This novel is now over forty years old, and it has not aged well. Nowadays when broadcasting programmes that were originally aired several decades ago, the BBC often gives a warning that it reflects opinions and attitudes prevalent in that time. This book would certainly be subject to any such caveats.

However, it was not just the heavy scattering of heavily racist and sexist views that made it difficult to read. The approach to telling the story was very different, and the absence of detail or any attempt to delve beneath the skin of the characters was all too apparent. ( )

A cop and a lawyer who both generally believe in the system of law and order they serve get drawn into a case in which the system is failing. A judge and his female companion are murdered, and it soon becomes clear to just about everyone who the murderer is. But without clear evidence, he'll never be convicted. In fact he's killed 7 people before this case, and has gotten away with all those crimes and many other less lethal crimes without being convicted, and he's not worried this time either.
So, when the system has proven it cannot take down this master criminal thug, it may come down to those few people who know enough about the case to be willing to work outside the law, albeit reluctantly.
I am not quite sure why this book was included on a 1001 Books You Should Read Before You Die list, though I suppose for a man compiling such a list this novel might be an appealing choice. It does tap into boyhood Wild West fantasies of gunslingers' duels and gangster plots. And, while it is a police procedural/small-time gangster crime novel, it is also addressing the motivations behind why cops and thugs act the way they do. Still, while I liked this book, I would not have included it on such a list. ( )

Doesn't transcend the genre like some of his other novels but it's a fun yarn. ( )

Alvin Guy es una de las personas más detestadas por los abogados, fiscales, delincuentes y policías de Detroit. Juez de raza negra, corrupto y brutal, Guy forma parte del Tribunal de la Magistratura de la ciudad hasta que la comisión de deontología profesional le separa del cargo. Poco tiempo después su cadáver aparece acribillado a balazos dentro de su automóvil. A escasa distancia de allí es encontrada muerta, de tres disparos, una mujer. Ambos crímenes guardan inquietantes semejanzas… Raymond Cruz, teniente de la Sección de Homicidios de la Policía de Detroit, se hace cargo del caso. Las primeras investigaciones apuntan inequívocamente hacia Clement Mansell, un conocido delincuente que mantiene una vieja cuenta pendiente con el teniente Cruz. A partir de entonces se entabla entre ambos hombres un duelo a muerte. Cruz somete a estrecha vigilancia a Clement y su novia, una joven atractiva. Pero Clement es muy hábil y sabe eludir las pruebas que lo inculpan. El elemento decisivo para la resolución del caso es el arma homicida, una pistola Walter del 38, que Clement se ha encargado de hacer desaparecer en los ambientes del hampa…

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