The Dealer of Death

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Harry follows a trail of bloody corpses to a dead man's door.

Depts.

Homicide

The Dealer of Death
(Apr 1983)

"I'm afraid I'll have to suspend you pending the outcome of our investigation."

Mad Dog Vigilante Cop! That's what the papers are calling Dirty Harry. Some dude who's no friend of Harry's has lifted his prize Magnum and is blasting some of his worst enemies out of this world. Harry wants to get his name clean, his gun back, and put an end to the "dead man" who's playing Harry's hand in a game of life and death.

Review

6 Shots, Or Only 5?
*** 1/2

After the previous two misfires, Harry gets to end the series with a clean shot, as the dealer of death turns out to be one of the best villains of the series. The story is unique in that he appears in half of the story, perhaps even more than Harry himself. He is also given more depth than most of the book villains, and is allowed to have some scenes where he gets the upper hand. He even seduces the widow of the man he was sent to prison for killing, whom Harry is now dating.

The idea of using Harry's .44 to frame him for murder was promising, but its execution was somewhat clunky and it didn't turn out to be very important to the story other than to get Harry suspended. -hc

The End
This would be Harry's last adventure until the release of Sudden Impact eight months later. Considering the tremendous success of that film, it's odd that no further titles were released in the book series.

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