Novel, 1934

A gritty, earthy and all-in-all brutal novel telling the story of a drifting jailbird and his mistress, and their attempts to plot out and away into a new life. This is a hard boiled fiction told from the perspective of the villain, and while there’s the occasional revelation of stark humanity, the gnarly dialogue and the values, opportunism and fallibility in the characters isn’t far behind. A brisk read with predictable infidelities and the odd and occasional event which doesn’t leave the reader much of a sight of redemption or happiness. The gruelling plot, pared and spared of subplots or extraneous characters make this a snappy, powerful read.