Seduction of the Innocent
Written by Max Allan Collins
Narrated by Dan John Miller
3.5/5
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About this audiobook
It's 1954, and a rabble-rousing social critic has declared war on comic books—especially the scary, gory, bloody sort published by the bad boys of the industry, EF Comics. But on the way to a Senate hearing on whether these depraved publications should be banned, the would-be censor meets a violent end of his own—leaving his opponents in hot water.
Can Jack Starr, private eye to the funny-book industry, and his beautiful boss Maggie unravel the secret of Dr. Frederick's gruesome demise? Or will the crackdown come, falling like an executioner's axe.…?
Max Allan Collins
<p>Max Allan Collins is a Mystery Writers of America Grand Master. He is the author of the Shamus Award-winning Nathan Heller thrillers and the graphic novel <em>Road to Perdition</em>, basis of the Academy Award-winning film starring Tom Hanks. His innovative Quarry novels led to a 2016 Cinemax series. He has completed a dozen posthumous Mickey Spillane mysteries, and wrote the syndicated <em>Dick Tracy</em> series for more than fifteen years. His one-man show, <em>Eliot Ness: An Untouchable Life</em>, was an Edgar Award finalist. He lives in Iowa.</p>
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Reviews for Seduction of the Innocent
32 ratings4 reviews
- Rating: 1 out of 5 stars1/5My biggest beef with this book is that it was published under the Hard Case Crime label, and no crime takes place in the first half of the story! How is that "hard-boiled crime fiction"? What this book is is a fictionalized account of comic book trials in the 1950's. And reading the "Tip of the Fedora" after the story made me think that an actual non-fiction book about the same topic might actually be interesting! But this book just seemed like an author taking a subject of interest to him, and trying to make a "crime" story out of it. Unsuccessfully, in my opinion.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Seduction of the Innocent is a title taken right from Frederic Wertham's book crusading against the evil influence of comic books. Dr. Wertham's book challenged the comic book industry for its depictions of violence, drug use, etc. and argued that it was a cause of juvenile delinquency. Wertham eventually appeared before Senator Kefauver's Subcommittee on Juvenile Delinquency.
Collins' book is a fictionalized account of that time and of Wertham's fight with the comic book industry. It is a clever parody of Wertham, who in Collins' book is Dr. Werner Frederick. Collins takes the fictionalized story and expands it into a novel that is not only set in the fifties, but conveys the feel and tone of a hardboiled novel of the time.
Jack Starr and his father's widow, Maggie, run a publisher that syndicates comic strips for newspapers across the country. One of the comic writers that they work with has volunteered to testify before the Subcommittee following Dr. Frederick. Jack, who is a private eye with a license to carry, has as part of his functions, getting his writers and artists out of trouble. So he accompanies the witness. The first part of the story is a little slow in getting going as it is concerned with the minutiae of who is who in the comic book industry. The second part really gets going with murder, mobsters, femme fatales, and bare-knuckle brawls. The book is great, although it varies a bit from the usual Collins' work. - Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Murder mystery that takes place in the 1950's during the height of the war on comics. This is a good mystery by the always reliable Max Allan Collins. It mixes history with a mystery and is very successful. Highly recommend.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5“Seduction of the Innocent” by Max Allan Collins is book 110 in the superb Hard Case Crime imprint from Titan Books and is based around the 1950s anti-comics witch-hunts. Set in the 1954 New York comics business, the story stars Jack Starr who appeared in two previous comics industry books: 2007s “A Killing in Comics” and 2008s “Strip For Murder”. Jack is the son of the Starr Comics founder and is a general “troubleshooter” for the company, which is now owned by his stepmother and recently retired stripper, Maggie Starr. The comics industry is a thriving multi-million dollar industry but it is under significant threat from psychiatrist, Dr. Werner Frederick, whose recent anti-comics book, “Ravage the Lambs” associates comics with juvenile delinquency and has led to a set of congressional hearings into the morality of comics and their supposedly negative impacts. When Frederick is murdered in a fashion strangely reminiscent of a murder shown in a recent horror comic there are no end of potential suspects and Jack soon finds himself in the middle of a double-dealing, paranoid case where everyone seems keen to attack blame to each other. Will Jack be able to solve the murder and at the same time save Starr Comics and salvage the reputation of the industry? Max Allan Collins has an enviable reputation as both a skillful novelist and excellent comic book writer and that shines though in this thoroughly enjoyable and impossible to put down book. The plot unspools in a relaxed fashion that ensures the tension is kept ramped up and the suspense is maximised. The story-telling and dialogue is suitably hard-boiled and the action is tough and pulpy throughout. The story is, however, beautifully constructed with the historical aspects blending seamlessly with the fictional giving the story a real and insightful feel for the comics book industry and the cause célèbre that comics became during the period. Adding value to the book are a set of new illustrations by comic book artist Terry Beatty in the classic EC style, which open each chapter. Collins also provides an excellent postscript (or “Tip of the Fedora” as he calls it) that outlines the research that he did into the 1950s comics scandals and helps readers unfamiliar with the nuances of the controversy to understand the background and the ciphers he used.