Whilst it sadly has nothing to do with the ‘80s Linda Blair uber-trash classic of the same name, this UK repackaging of veteran US crime writer William P. McGivern’s JD drama ‘Savage Streets’ is nonetheless liable to provoke a similar feeling of dazed and dehumanised bewilderment.
From the shock-red background and crudely rendered image of Richard Nixon delivering a beating to ‘Repo Man’-era Emilio Estevez, to the foaming-at-the-mouth hysteria and garish colour-clashes of the back cover, this is certainly an approach to book design that, uh… goes for the jugular?
With no disrespect intended to McGivern’s novel, the sheer, crazed over-reaction of the back cover blurb here just cracks me up. Teenagers stealing stuff and lying about it? MY GOD, WHERE WILL THIS SUB-HUMAN BARBARITY END? BAR THE WINDOWS, MILDRED! etc etc.
