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Into the Night
TWO OF THE GREATEST AUTHORS OF NOIR FICTION IN AN UNFORGETTABLE COLLABORATION
An innocent woman lies dead in the street, felled by a stray bullet. Now it’s up to the woman who killed her to investigate the dead woman’s life and pick up its cut-short threads, carrying out a mission of vengeance on her behalf against the man she loved and lost – and the nightclub-singing femme fatale responsible for splitting them apart.
Begun in the last years of his life by noir master Cornell Woolrich, the haunted genius responsible for such classics as Rear Window , The Bride Wore Black , Night Has a Thousand Eyes , and Phantom Lady , and completed decades later by acclaimed novelist and MWA Grand Master Lawrence Block ( A Walk Among the Tombstones , Eight Million Ways to Die ), INTO THE NIGHT – available here for the first time in more than 35 years – is a collaboration that extends beyond the grave, echoing the book’s own story of the living taking on and completing the unfinished work of the dead.
An innocent woman lies dead in the street, felled by a stray bullet. Now it’s up to the woman who killed her to investigate the dead woman’s life and pick up its cut-short threads, carrying out a mission of vengeance on her behalf against the man she loved and lost – and the nightclub-singing femme fatale responsible for splitting them apart.
Begun in the last years of his life by noir master Cornell Woolrich, the haunted genius responsible for such classics as Rear Window , The Bride Wore Black , Night Has a Thousand Eyes , and Phantom Lady , and completed decades later by acclaimed novelist and MWA Grand Master Lawrence Block ( A Walk Among the Tombstones , Eight Million Ways to Die ), INTO THE NIGHT – available here for the first time in more than 35 years – is a collaboration that extends beyond the grave, echoing the book’s own story of the living taking on and completing the unfinished work of the dead.
240 pages, Paperback
First published May 31, 1987
23 people are currently reading
173 people want to read
About the author
Cornell Woolrich
433 books450 followersCornell Woolrich is widely regarded as the twentieth century’s finest writer of pure suspense fiction. The author of numerous classic novels and short stories (many of which were turned into classic films) such as Rear Window, The Bride Wore Black, The Night Has a Thousand Eyes, Waltz Into Darkness, and I Married a Dead Man, Woolrich began his career in the 1920s writing mainstream novels that won him comparisons to F. Scott Fitzgerald. The bulk of his best-known work, however, was written in the field of crime fiction, often appearing serialized in pulp magazines or as paperback novels. Because he was prolific, he found it necessary to publish under multiple pseudonyms, including "William Irish" and "George Hopley" [...] Woolrich lived a life as dark and emotionally tortured as any of his unfortunate characters and died, alone, in a seedy Manhattan hotel room following the amputation of a gangrenous leg. Upon his death, he left a bequest of one million dollars to Columbia University, to fund a scholarship for young writers.
Source: [http://www.hardcasecrime.com/books_bi...]
Source: [http://www.hardcasecrime.com/books_bi...]
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 33 reviews
June 5, 2024
Into the Night (orig. copyright 1987; republished by Hard Case Crime 2024) was not completed in Woolrich’s lifetime. It was first published twenty years later after Lawrence Block filled in some missing pages and completed the narrative. Now decades later, Into the Night has been republished with a dynamite cover and is sure to reach new audiences.
“Into the Night” is a dark guilt-ridden journey through angst and ennui. It opens with a shocking suicide attempt as Madeline Chalmers switches off the radio and sits “in the dark, and in the silence.” Normally, she kept the radio loud and the lights bright to keep her thoughts drowned out and to keep “the darkness safely at bay.” “But there came a time when you couldn’t do that anymore.” She essentially plays the world’s worst game of Russian Roullete, clicking on an empty chamber with the gun pointed at her head. “She put the barrel in her mouth, tasted metal on her tongue. Felt the trembling of the trigger.” Why? Simply because her life had no purpose. She just drifted along and had nothing to live for.
Nevertheless, Madeline succeeds in killing a bystander outside when she slams the gun down afterward. But, know this, tricky little Madeline though was not going to go to the pokey for murder, not even second-degree depraved heart murder. She races downstairs and cradles the dying Starr Bartlett and gets the biggest guilt trip this side of the Rockies. Rightfully so, one might add, since she caused Starr’s untimely demise and then covered up her involvement.
