Fast One is a maelstrom of hard-boiled violence, written in such a dense and stripped-down style that at certain points it becomes difficult to follow exactly what is happening. Evidently assembled from previously published short stories, the novel follows the gangster Kells and the woman around him through a brutal underworld where virtually every character seems devoid of redeeming qualities.
The constant betrayals, shootings and rapid-fire dialogue create an atmosphere resembling a vicious dogfight, and the novel’s overwhelming nihilism occasionally verges on self-parody, almost like an extreme variation of Red Harvest by Dashiell Hammett.
Paul Cain himself remains a mysterious literary figure. Apart from this novel and a small collection of stories, little is known about him, which only adds to the strange aura surrounding his work.
No Exit Press did a fine job of designing this book with an attractive cover artwork.
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