"The naked body of a young attractive girl is found in the grounds of the sanitarium where she had been recently admitted, suffering from the paranoid delusion her mind and body were possessed by a witch. When her body was discovered, she wore a mask over her head in the shape of an evil-looking cat."
THE SINNERS brings satanic panic to the pulp police 'procedural' in dramatic and blood curdling fashion. Al Wheeler, the lone wolf unorthodox cop is called to a sanitarium to investigate the chilling murder of a former patient, found naked (bar a demonic mask) in the facility's outer grounds. With little by way of breadcrumbs to follow, Wheeler heads out to the deceased former residence, only to find an attractive brunette, alive and well who happens to have the same name as the murdered woman!
In true Carter Brown fashion, the crazy gets kicked up a gear going from simple to convoluted in a handful of pages. Enter mobsters running a book out of a legitimate warehouse, a demonologist with a penchant for virginal sacrifices, a professional photographer with seedy ties to the deceased, and a cool 150k missing from some unsavory characters. It all leads in one direction; straight to the deceased cat mask wearing naked woman.
I loved the opening sequence to this book (juvenile Wheeler/Polnik dialogue aside) and was engrossed in the cult-like narrative steadily being established in the first few chapters, only to be disappointed when things went wayward with the introduction of mobsters which added a layer of confusion and complexity to the otherwise simple and entertaining plot, before, getting back on track with the requisite orgy infused satanic components which really drove the story in the right direction.
THE SINNERS isn't groundbreaking Carter Brown but it is true to the formula I find so enjoyable; yet another morsel of pulpy goodness well worth chewing on if you get the chance.
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