The Last Spin ( ~1960 ) written by well-known author Evan Hunter aka Ed McBain. McBain has written screenplay for Hitchcock’s movie The Birds. McBain’s genres are crime and mystery fiction.
The Last Spin is a thrilling and dramatic short story, which is story-like , including clear beginning and ending and doesn’t really leave too many ”loops” to figure out. The time interval of the short story is brief,which would be only few scenes in a movie. The story focuses on dialog and Russian roulette between two young men.
In the story Danny and Tigo are playing Russian roulette to settle down conflict between their clubs. They do not know each other, they were simply chosen from their clubs. The boys are minors and most likely immigrants. Recruiting or kidnapping minors isn’t new thing in gangs. Although the boys need to settle down the conflict and are considered as enemies , they get to know each other and their relation warms towards the end.
There isn’t much to tell about the plot, but Danny and Tigo are lucky and they come in conclusion that they aren’t the ones who should solve this conflict. They decide to give the last spin for the cylinder and end the game. Both boys seem to enjoy each other’s company and plan to meet after the game.
McBain’s writing style is rather pleasant to read and it has many interesting word choices such as ” my old lady ” and ” i’m turkey ”, but this ” old lady ” makes it harder to analyse. It is hard to say are they minors or not. Old lady can mean girlfriend and also mother, but it is also said in the text ” old country ” which means your parents home town or country. Otherwise text and language is easy to understand.
The Last Spin is truly exciting short story and reminds me of Breaking Bad -televison series