Image of The Face of Evil by John McPartland

Litchfield Reviews The Face of Evil by John McPartland for the Lancashire Post

“A rugged Chicago fixer wrestles with his moral compass as he attempts to tarnish the reputation of a local attorney in The Face of Evil, a gritty 1950s pulp fiction tale, steeped in extortion, corruption, and counter-blackmail.

Originally published as a Gold Medal Books paperback original in 1954, John McPartland’s hard-hitting standalone novel of redemption has resurfaced this month as part of Stark House’s Black Gat mass market editions, having been long out of print.

McPartland, a former staff writer for Life magazine who died at the age of 47 in 1958, carved out a niche for himself in the realm of pulp fiction crime, writing four screenplays and a dozen gangster-style thrillers. But he is perhaps best remembered for his dramatic novel No Down Payment, which was adapted into a film featuring Joanne Woodward and Tony Randall, garnering two BAFTA nominations.

Set during a sultry summer in Newport Beach, California, The Face of Evil introduces us to hard-nosed Bill Oxford, depicted as ‘a smart, tough fixer whose soul has rotted away.’”

My review of the hard-hitting crime novel The Face of Evil, reissued by Black Gat, was published today in the Lancashire Post and syndicated to these UK newspapers: Blackpool Gazette, Burnley Express, Lancaster Guardian, Sheffield Star, Wigan Today (Wigan Post; Wigan Observer), and Yorkshire Evening Post. Archived online access to these reviews as they originally appeared on July 21, 2025, featuring my byline, can be found at these weblinks:

Blackpool Gazette, Burnley Express, Lancashire Post, Lancaster Guardian, Sheffield Star, Wigan Today, Yorkshire Evening Post.