title: Serial Vigilantes of Paperback Fiction: An Encyclopedia from Able Team to Z-Comm
author:  Brad Mengel 
description: "this book is going to be my go-to reference guide for years to come...make the investment. You won't regret it."--<i>www.bookgasm.com</i>; "this thorough, easy-to-use study should be a welcome addition to libraries with interests in the ever-growing field of popular culture."--<i>ARBA</i>; "this book is clearly a labor of love, but it leans more towards scholarly analysis than fannish drool. It's a great book for fans of pulps, rich with details and background information...many of these books, and their authors, would have been forgotten if not for this one-of-a-kind reference work"--<i>A Book Made For Me-A Writer's Life.</i>
zlib_text: 
  
  
  
  
  
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  RIVERHEAD BOOKS
  
  
  An imprint of Penguin Random House LLC
  
  
  375 Hudson Street
  
  
  New York, New York 10014
  
  
  ![](../images/00003.jpeg)
  
  
  First published in Spain in 2013 by Anagrama, as _Muerte súbita_
  
  
  Copyright © 2013 by Álvaro Enrigue
  
  
  English translation copyright © 2016 by Natasha Wimmer
  
  
  Penguin supports copyright. Copyright fuels creativity, encourages diverse
  voices, promotes free speech, and creates a vibrant culture. Thank you for
  buying an authorized edition of this book and for complying with copyright
  laws by not reproducing, scanning, or distributing any part of it in any form
  without permission. You are supporting writers and allowing Penguin to
  continue to publish books for every reader.
  
  
  eBook ISBN 978-0-698-17903-5
  
  
  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are
  the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any
  resemblance to act