Paperback 306: Bantam 826 (1st ptg, 1950) (ex-lib)
Title: High Sierra
Author: W.R. Burnett
Cover artist: Harry Schaare
Best things about this cover
- "Yeah, so, I like to grab the shaft real tight with one hand, like so, and then rub the tip back and forth with the other hand, real slow, like so, you see? And then ... what? What're you mugs starin' at? Ain't you never seen a guy polish his gun before?"
- I *love* the expression on her face. It's like she's saying, quietly, out of the side of her mouth: "Uh ... are you seeing what I'm seeing?" Clearly the dude with the cards is as stunned as she is ... staring intently ... clawing the chair arm ...
- In other news about the guy stroking his rod: those are some high pants. Tie-swallowing pants. And the girliest suspenders imaginable.
Best thing about this back cover:
- Only the Cincinnati Times Star really appears to be tapping into what I'm seeing on the cover.
Page 123~
Roy was appalled at the change in Big Mac's appearance and sat studying him covertly. Mac had lost a lot of weight and the skin under his chin hung in pale folds. His hands shook and he kept drinking glass after glass of straight whisky.
I can't help but picture a haggard, embittered, world-weary, alcoholic Mayor McCheese.
~RP
[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter]