But, guilt being what it is, even if Madeline were not going to turn herself into the authorities, she gets a bit curious about who Starr was and visits her apartment, moving into her apartment, and wearing Starr’s clothes. Madeline creepily then visits Starr’s mother who somehow guesses who Madeline is and what her connection must be. Madeline then returns again to visit more and gather more intel on who Starr was.
Indeed, Madeline is going to right any wrongs done to Starr, to somehow assuage her conscience by doing some kind of good deeds for Starr. She tracks down the other woman who Starr’s husband left her for, a nightclub singer named Adelaide or Dell. Strangely enough, Madeline is drawn into Dell’s life as well until the police haul her in and question her.
And for her last act (at least in the book) Madeline tracks down Vick, Starr’s ex-husband to exact some twisted revenge for his leaving Starr all alone in the void of this world and discovers what it was that tore them apart.
Much of the novel is drawn through Madeline’s consciousness and seen through her eyes. Nevertheless, there are various points at which the careful reader might ask whether Madeline is an honest storyteller or whether she is far more devious than she lets on. Or is Madeline just a bit off-kilter, almost committing suicide, and then injecting herself into the crawlspaces of Dell’s life.
It is a brilliant compelling story despite its creepiness and a lesson of how far guilt can take someone.
“Into the Night” is a dark guilt-ridden journey through angst and ennui. It opens with a shocking suicide attempt as Madeline Chalmers switches off the radio and sits “in the dark, and in the silence.” Normally, she kept the radio loud and the lights bright to keep her thoughts drowned out and to keep “the darkness safely at bay.” “But there came a time when you couldn’t do that anymore.” She essentially plays the world’s worst game of Russian Roullete, clicking on an empty chamber with the gun pointed at her head. “She put the barrel in her mouth, tasted metal on her tongue. Felt the trembling of the trigger.” Why? Simply because her life had no purpose. She just drifted along and had nothing to live for.
Nevertheless, Madeline succeeds in killing a bystander outside when she slams the gun down afterward. But, know this, tricky little Madeline though was not going to go to the pokey for murder, not even second-degree depraved heart murder. She races downstairs and cradles the dying Starr Bartlett and gets the biggest guilt trip this side of the Rockies. Rightfully so, one might add, since she caused Starr’s untimely demise and then covered up her involvement.
But, guilt being what it is, even if Madeline were not going to turn herself into the authorities, she gets a bit curious about who Starr was and visits her apartment, moving into her apartment, and wearing Starr’s clothes. Madeline creepily then visits Starr’s mother who somehow guesses who Madeline is and what her connection must be. Madeline then returns again to visit more and gather more intel on who Starr was.
Indeed, Madeline is going to right any wrongs done to Starr, to somehow assuage her conscience by doing some kind of good deeds for Starr. She tracks down the other woman who Starr’s husband left her for, a nightclub singer named Adelaide or Dell. Strangely enough, Madeline is drawn into Dell’s life as well until the police haul her in and question her.
And for her last act (at least in the book) Madeline tracks down Vick, Starr’s ex-husband to exact some twisted revenge for his leaving Starr all alone in the void of this world and discovers what it was that tore them apart.
Much of the novel is drawn through Madeline’s consciousness and seen through her eyes. Nevertheless, there are various points at which the careful reader might ask whether Madeline is an honest storyteller or whether she is far more devious than she lets on. Or is Madeline just a bit off-kilter, almost committing suicide, and then injecting herself into the crawlspaces of Dell’s life.
It is a brilliant compelling story despite its creepiness and a lesson of how far guilt can take someone.
May 12, 2023
05/2019
I have had this book for several years, but apparently was faintly suspicious of it, because it came out in 1987 (19 years after Woolrich's death), and was "finished" by Lawernce Block. Well, now I've finally read it, and can say that it is good. The story is so Cornell Woolrich, about a girl (Madeline) who puts her gun down after deciding not to commit suicide, but it accidentally goes off and shoots (out the window) and kills a woman on the street. So Madeline goes to extremes finding and punishing anyone who hurt the dead lady. Reading it, I wondered how much was written by Woolrich and how much by Block, but an afterward by Francis Nevins, Woolrich's editor/biographer, breaks it down page by page. It was almost completely written by Cornell Woolrich in the early 1960s, but there were pages missing.
