First published back in June of 1984, Richard Laymon’s short story ‘Dawson’s City’ was released as a stand-alone tale as part of the expanding Fastback series. The Fastback series were designed to encourage reluctant-readers to take up reading, keeping the stories short and packed with action. ‘Dawson’s City’ was placed under the ‘Mystery’ category, although ‘Thriller’ would perhaps have been better suited.
DLS Synopsis:
Petty criminal, Tony Matheson, is on a bag-snatching spree in the heart of New York City. Having only made a mere $6 from the last snatch, Matheson scans the crowd for his next potential victim. Young wealthy looking women with loosely hanging handbags are his preferred targets. And just as he’s scanning the crowd, he spots a young twenty-five year old woman coming his way, her handbag swinging at her side. This is just perfect. Or so he thinks...
DLS Review:
Horror veteran Richard Laymon delivers a high-octane adrenaline fuelled thriller which races along from start to finish. Although short, the tale throws together plenty of action-packed-suspense as well as some edge-of-the-seat chases. The short ends with a smug little realisation-cum-twist that concludes the short nicely.
For a quick little read that will keep you entertained for a few minutes, you can’t go far from with this adrenaline-laced thriller.
The Fastback runs for a total of 28 pages (which are just 4” x 5.5” with an average word count of around 100 words per page).
© DLS Reviews
