Book Review: Silver Street

Silver Street by E. Richard Johnson is a book that just feels real. It was written in 1968, and at least on my Finnish copy, it was explained that the author was a convicted murderer, which partly explains the realistic touch in the book.

The novel has won the Edgar Award for Best First Mystery Novel of the Year, and it truly deserves it. You can feel the emotions of the characters and imagine the dark streets where they spend their lives.

This book is not written elegantly and with great expertise, but there lays its charm. It is as rough as its topic, so the style fits the book like dusty wine glasses fit in the bar best known for its beer. If this book was written by lets say, Hemingway, it would not have carried the charm it now has, and that would have made the experience less emotional.

For all the friends of detective stories, I can recommend this book with high praise. I will give it 4 out of 5 stars. I won’t go into too much detail because it is so easy to spoil a detective story, but the book is set in a place that less than honest people, hookers, and pimps call their home, so mild content warning is also in order. But in most detective stories at least one of the content trigger lines is crossed and usually many, so I think all detective stories can handle what is coming when they read this book.