I have had this book for several years, but apparently was faintly suspicious of it, because it came out in 1987 (19 years after Woolrich's death), and was "finished" by Lawernce Block. Well, now I've finally read it, and can say that it is good. The story is so Cornell Woolrich, about a girl (Madeline) who puts her gun down after deciding not to commit suicide, but it accidentally goes off and shoots (out the window) and kills a woman on the street. So Madeline goes to extremes finding and punishing anyone who hurt the dead lady. Reading it, I wondered how much was written by Woolrich and how much by Block, but an afterward by Francis Nevins, Woolrich's editor/biographer, breaks it down page by page. It was almost completely written by Cornell Woolrich in the early 1960s, but there were pages missing.
March 6, 2022
3.75 stars, rounded up to 4.0
I closed the book, thinking "wow, what did I just read?" I would have rated it higher, if it weren't for what I thought was a fairly weak, unsatisfactory ending. It seemed a bit yucky as well as a cop-out.
But that's just my opinion.
Madeline is a young woman who is contemplating suicide. But things don't work out as planned, a bullet from her late father's gun hits a passing by stranger, killing her instead of going into Madeline herself.
For a while it seems Madeline will get away with this unintended death.
The dead victim, Starr, who lived a tough life, had also received a shocking bit of news about her husband that prompted her to leave her marriage. She was angry, disillusioned, and determined to get back at the man who ruined her happiness. These are the things Madeline learned about her after making some investigations on Starr's life.
Feeling regret and guilt for causing Starr's death, Madeline decides to carry out the aims that Starr can no longer do.
So Madeline has a mission - to destroy the two main people who ruined Starr's happiness - her husband Vick and his FIRST wife, singer Adelaide (Dell.)
Or as she put it:
1. To get even with with a woman.
2. To kill a man.
The book keeps us entertained as she goes about achieving this objective. One gets a shock too, when it is revealed why Starr was upset enough walk out of the marriage. Overall, this is an entertaining book. It did leave two or three questions unanswered, but that is often the case with many books.
Lawrence Block wrote the first 14 pages of this edition and the last 2.5 pages. In between, a few missing gaps from Woolrich's papers were also filled in by Block, but these aside, the book is mainly Woolrich's. It's the second Woolrich book I've read, and I can see he was a talented writer, there's some good prose here.
The "happy" ending that Block supplied wasn't what I was hoping for, but I can still recommend this book to Woolrich fans, an incomplete story he wrote in the early 1960's, set in that period, too.
I closed the book, thinking "wow, what did I just read?" I would have rated it higher, if it weren't for what I thought was a fairly weak, unsatisfactory ending. It seemed a bit yucky as well as a cop-out.
But that's just my opinion.
Madeline is a young woman who is contemplating suicide. But things don't work out as planned, a bullet from her late father's gun hits a passing by stranger, killing her instead of going into Madeline herself.
For a while it seems Madeline will get away with this unintended death.
The dead victim, Starr, who lived a tough life, had also received a shocking bit of news about her husband that prompted her to leave her marriage. She was angry, disillusioned, and determined to get back at the man who ruined her happiness. These are the things Madeline learned about her after making some investigations on Starr's life.
Feeling regret and guilt for causing Starr's death, Madeline decides to carry out the aims that Starr can no longer do.
So Madeline has a mission - to destroy the two main people who ruined Starr's happiness - her husband Vick and his FIRST wife, singer Adelaide (Dell.)
Or as she put it:
1. To get even with with a woman.
2. To kill a man.
The book keeps us entertained as she goes about achieving this objective. One gets a shock too, when it is revealed why Starr was upset enough walk out of the marriage. Overall, this is an entertaining book. It did leave two or three questions unanswered, but that is often the case with many books.
