Reviewed by TONY BAER:
THEODORE STRAUSS – Moonrise. Viking Press, hardcover, 1946. Serialized earlier than guide publication in Cosmopolitan, August-September 1946. Bantam #889, paperback, 1951, as Darkish Starvation. Stark Home Press, softcover, 2024. Movie: Republic Footage, 1948 (with Dane Clark, Gail Russell).
Danny’s daddy was within the noose earlier than Danny received out of the cradle.
Danny’s mom was sick. So Danny’s daddy known as the doc. Twas the nighttime, goddamn it. Stated the doc. She’ll be superb til morning.
Cept she wasn’t. So then it was Danny’s daddy made the housecall. Payback. And the noose.
So Danny’s a little bit of an orphan, then. With a chip.
Don’t make enjoyable of Danny’s daddy both. So Jerry discovered.
Jerry was a dick. His daddy ran the financial institution. And Jerry drove a cute little trick of a crimson sportscar or one thing. Convertible.
And Jerry was a bully. Again in 1st grade when Danny began faculty, Jerry kicked the crap out of him with the entire faculty rooting him on.
Danny didn’t neglect. So when Jerry, on the massive dance, fairly Gilly, the brand new schoolteacher in tow, begins ragging Danny bout his daddy within the noose, Danny says come on right down to the pond and let’s settle this.
And Danny will get him this time. Beats him up however good. Solely Jerry received’t quit. And picks up a rock and tries to hit Danny. Solely Danny takes the rock away. And hits Jerry. Onerous. On the pinnacle. Too exhausting.
So Danny throws Jerry within the swamp. Goes again to the dance and picks up Gilly. And drives her residence.
Solely homicide don’t go away that straightforward. There’ll be a reckoning, I reckon.
First rate little 40’s noir. Virtually stated ‘descent’. And it’s. However ambiguous. With an odd form of redemptive finish. The place one might wish to be caught. For the reality of it. And the peace.
