MISSION FOR VENGEANCE (1958) by Peter Rabe
reviewed by Barry Ergang
Peter Rabe is one of many writers who began or extended their careers by turning out paperback originals for Fawcett’s line of Gold Medal books. Many of these—including Rabe’s—have become collectibles, and many of the writers—including Rabe—have become cult favorites among fans of hardboiled fiction.
The title Mission For Vengeance perfectly sums up the basic premise of this novel. Eight years prior to the time of the story, five people were involved in a lucrative gun-running operation: Miner, Getterman, Metz, Farret, and a woman named Lena. Each had a specific role in the operation. Eventually they were caught, but they managed to get away—except for Farret.
Miner now owns a ranch and plans to marry Getterman’s daughter Jane. When the novel begins, he’s eagerly waiting for Jane to arrive. He’s been careful to avoid contact with any of his former associates, and so isn’t happy when Getterman shows up with Jane. His future father-in-law tells Miner that Farret is back, seeking revenge because he thinks he was set up by the others to take the fall.
The novel alternates between Miner’s first-person narrative and third-person chapters from Farret’s point of view. As events unfold, Miner knows he must track down Farret before Farret finds him and the others. Farret, whose paranoia increases as the novel steams along, is a step ahead of him, and Miner grows progressively more frantic because he knows the truth of the past and because he knows he has to stop Farret before he wreaks disasters on his former partners and Miner himself.
Gold Medal writers—at least those I’ve read, which have been a fair number—were with a few exceptions more concerned with plot than with characterization. This is not to say that all their characters were one-dimensional, but rather that they were by and large differentiated rather superficially. Rabe is one of the exceptions, and in Mission For Vengeance each of the major players is fleshed out with greater dimensionality than usual, especially Farret, whose consuming madness intensifies with every leg of his journey.
If you’re a fan of hardboiled noir, you won’t be disappointed if you can locate a copy of this suspenseful page-turner.
Barry Ergang © 2007
Currently the Managing Editor of Futures Mystery Anthology Magazine and First Senior Editor of Mysterical-E, winner of the Short Mystery Fiction Society’s 2007 Derringer Award in the Flash Fiction category, Barry Ergang’s written work has appeared in numerous publications, print and electronic. His hardboiled Hanukkah story was recently published in the latest Apollo's Lyre at http://www.apollos-lyre.com/id403html. For links to material available online, see Barry’s webpages.
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