tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16749171.post2669136624376602359..comments2024-03-28T11:13:05.893-07:00Comments on The Rap Sheet: The Book You Have to Read: “Desert Town,” by Ramona StewartJ. Kingston Piercehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17073921191624535912noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16749171.post-347239490621165122017-01-06T09:53:05.243-08:002017-01-06T09:53:05.243-08:00One of the best noir novels never intended to be n...One of the best noir novels never intended to be noir. Stewart's other early fiction from the 1940s (I've read five of her short stories published in the slicks) also shows off her fascination for power plays between the sexes -- men vying for each other's attention and women pursuing men who are unattainable for one reason or another. I think the book is more powerful than Robert Rossen's odd, too colorful, adaptation even if the script does retain some of Stewart's best dialogue. Sadly, gone is all the sadism and corruption in Chuckawalla that gives the book a feeling of a claustrophobic and hellish den of iniquity.J F Norrishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06473487417479127354noreply@blogger.com