Still reading random Woolrich stories and Inter-library loan supplied me with this, from which I read two stories, "The Corpse And The Kid" and "Walls That Hear You" - although it also contains two stories I've previously reviewed in another collection, so let's repurpose those reviews first..."Cobra Woman" - the femme fatale as mysterious exotic "other" (Asian Indian, here) with some fear of "strange religions" sifted into the mix. An early Woolrich piece, this presents a seemingly supernatural mystery (death by snake poison) that's all explained away rationally in the end but there's the usual, enjoyably snappy noir patter, hideous sudden death and a scene of sadistic torture carried out on the villain. Fun!"Dark Melody Of Madness" (aka "Papa Benjamin") - one of those Woolrich classics that's been adapted (and ripped off) many, many times in all forms of popular media. In a nutshell - a jazz musician steals the scared voodoo music rhythms and is cursed. Exceptionally well done - atmospheric descriptions of seedy backstreet alleys and the secretive haunts of a voodoo cult (love the recurring details like the woman in the window of the alleyway who acts something like a sentry). Also, of course, race issues creep up here in interesting ways - voodoo is representative of primitive, atavistic beliefs (coded "black") and how can they possibly trump modern rationalism (coded "white")? There's also a minor-note theme about worries of racial mixing in your past (not as virulently presented as in H.P. Lovecraft).The last minute "rational" explanation (as I said in another review of Woolrich, effectively dismantling a secret society in short story is a tall order for any writer, and Woolrich does a better job here than in "Graves For The Living" by focusing even more on relentless police procedures) may seem to take some air out of the tale but then, in what's become a Woolrich trademark, the "rational" world then has its own rug pulled out from under it, by a small capper scene that reasserts a world shared by the scientific and the "Unconscious" - here presented with a killer last line focusing on average people caught between huge, unknowable and implacable forces like The Law, Religion, the Occult, Science and Random Chance. Excellent!"Walls That Hear You" - The idea of this book is "early Woolrich stories" and so his themes and approach are not fully developed yet. Without its crackerjack grand guignol opening, "Walls" is a pretty straightforward, almost lazy story of a determined man using audio surveillance equipment (not very detailed description - but thus the title) to ferret out a mad doctor and have him punished for his crimes. That "mad" part of "mad doctor" is important because that hideously gruesome opening - a young man, brother of the main character, is found by the roadside with his tongue torn out and all his fingers severed from his hands - is never really justified in its extremity, aside from the hand waving use of insanity its just there as a gruesome plot hook (admittedly, very effective) and, to a point, to underline how such a mutilation would forever, during the Depression, cripple a man's livelihood and how no amount of revenge would fix that truth.And finally there's "The Corpse And The Kid" - which I read because its supposed to be one of Woolrich's earliest excursions into straight-out suspense writing AND because its is reportedly set at the Jersey Shore - my birthplace - and so I was interested in how Woolrich would write about that in the 1930S. Well, last point first - Woolrish was never much for description and atmosphere setting so there's not much detail given here of what shore town it is but, by the evidence (a mention of Lakewood and the Asbury Pike, and a train that runs to New York City), I'm betting it's set in Asbury Park (or maybe Ocean Grove). As to the story itself - well, "Kid" is a misnomer - as the "kid" is twenty years old, but he does love his terminally ill father very much and when said father strangles his cheating wife (the boy's stepmother) to death, the son feels its his duty to set his dad up with an alibi and dispose of the body as quickly as possible. This all happens within the story's opening paragraph, by the way. The "kid"'s instant transformation into a scheming, noir-minded, alibi-building machine is a bit much (but, it must be said, one of those reasons that genres exist - its flattering to and expected by the reading audience and cuts through expectations of "realistic" fiction) but the story's focus from that opening open is on detailing every small move the son makes in putting his plan into action - which involves wrapping the body in a blanket and carrying it out of town ("carrying it" literally, by the way) - and how he deals with various obstructions along the way. The initial ending is, honestly, kind of a let down (as the son bashfully lists all the things he did wrong in the process) but then there's a second twist that ends the story with some nice ambiguity as to eventual outcome. Worth reading once.
