The Hook #1- The Gilded Canary

The Hook #1 - The Gilded Canary by Brad Latham
Published by Warner Books 1981

The Hook was one of a handful of series from Warner Books short-lived Men of Action line. Most only ran for a few volumes, with their Dirty Harry series being the longest at 12 books. The Hook lasted for five, and if the other four are as good as this one I look forward to tracking them down.

Set in 1938, this series chronicles the adventures of William Lockwood a.k.a. The Hook, so nicknamed because of his boxing skills. He is a WWI veteran and now an insurance investigator assigned to high-dollar claims. In this installment he’s after an expensive necklace stolen from a popular singer at a New York nightclub frequented by both movie stars and gangsters. While a stolen necklace may not sound all that exciting, it isn’t long before bodies start to pile up. Since the Hook is an ex-boxer, the writer also finds lots of excuses for him to knock the crap out of folks. And have sex. The Hook really likes to fuck.

There seems to be some mystery as to the identity of the writer behind the Brad Latham house name. It was briefly thought that David J. Schow was the mystery man, but he says not. 

Most online reviews for this book are brutal. It’s called boring, dumb, and many complain about the graphic nature of the sex scenes, although I didn’t find them to be any more plentiful or graphic than the average men’s adventures series. I also thought the setting was well-realized. The pop-culture references and the dialogue sold the period well, and were fun to read. The whole thing put me in the mind of old movies series like The Falcon, or The Saint, but with way more boning. Maybe the series will go off the rails in future books, but it gets off to a great start.