Just Finished Reading: Stop This Man! By Peter Rabe (FP: 1955)

For three time loser Tony Catell it looked like a gift of a job, one that was almost too good to be true. A bunch of scientists where going to run experiments on a gold bar and took almost no precautions to keep it safe. Breaking into the lab was easy. Walking off with a fortune in gold was even easier – just an elderly guard to put out of action. Easy money. Except for one thing. Unknown to the guy who planned the heist there had been an accident and the gold bar was radioactive. So when Tony contacted the fence he was told that the gold was useless until the radioactivity had worn off. Thinking he was being double crossed – who had ever heard of such a thing as radioactive gold? – Tony used his contacts to set up a buyer in LA. But as he crossed the country with the FBI on his tail, Geiger counters in hand, and starting to feel strangely sick those unlucky enough to be around him begin to discover that both Tony and his loot are literally too hot to handle.

I remember seeing an old 50’s film noir that had a similar plot to this except the box of radioactive ‘stuff’ was far deadlier that a mildly irradiated lump of gold. It was an interesting idea obviously tapping into the understandable interest in and ignorance of all things radioactive (there’s actually a brief science bit that didn’t make a whole lot of sense). Tony is no hero – actually he’s a really nasty piece of work dealing roughly with his friends, his women (especially his women) and anyone who crosses him. Being of the age it is the violence throughout the book isn’t as graphic as it is today but there’s enough of it to go around. I’d say probably a good 25-30% of the main cast die in one way or another. It was a quick read though – only 221 pages in my edition – without much need to pause and think about much. The plot was simple, the baddies where suitably bad, the good guys where good (and not very bright) and the end was fairly predictable. Not exactly the greatest crime novel I’ve ever read but reasonable enough for a quiet relaxing weekend.