A Girl For Danny by William Ard

William Ard is a favourite writer of mine.

A Girl For Danny is an entertaining read, exactly what I hope for in a pulp novel, although the great cover is quite misleading! Danny has only just turned 21 (the cover shows him older) who is too shy to do more than kiss a girl, and there is a girl in the story wearing a red dress but she is young, emotionally closed off, and too shy to speak after being attacked at college, not dishing it out on the staircase. Many of the old pulp paperbacks have a dynamic cover, and inside is often a serious or complex novel - this could be the cover for Wuthering Heights. A book can't be judged by the cover, but it can catch your eye.

The action takes place over two days, with Danny waking up and accidentaly walking in on his young blond neighbour in the shared apartment block bathroom. She doesn't mind, and even asks him out later that night. She has a date during the day with an older gentleman.

Danny works on an excursion cruise line taking weekenders up the Hudson for an overnight trip. His job in the cafeteria is monotony, but he hopes to move up the ranks to working with the captain.

His workmates irritate him with their crude habits, including womanizing Kramer who picks up stray party girls on the cruise, and an alcoholic ex-cop working security who expects his drinks on the house. Some of the passengers include Marilyn, a regular who rents a cabin on the upper deck to entertain the gentlemen she might meet, and a low class gangster on the run out to steal whatever he can. Fey passenger Arthur Francis takes a liking to Danny and wants to befriend him, while Kramer and others warm him to get lost as they don't want any 'fairies' around. Arthur continues throughout the trip to talk with Danny until the three-quarter mark when all the characters collide and their storylines come to a head.

Jenny, the girl in the red dress whom Danny has glimpsed before the trip is also a passenger on the boat, dealing with her emotional problems and reluctance about returning to school. Danny and Jenny become friends and plan for a possible future. The trip is a contrast of wild dancing, music and crowds of tourists upstairs, while Danny and the others toil below, fights break out and a passenger turns up dead.

Written in 1953, the references to sex are heavy, if only alluded to, though many of the characters are involved in coarse situations. There is homosexuality, rape, murder, quickies, alcoholism, and brutal behaviour, all simmering just under the surface. Good writing makes the characters bleak and sometimes sad, rather than salacious and sleazy. While not as raw as Last Exit To Brooklyn by Hubert Selby, it has that soiled quality, where the characters are always down, a few of them looking up.

I was lucky to stumble across this Popular Library #502 edition in very good condition. William Ard was a prolific writer of detective and western novels, introducing several series of popular detectives and the Buchanan series of westerns. His work is well worth seeking out.

My other review for William Ard:

Don't Come Crying To Me

1953 / Paperback / 159 pages