Lawrence Block wrote the first 14 pages of this edition and the last 2.5 pages. In between, a few missing gaps from Woolrich's papers were also filled in by Block, but these aside, the book is mainly Woolrich's. It's the second Woolrich book I've read, and I can see he was a talented writer, there's some good prose here.
The "happy" ending that Block supplied wasn't what I was hoping for, but I can still recommend this book to Woolrich fans, an incomplete story he wrote in the early 1960's, set in that period, too.
February 15, 2013
A young woman, tired of her life, tried to commit suicide with a gun, but instead of ending her own life, the bullet accidentally hit a passerby woman fatally. After narrowly escaped death, the remaining young woman decided to find out more about the unfortunate passerby woman she had accidentally killed. And her finding leaded her to the road of revenge: in order to avenge her own victim, she must trick a woman and kill a man, both total strangers to her. So where could she find the man and the woman in question? Will she succeed in bringing justice to the dead woman, or will her action cause even more misery?
Before I read Into the Night, I'd already read I Married a Dead Man and The Bride Wore Black by the same author. I find that the late Mr. Woolrich was a master of suspense and also a bold explorer on the dark side of human nature. I especially appreciate how Mr. Woolrich used a lot of small details to build up his female characters skillfully, giving them a feminine voice and made those characters natural and believable in every way possible.
Beside the realistic character building and powerful plots, Mr. Woolrich always succeed in capturing the dark side of ordinary men and women; and a sense of hopelessness and decay; giving his novels a strong film noir undertone. In many of his novels, you would most likely be kept at the edge of your seat because you literally have no idea how things would end till the last minute. Those signatures are all there in this last and unfinished novel by Mr. Woolrich. If you are willing to walk the journey through the dark side of human's mind, and see how desperation might drive people into risking their lives; Mr. Woolrich novels would be a fine choice.
Before I read Into the Night, I'd already read I Married a Dead Man and The Bride Wore Black by the same author. I find that the late Mr. Woolrich was a master of suspense and also a bold explorer on the dark side of human nature. I especially appreciate how Mr. Woolrich used a lot of small details to build up his female characters skillfully, giving them a feminine voice and made those characters natural and believable in every way possible.
Beside the realistic character building and powerful plots, Mr. Woolrich always succeed in capturing the dark side of ordinary men and women; and a sense of hopelessness and decay; giving his novels a strong film noir undertone. In many of his novels, you would most likely be kept at the edge of your seat because you literally have no idea how things would end till the last minute. Those signatures are all there in this last and unfinished novel by Mr. Woolrich. If you are willing to walk the journey through the dark side of human's mind, and see how desperation might drive people into risking their lives; Mr. Woolrich novels would be a fine choice.
June 16, 2024
I read the newly re-released by Hard Case Crimes (HCC) for the first time in 35 years of Cornell Woolrich's novel posthumously finished by Lawrence Block. This edition has a revised ending, I assume, revised again by Block. Some of the reviews on Goodreads mention a post script, that outlines the few missing pages that Block had to "recreate". The revised HCC edition does not include this information.
I rated the novel a 4 as a compromise between a 3 and a 5. I have mixed feelings about the story. There are things about the motivation driving the protagonist that I just didn't get, and I feel that the protagonist, intentionally is left as quite a blank. That bothered me. But the story is a twisty one, very well told, especially as it comes to a close. Hence, a 4. I wonder what the original ending was.
I rated the novel a 4 as a compromise between a 3 and a 5. I have mixed feelings about the story. There are things about the motivation driving the protagonist that I just didn't get, and I feel that the protagonist, intentionally is left as quite a blank. That bothered me. But the story is a twisty one, very well told, especially as it comes to a close. Hence, a 4. I wonder what the original ending was.
September 5, 2024
Originally published by Mysterious Press in 1987 and republished by Hard Case Crime with a slightly different ending in 2024.
