The Face of Evil

John McPartland

By guest reviewer Nicholas Litchfield

A RUGGED Chicago fixer wrestles with his moral compass as he attempts to tarnish the reputation of a local attorney in The Face of Evil, a gritty 1950s pulp fiction tale, steeped in extortion, corruption, and counter-blackmail.

Originally published as a Gold Medal Books paperback original in 1954, John McPartland's hard-hitting standalone novel of redemption has resurfaced this month as part of Stark House’s Black Gat mass market editions, having been long out of print.

McPartland, a former staff writer for Life magazine who died at the age of 47 in 1958, carved out a niche for himself in the realm of pulp fiction crime, writing four screenplays and a dozen gangster-style thrillers. But he is perhaps best remembered for his dramatic novel No Down Payment, which was adapted into a film featuring Joanne Woodward and Tony Randall, garnering two BAFTA nominations. Set during a sultry summer in Newport Beach, California, The Face of Evil introduces us to hard-nosed Bill Oxford, depicted as ‘a smart, tough fixer whose soul has rotted away.’ Employed by his brutish boss, Roger Mooney, vice president of the advertising agency where Bill works, he’s accustomed to managing all manner of ‘extra services’ for Roger and the agency, ranging from organising parties to ‘easing some used woman out of the trouble zone.’ However, his true expertise lies in bribery and violence.

This time, Bill is tasked with undermining altruistic lawyer Ringling Black, who holds incriminating evidence against a high-powered political candidate in a tight primary race… evidence that reveals the candidate had ‘embezzled a lot of money, taken bribes from other crooks, and got mixed up in a very slimy situation with a sixteen-year-old.’

It’s evidence that could jeopardise the candidate’s election prospects, and his political team is determined to keep it hidden. With a five thousand dollar bonus riding on the success of this framing operation, Bill faces the added pressure of knowing that Roger possesses leverage over him… evidence potent enough to imprison Bill on serious charges.

Unfortunately, within hours of arriving in Newport, Bill’s mission takes a turn for the worse when he encounters the captivating yet perilous Nile Lisbon, the local assistant District Attorney. Nile, widow of Black’s former law partner, is well-known in the community and has close ties to Black. When her brutish lover, King McCarthy, instigates a brawl with Bill purely for amusement, Bill quickly realises he’s in for a tumultuous time in Newport.

As Bill gets to know Nile, his attraction to her intensifies, leading him to reconsider framing her friend, Black. But with so much at stake, his boss Mooney and his superiors exert additional pressure on Bill to fulfil his assignment.

When Black schedules a political telecast for the primary at nine o’clock – intending to unveil photostats and affidavits detailing the high-powered candidate’s corruption – the stakes escalate in a frantic race to eliminate Black.

Caught between a rock and a hard place, Bill yearns for upright lawyer Black to expose the political candidate for the reprobate he truly is while, at the same time, grappling with the fear that doing this morally right thing might land him behind bars.

Full of tension, violent fistfights, and a dose of dry humour, The Face of Evil hits hard and fast, culminating in an unexpected and utterly frenetic climax. Shamus Award-winning author Ed Gorman remarked that McPartland possessed ‘a great Fitzgeraldian social eye for every strata of society, from blue collar all the way up to the gated community folks.’ This, perhaps McPartland’s finest novel, delivers a raw and incisive tale of redemption that is well worth a second outing.
(Black Gat, paperback, £19.95)