Pick Up A Pulp [55]: SHANGHAI FLAME by A.S. Fleischman

Published in 1951, Shanghai Flame by A.S. Fleischman is a book I'd never heard of but had to have, in part due to that delicious pulp cover and my need to snap up as many Gold Medal books as possible. This one was a lucky dollar pick-up at a rural bookstore and, early on, seemed to have a lot of promise; back alley noir with a twist of hardboiled fiction thrown in to put some hair on your chest. 

Unfortunately, the gripping opening stanza wasn't a sign of things to come with the story largely tapering off from a pulp perspective; this despite the stock-standard wanton woman (or women) and male chauvinist with a whole lot to hide and more to gain; a wrong man front with little in the back. 

The plot revolves around a journalist, Alex Cloud, on a mission to find the love of his life (a women called Flame), also a journalist who currently resides in Shanghai. Cloud, seemingly known to everyone he encounters in the city steadily tracks down Flame but finds himself in a world of pain, thanks in large part to 1) having in his possession a list of Communist spies, 2) the fact he's a notorious ladies man and said Flame isn't keen on rekindling their relationship, and lastly 3) well, lots of people want him dead...for you know, reasons....

Despite not being one of the better pulps, there are still some pretty memorable moments, most occurring in the first couple of chapters which are worth the price of admission alone, even if the rest of the book doesn't stack up. 

I rate this a solid 2 stars (out of 5). If you see Shanghai Flame in a used bookstore and pulps (or collecting Gold Medal books) is your thing, grab a copy, if not, give it a miss.