July 6, 2019
COUNTDOWN: Mid-20th Century North American Crime
BOOK 120 (of 250)
Who would expect a line like this from this author: "Anyone can be married more than once, she [Madeline] reflected. All it takes is a disagreeable disposition." And not only that, an ending that is unlike any ending from this author. Perhaps it's the Block Modification (otherwise known commonly as a BM). And thus, I almost didn't read this, as the cover tells us that the novel was completed by Lawrence Block. However, in an Afterword by Francis M. Nevins, Jr, we learn that random pages of the book were missing, like 'pages 73, 75-78, 83, 87-88, and 100-101' in addition to the first 14 pages, but those first 14 pages do feel very much like Woolrich. Of the total 172 pages in this edition, Block wrote/edited only 37 pages, so it's about 90% Woolrich, and I do appreciate Nevins' honesty in telling us who wrote what. I recently read a book that had "Dragon's Teeth Micheal Crichton" on the cover, but nowhere in the book was a single word indicating that Chrichton had anything to do with the authorship. To Block and Nevins: Thank You for playing fair with us readers.
HOOK - 3 stars: >>>"At first there was music. Popular songs played on her little radio....as the sky darkened outside [she] switched off the radio...Better to sit in the dark, and in the silence. That way, though, you had only your own thoughts for company.<<<
I liked this opening: it's typically sad and despressing. Apparently, though, Woolrich didn't write the first 14 pages of this edition, but it does read and feel just like Woolrich. The last months and days of Woolrich's life were no doubt mired in depression, and Block catches that mood nicely.
PACE - 3: A dark mood piece with much reflection-and I'm sure Woolrich was indeed feeling much of this sadness. If you're looking for a Spillane thriller, this isn't for you. But the pace is just right for the overall plot.
PLOT - 3: Madeline contemplates suicide. She does indeed put a gun to her temple and pull the trigger, but nothing happens. She throws the gun to the side and it goes off, the bullet killing a woman walking by outside Madeline's apartment. Madeline decides to find out about this woman, Starr Bartlett. I like that there are so many possibilities Woolrich has at his disposal. Does Madeline become Starr? Does Madeline complete plans that Starr had before dying? No, none of that happens though. What does happen is very, very dark. And Nevins does admit, about the ending, that "Here is the kind of twisted, perverse, downbeat ending which, if he'd lived long enough to work out all the bugs, Woolrich perhaps would have opted for [but Block doesn't quite allow for that perverse ending]. It works nicely even though die-hard fans of Woolrich may scream 'no, no, that couldn't happen, it's not painful enough.' Maybe Block, in his own way, wanted to give Woolrich just a bit of peace that the author never had during his life.
CAST - 4: This is Madeline's story as she deals with the fact that she's responsible for Starr's death. There is Starr's lover/ex, Vick, who plays a big role. But there is a 2nd Vick who really has the darkest story of all to tell, and that 2nd Vick could have had a novella of his own and it'd be easily among the most painful of Woolrich's works.
ATMOSPHERE - 4: Omnipresent darkness. Dreary. Bleak. On the back cover blurb, Francis M. Nevins writes that this author is "The Poe of the 20th Century, and the poet of its shadows. Trapped in a wretched psychological environment...he took decades of solitude and shaped them into the finest body of pure suspense literature ever written." I do complete agree that the author is 'the poet of [20th Century] shadows.'
SUMMARY: 3.4. A very good, semi-doomed, final work from this author. For overall pain of central characters, it's hard to beat this writer: his agonizing life shows through often and one hurts for him and for his characters. People ARE treated in real life like Woolrich, people Do live like this. Dreadful
BOOK 120 (of 250)
Who would expect a line like this from this author: "Anyone can be married more than once, she [Madeline] reflected. All it takes is a disagreeable disposition." And not only that, an ending that is unlike any ending from this author. Perhaps it's the Block Modification (otherwise known commonly as a BM). And thus, I almost didn't read this, as the cover tells us that the novel was completed by Lawrence Block. However, in an Afterword by Francis M. Nevins, Jr, we learn that random pages of the book were missing, like 'pages 73, 75-78, 83, 87-88, and 100-101' in addition to the first 14 pages, but those first 14 pages do feel very much like Woolrich. Of the total 172 pages in this edition, Block wrote/edited only 37 pages, so it's about 90% Woolrich, and I do appreciate Nevins' honesty in telling us who wrote what. I recently read a book that had "Dragon's Teeth Micheal Crichton" on the cover, but nowhere in the book was a single word indicating that Chrichton had anything to do with the authorship. To Block and Nevins: Thank You for playing fair with us readers.
