POLICEMAN and THE DRIVER) shoving his .38 revolver right into the reader's face.
The cover copy has the title (smaller than "Keller", which indicates this is a Keller Novel, part of a series) and beneath that: "Life is hard for a cop like Keller. If he caught a bullet in the head, it could ruin his whole day."

That's why the 1970s was so cool, folks. Stuff like that.

So that's even before you crack open this 224-page gem, which also has a seal of approval on the cover in the form of "BRUTALLY AUTHENTIC." The publishers are obviously letting the reader know that this isn't going to be an Agatha Christie book.

What begins, in the novel, at a point in Vietnam of 1972 and ends in New York City 1975, is a vicious little pulp novel worth every pound you might have paid for it. A CIA assassin named Morgan is left to die by his superiors in 'Nam, and reappears years later to exact revenge by nauseating torture. A Dirty Harry-Plus Det. Sgt. Joe Keller is drawn into conflict with Morgan, with no punches pulled.

Nelson DeMille is one of those Name Authors people recognize. Movies have been made from his books. He's done good. Back in 1975, he wrote this series of books about Det. Sgt. Joe Keller, and like a dirty secret you can barely find any information about them at all. DeMille's website doesn't even mention them. You'd never know they existed. No one even mentions them much online. Surely somebody read these books. Sometime in the late 1980s, the books were reprinted under DeMille's "Jack Cannon" pen name.

In America, Det. Sgt. Keller becomes Det. Sgt. Joe Ryker, which sounds much tougher to American ears. I own one of the official Rykers, but haven't read it yet. "The Sniper" (RYKER # 1) was published by Leisure Books in August of 1974.

NIGHT OF THE PHOENIX would be RYKER # 4 of the five books in the series. Smack in the middle of the paperback is an ad for Kent Deluxe Length Cigarettes. I'm not a smoker and that makes me nostalgic as hell. It verfies a man read these books. They were written for men with long sideburns to enjoy, while smoking a Kent.

I urge you to strike out and find yourself NIGHT OF THE PHOENIX. As an artifact of the 1970s, my version of the paperback is fascinating enough. The actual story is a tight, ground-glass thriller, as ugly as it sounds but pulled off with the grace of an uppercut in the scrotum.

Why DeMille seems disassociated with these lurid roots is a mystery, or rather not much of a mystery, considering where he is. Who knows? Lawrence Block (8 MILLION WAYS TO DIE and other suspense thrillers) has stated he wrote porn novels in his formative years. I imagine a fleet of lawyers keep those books from ever seeing the light of day again. It's understandable, I guess, but kind of sad as well. Still, I think DeMille and Block probably figure there's nothing particularly interesting about these works. You can find a plethora of such novels and movies all through the decade, some better and some a lot worse. No need to dredge up more, per se.

But I kind of wish we could, when reading something as cool and tough as NIGHT OF THE PHOENIX.

All images of badasses courtesy of the 1970s (and notable posters from http://www.wrongsideoftheart.com/!