So young, So wicked by Jonathan Craig

Edition Details:
Format : E-book
Page Count: 160 pages

First Sentence:
Steve Garrity saw the burned paper match wedged between the door and the jamb an instant after he had inserted his key and started to twist the knob.

Stever Garrity was a pianist at a small club. Apart from being a musician the main source of his income was from the killings that he did at the behest of the syndicate. He didn’t like the killings but he didn’t have a choice. He had to do what he was asked to do without asking questions.

Now he was asked to render his services again. He had been given an impossible assignment.He had to go to Garrensville, a small town, and kill a fifteen year old, Leda Noland and make it look like an accident. It was to be done quickly and if he failed a hit would be put out on him.

Leda Noland was the town beauty. And so she was the centre of attention. It was going to be difficult to make the hit and what was making thing worse was that Steve couldn’t help himself from falling for her.

Was he able to do what he was asked? What had Leda done that warranted such action from the syndicate?

Read the story to find that out.

I got this book from www.munseys.com before it was shutdown because of making  copyright content available for free download. Well, i’m glad i could download it before it went out. So a big thank you to the guys behind the munseys. 

Well, while reading this book i was checking the other works by this author and i could just find a single short story by him. This novel was also not available in amazon india. And there was not much information about the author in internet. I guess this is the only book the writer has written and if it’s true then it would be shame.

  The book is a hit-man novel. A guy is hired to kill someone and the whole book is about the ways he employs to kill his quarry. It was an engrossing read although i could guess what the end would be. But that guessing didn’t mar the reading experience.

This novel was published in 50’s. When i read books that have been published twenty to thirty years(in this case 50 years) back i tend to ignore the things that appear as cliches as these were published in time when such things were fresh ideas rather than the cliches they have become now.

There are two main characters in the book around whom the story is woven: Steve Garrity, the hitman(torpedo) and Leda Nodland, the girl that syndicate asked him to murder.

The character of Steve Garrity was intriguing. He’s a hitman aka torpedo  but he doesn’t like the job. He is being forced to kill by the syndicate. It became really difficult  for me to hate him while reading the novel. He appears as a genuine nice guy through out the novel who has been forced by circumstances to do what he does. You’ll know why he does what he does when you’ll read the novel.

Leda Noland is the other main character. I felt there is not much given about her. We get to know her in the last few chapters of the book. I thought there would have been more space given to her. I would really want to know how her life proceeded after the end of the novel.

I also liked the concept of syndicate. An organisation who blackmails other people to work for them. I would have loved read other novels featuring such victims of the syndicate. It would also have been fun if a group of such victims decided to form an organisation against the syndicate and then they tried to eradicate it. I’ll have to reign in my horses of imagination now 😉

In the end i would say. It was a fun, entertaining book. If you can get it then it’s definitely worth reading. If you know any more works by the author then do mention them in comments. I would love to read them.

Some lines from the book:
It would be good for him if he could get drunk, he thought. Just once. He’d like to really hang one on. But there was no point in thinking about it. Professional killers didn’t get drunk; if they were smart they didn’t drink at all. Not if they wanted to stay alive. One hood drunk, and  a little- a very little- loose talk, and it would all be over.


The pattern was always the same, he reflected. First there was the instant of fear, and then the minute or two of resentment, and finally the inevitable resignation to the fact that you were going to murder a man– for money, and because you had no choice. 

You lasted just as long as your nerve held out and you didn’t bungle.