HOOK - 3 stars: >>>"At first there was music. Popular songs played on her little radio....as the sky darkened outside [she] switched off the radio...Better to sit in the dark, and in the silence. That way, though, you had only your own thoughts for company.<<<
I liked this opening: it's typically sad and despressing. Apparently, though, Woolrich didn't write the first 14 pages of this edition, but it does read and feel just like Woolrich. The last months and days of Woolrich's life were no doubt mired in depression, and Block catches that mood nicely.
PACE - 3: A dark mood piece with much reflection-and I'm sure Woolrich was indeed feeling much of this sadness. If you're looking for a Spillane thriller, this isn't for you. But the pace is just right for the overall plot.
PLOT - 3: Madeline contemplates suicide. She does indeed put a gun to her temple and pull the trigger, but nothing happens. She throws the gun to the side and it goes off, the bullet killing a woman walking by outside Madeline's apartment. Madeline decides to find out about this woman, Starr Bartlett. I like that there are so many possibilities Woolrich has at his disposal. Does Madeline become Starr? Does Madeline complete plans that Starr had before dying? No, none of that happens though. What does happen is very, very dark. And Nevins does admit, about the ending, that "Here is the kind of twisted, perverse, downbeat ending which, if he'd lived long enough to work out all the bugs, Woolrich perhaps would have opted for [but Block doesn't quite allow for that perverse ending]. It works nicely even though die-hard fans of Woolrich may scream 'no, no, that couldn't happen, it's not painful enough.' Maybe Block, in his own way, wanted to give Woolrich just a bit of peace that the author never had during his life.
CAST - 4: This is Madeline's story as she deals with the fact that she's responsible for Starr's death. There is Starr's lover/ex, Vick, who plays a big role. But there is a 2nd Vick who really has the darkest story of all to tell, and that 2nd Vick could have had a novella of his own and it'd be easily among the most painful of Woolrich's works.
ATMOSPHERE - 4: Omnipresent darkness. Dreary. Bleak. On the back cover blurb, Francis M. Nevins writes that this author is "The Poe of the 20th Century, and the poet of its shadows. Trapped in a wretched psychological environment...he took decades of solitude and shaped them into the finest body of pure suspense literature ever written." I do complete agree that the author is 'the poet of [20th Century] shadows.'
SUMMARY: 3.4. A very good, semi-doomed, final work from this author. For overall pain of central characters, it's hard to beat this writer: his agonizing life shows through often and one hurts for him and for his characters. People ARE treated in real life like Woolrich, people Do live like this. Dreadful
January 29, 2018
"Nel 1987 lo scrittore di crime fiction Lawrence Block viene chiamato a completare, con un finale che trovo francamente incoerente e frettoloso, un romanzo lasciato incompleto dal suo illustre predecessore Cornell Woolrich, morto diciannove anni prima. Lo si può quindi considerare come il libro dell’addio definitivo di Woolrich; Dentro la notte è un titolo quanto mai idoneo ad un commiato, tanto più che stiamo parlando di un autore che non ha fatto altro che scandagliare l’oscurità, descriverla in tutte le sue più cupe sfumature."
Questo commento al romanzo è un pretesto per rendere omaggio al maestro del noir, uno dei miei scrittori preferiti. Lo si può leggere qua:
https://www.mattatoio5.com/123-dentro...
Questo commento al romanzo è un pretesto per rendere omaggio al maestro del noir, uno dei miei scrittori preferiti. Lo si può leggere qua:
https://www.mattatoio5.com/123-dentro...
July 4, 2024
There are lots of things that enrich this book beyond the contents of the pages. Reading a bit about Cornell Woolrich (the era he and his writing were born into, his gay shame and alcoholism, his restricted lifestyle within the framework of substantial financial success, living in sickness and on the verge of death from a young age, etc.) added a ton to my reading of this book (my first by him, and maybe my first Lawrence Block outside of short stories? I'm not familiar enough with either of their writing to have any idea who contributed what; it felt pretty seamless to me). I was not expecting the dark reveal: super f'n sad when you recognize what that symbolizes and how tormented this guy was his whole life.
