Part of the Worlds Without End Grand Master Reading Challenge
This book is definitely “Gangs of New York”…on Mars. Gritty hardboiled pulp with lots of violence, frontier politics, unwashed bodies, brothels, a forced wedding, and terse but decent prose. Beneath the dome of the Mars colony. A fast enjoyable read, but definitely less science fiction and more like macho noir. The hero, copper Bruce Gordon, isn’t exactly pure and good…at first. Or ever. Nobody’s really a saint in Marsport, apparently, except the starving masses and the pretty girls. I got a little lost in the endless parade of men with weapons. Mostly it’s corrupt cops beating up thugs, mob violence, gambling, a blonde dame who starts out as a feisty fighter and ends up a nice little wifey who helps Brucie take off his boots after a hard day and cries when he strip-searches her. Probably wicked good stuff if you’re a thirteen year old American boy in 1956.
