Steve Lee. Sloane (1974)

     Steve Lee. Sloane (1974) Sloane barely survives a vicious attack on his family, learns martial arts from a Chinese immigrant, and sets out to avenge his parents’ deaths. He succeeds of course, but not before Lee has indulged a taste for violence and gore in his readers. The plotting is OK, the characterisation uneven. The book focuses on brutality and killing. It’s a type of pornography, one that the guardians of public and private morality don’t ever seem to get too het up about. Since its publication some 30 years ago, movies have upped the graphic gore quotient. This book was a distant early warning signal, but I doubt it was seen as such at the time. The irony is that books (and movies) with far less graphic description often convey a much greater sense of evil. (2006)