‘Gator
By George Ford
1976 Award Books
Paperback, 170 pages
Take a ragtag team of unmatched
characters- criminals, moneymen, and a crooked cop, put them in a defunct,
deserted motel deep in the Everglades and have them there to receive and then
distribute 5 million dollars’ worth of cocaine. Add to the mix one 12-foot
alligator who is wounded by one of the men and is very pissed off. What could
possibly go wrong?
I must admit that I had a ton of
fun with this book. Every one of the characters in it is a complete moron
except an innocent cocktail waitress who followed one of the palookas along for
kicks. Bad decisions, idiotic moves and really dumb choices abound. Once the
big boss and the cocaine arrives, there are almost Rube Goldberg-esque chains
of bad events that occur.
The wounded ‘gator doesn’t get
as much ink as one might like in this type of story, but he is actually
well-written and the only truly sympathetic character in the book. The slimy, buggy swamp
is a character unto itself, as well. Except for a Water Moccasin eating a fly
on the first page, the reptile science is all pretty cogent, and Ford paints
the atmosphere on in thick strokes.
Justin Marriott’s Pulp Horror #8
suggests that George Ford is a one-off nom-de-plume for Paul Fulford. I can’t find
any more books under either name that look like they’d be of any interest to
me, unfortunately, because this one is a great deal of fun, and I would love to
read more like it. Ford/ Fulford must have read a lot of comic books and
delivered at least one super-fun paperback.
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