Hardcase is reissuing Fright, and it's really quite a study
in noir. The setup for this one is great. You have this guy
who could've been happy, could've led a normal and even
somewhat privileged life, except for one lapse in
judgment--that lapse going out and getting stinking drunk
when a woman he wants to someday marry has to call off a date
because of a death in the family. That leads to him waking up
with a woman who's intent on blackmailing him--as much for
sport as for the money. When he proposes to his girlfriend
and she accepts, he moves to a new rooming house under a
false name to keep this blackmailer away until after his
marriage. So here's the setup-- minutes before his bestman is
going to pick him up for the wedding his blackmailer shows up
and he ends up in a blind rage choking her to death, and as
his bestman is outside his door, dumping the body in the
closet. What follows after that--and the damage that this guy
ultimately causes was painful enough that it had me at times
having to put the book down. The contrast between this where
you had a normal guy devolving into a monster, and Cain,
Thompson and others where the protagonists are losers or
borderline sociopaths on the outer edge of society to begin
with was really quite stunning. This wasn't a perfect
book--while I found a large part of book's writing riveting,
at times found Woolrich's highly stylized fashion tough to
get through. Also, while the relationship and exchanges
between the protagonist and his wife were as realistic as
I've found in crime fiction, some of the protagonists
hallucinations seemed pretty farfetched. There was an
unfortunate postscript at the end that turns noir more into
irony. Still, given this, it was still a fascinating read. I
had given up on a couple of Woolrich books in the past
because of his highly stylized writing, but I'm going to be
seeking them out again.
I'm very interested in what fellow RARA-AVIANs think about
this book and Woolrich--also any recommendations for their
favorite Woolrich books.
--Dave Zeltserman
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