The Name of the Game is Death

A rarely-published hard-boiled classic, The Name of the Game is Death is the story of a bloody-minded bank robber who mercilessly tracks down the killers of his partner and does them in. The end of the book carries such impact that horror writer Stephen King, a fan of hard-boiled fiction, said it stayed in his mind for decades. Dan J. Marlowe (1914-1986), the author of The Name of the Game is Death, was widely praised in his day, but never achieved breakthrough status as a writer because he developed amnesia late in life. Marlowe, much admired as a writer by a real bank robber, Al Nussbaum, was urged by Nussbaum to try to regain his memory and to continue writing. Marlowe did so, but his best work was behind him, including this novel and its sequel, One Endless Hour, as well as such quirky, sharp-edged tales as The Vengeance Man, Strongarm, Never Live Twice and Death Deep Down.