Search - Night Walker

donald hamiltons very good noir

NIGHT WALKER by Donald Hamilton: Hardcase Crime #16 from the creator of the Matt Helm series is a reprint of the 1954 classic about people on the run from a dead man. Things aren’t going well for Larry Wilson. First his “Red” leanings cost him his job as a naval architect. Then his plans to disappear by switching identities with Navy Lieutenant David Young are screwed up when Young survives the fiery car crash in which the victim was to be identified as Wilson. But the worst part was when he went home to his estranged wife and managed to goad her into shooting and killing him. Young knows part of this when Mrs. Wilson and the family Doctor whisk him out of the hospital while his face and head are still swathed with bandages. He learns the rest a few days later when the three have a sit down. Suddenly, what they will do gets even more complicated as forces are at work to find the missing Wilson. Dated, but still a first rate read.