---
product_id: 13833637
title: "Web of the City (Hard Case Crime) Paperback – April 2, 2013"
brand: "harlan ellison"
price: "€ 19.61"
currency: EUR
in_stock: true
reviews_count: 7
url: https://www.desertcart.sk/products/13833637-web-of-the-city-hard-case-crime-paperback-april-2
store_origin: SK
region: Slovakia
---

# Web of the City (Hard Case Crime) Paperback – April 2, 2013

**Brand:** harlan ellison
**Price:** € 19.61
**Availability:** ✅ In Stock

## Quick Answers

- **What is this?** Web of the City (Hard Case Crime) Paperback – April 2, 2013 by harlan ellison
- **How much does it cost?** € 19.61 with free shipping
- **Is it available?** Yes, in stock and ready to ship
- **Where can I buy it?** [www.desertcart.sk](https://www.desertcart.sk/products/13833637-web-of-the-city-hard-case-crime-paperback-april-2)

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- harlan ellison enthusiasts

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## Description

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![Web of the City (Hard Case Crime) Paperback – April 2, 2013 - Image 1](https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/518xylIASbL.jpg)
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## Customer Reviews

### ⭐⭐ 







  
  
    A curiosity for Harlan Ellison fans, but does not stand well on its own merit
  

*by C***G on Reviewed in the United States on June 5, 2014*

I am a big fan of the Hard Case Crime imprint (having read 47 of their books) and Harlan Ellison (having read 11 of his books), so I was very excited last year when HCC announced they were going to reprint his long out-of-print first novel Web of the City.Harlan rather famously infiltrated a real-life Brooklyn street gang at the age of 21 to do research for several short stories and this novel. The result was perhaps some of the most authentic examples of juvenile delinquent pulp fiction ever written.  (This was a short-lived sub-genre of the pulps, intended to excite younger readers and shock adults with lurid depictions of teenage violence.)In addition to this novel, Ellison's street gang short stories were collected in The Deadly Streets (1958), Children of the Streets (1961), Gentleman Junkie and Other Stories of the Hung-Up Generation (1961).  He also published a nonfiction autobiographical account of this time in his life, Memos from Purgatory (1961).This book deserves recognition for jumpstarting the career of a writer who would later go on to revolutionize the field of science fiction, but the truth is it's not very good on its own merit.  Ellison has always had a verbose, bombastic, and sometimes almost lyrical quality to his voice.  It works great in high concept stories like "Repent, Harlequin, Said the Ticktockman" and "I Have Mouth & I Must Scream", but it fits neither the tone nor pacing of a suspense novel.  The detective/mystery elements of the plot were handled amateurishly.  While Ellison may have nailed the social aspects of 1950's street gangs, he clearly did not understand drug culture--the effects of narcotics, the economics of the trade, etc.I would recommend this book only to hardcore Ellison fans who want to see how his career started.

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 







  
  
    The Real West Side Story
  

*by M***A on Reviewed in the United States on June 11, 2013*

Harlan Ellison has been described (and he's personally agreed with the assessment that came from a dust jacket on one of his books) that he's possibly the most contentious person on Earth. But, wow! Can that boy write?  Ellison is now only one candle shy of 80 and this book was first published in the early 1950's when he was dipping his toe into the street gang scene in NYC.Web of The City is the real West Side Story without the singing and the dancing.  Puerto Rican Rusty Santoro tries to leave his gang, the Cougars, and finds it's harder than getting off the AARP mailing list.Fans of Ellison know that he can write with one hand tied behind his back but in this book it becomes apparent that the man had no learning curve.  Back in the early `50s with this, his first published book, he hit the ground running with his bad-boy, hard hitting, in-your-face style of lit.The realism he's crafted in Web of The City makes it a difficult read; the world of gangs is ugly and brutal.  It' difficult to comprehend that this setting and chronology where Ellison has placed Rusty Santoro is in the hidden underbelly of America's Golden Age of Ozzie and Harriet.  Read it and weep readers: I did.

### ⭐⭐ 







  
  
    Not just bad Harlan Ellison, just plain bad
  

*by A***N on Reviewed in the United States on February 7, 2014*

Like other reviewers, I am a big Harlan Ellison fan, but this book is derivative, unpleasant and cliched. Think of an arc from the gritty realism of 

  
The Amboy Dukes









  
  
    
   in the 1940s to the romanticized youth gangs of Broadway's 

  
West Side Story









  
  
    
   and Hollywood's 

  
Rebel Without A Cause









  
  
    
   in the mid-1950s--Web of the City lies in an unfortunate middle ground.Although Ellison reportedly joined a gang to research this novel, the characters and situations are impossible to believe. It seems to be drawn from early 1950s magazine articles on the horror of youth culture, but with more unpleasant violence than would be allowed by mainstream publishers. The book's attempts to shock are transparent. Even worse are the attempt to make the characters cool, which are pathetic.Three short stories are included. No Way Out is taken verbatim from novel, with a different ending pasted on. It works better in that format, but it's still not very good. No Game for Children is also a so-so short story. It's no better than No Way Out, but more interesting as it's possible to see some early Ellison style. Stand Still and Die is the best of the three, although the protagonist is such an idiot and the ending confrontation so silly that doesn't rise to the level of good.I don't understand why Hard Case decided to reprint this where there is so much great out-of-print crime fiction from the same era. Actually, I do understand, they figured correctly that the author's name would sell some books. But I think they'll lose more by tarnishing their brand than they'll gain by sales.In any event, read it at your own risk.

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*Product available on Desertcart Slovakia*
*Store origin: SK*
*Last updated: 2026-01-24*