Chase is one of those pulp guys whose work can often be held up as some of the most racially deranged and misogynistic in the field, but at his best he could really look at some broken, greedy, seedy people and concoct wheels and wheels for them to run around each other with guns and a pile of money big enough to promise escape. This is one of his best, with a hero who is just callow enough to think he deserves to win and just reticent enough to shudder about what he might have to do.