Kind of old-fashioned and corny writing in a way that I appreciated because it made me even more aware of the specialness of Woolrich's relatively-unusual female protagonist, and the way everyone is bound by guilt and suffering and wanting to die, while also being solitary detectives trying to find some kind of redemption or way to make amends for their perceived crimes.
I went into this book expecting just some fun pleasure reading; it wound up being more intense than I was prepared for, so I think it will stand out in my head for a long time.
Changed from four to five stars because it seems like a must-read if you're interested in this genre, its bigs, and the era(s) of books and movies he was part of.
Kind of old-fashioned and corny writing in a way that I appreciated because it made me even more aware of the specialness of Woolrich's relatively-unusual female protagonist, and the way everyone is bound by guilt and suffering and wanting to die, while also being solitary detectives trying to find some kind of redemption or way to make amends for their perceived crimes.
I went into this book expecting just some fun pleasure reading; it wound up being more intense than I was prepared for, so I think it will stand out in my head for a long time.
Changed from four to five stars because it seems like a must-read if you're interested in this genre, its bigs, and the era(s) of books and movies he was part of.
February 9, 2016
This has been on my "to be read" pile since I discovered it at the Mysterious Bookshop in NYC several years ago. Reading Block's story "As Dark As Christmas Gets," in which another unpublished Woolrich manuscript disappears, reminded me that I was long overdue to read Into the Night, so I bumped it to the top of the reading queue. And I'm glad I did. The cover-flap copy that describes this as "quintessential Woolrich" is dead-on accurate. It's about as noir as noir gets. Madeline's despair in the opening scene, followed by relief, followed by her determination to "live for" this woman she accidentally killed, is all revealed in classic Woolrich style, and the twists keep coming throughout the novel, including some very dark detours.
Most of the book's darkness is internalized. Madeline's justifications for doing what she does, as her quest to bring honor/peace to her accidental victim takes her to darker decisions, are a wonder of inner psychology, the type of character-building that I loved in Woolrich's novel Fright, and in the short stories of his that I've read. And even though the point-of-view is nominally Madeline's, Woolrich allows her to be our ears as other characters tell us their histories and reveal their own misdeeds and bad choices. I'm not sure that anyone in the book is truly sympathetic. Even Madeline becomes less sympathetic as the novel progresses. But because we met her at the start, at her lowest point, and saw how her mission reinvigorates her, we at least feel a growing horror at just how much she's willing to do to bring peace to the spirit of the woman she killed.
But there is one brutally violent scene that made me uncomfortable, an attempted rape that hit me in the pit of my stomach and which I'm sure will be a trigger for some people. Woolrich builds up to it in a way that the reader cannot avoid knowing what's coming, cannot avoid hoping it won't go where it inevitably does; the entire scene is like a master class in building suspense, of bringing the reader along to a place they'd rather not visit. There are similar scenes (but not involving rape) in the other Woolrich works I've read, so I shouldn't have been surprised that there would be at least one in this novel. (There's a little bit of dialogue added to the scene by Block, according to the post-script, but otherwise the scene is entirely Woolrich.)
The question of "how much is Woolrich, how much is Block" is answered in an essay/post-script at the end of the book. 90% is Woolrich, and other than two sections that Block had to create from whole-cloth to fill in gaps most of Block's work is paragraph length or so insertions into existing scenes. Block also had to complete the unfinished final scene, and this is where many of the book's critics have taken exception: that the ending feels too "upbeat" for a Woolrich book. I'd have to agree that I expected a bit of a darker ending given the tone of the rest of the book. But then again, I think it would be just like Woolrich to subvert reader expectations of his own work, so perhaps the ending Block gives us is indeed the ending Woolrich intended. (It should be noted that Block himself might be his harshest critic for this work -- or at the very least, he's willing to poke fun at himself for daring to step in to finish a fellow Master's work.)
Regardless of what you think of the ending, if you're a noir fan it's worth trying to track down a copy of this last work from the author who gave us so many excellent suspense novels and stories.
Most of the book's darkness is internalized. