Bill Collins is young, good looking, agile and strong but he's a drifter with mild multiple neuroses, in and out of institutions, and dangerously violent on occasion. When he gets involved with the hard-drinking Fay Anderson and the deceptively pleasant ex-police officer everyone knows as Uncle Bud in a ruthless kidnap plot, everything goes to hell in a hurry, and the end, for Bill, is inevitable and shattering. This is a tour de force of paranoia and violence from the master of the crime noir novel.
There are no great shocks, even in the resolution, but the writing has a wonderfully direct quality that just drew me in and fascinated me. The ending works because it feels earned and properly hinted at in various points throughout the novel.
Read my full review at Mysteries Ahoy!
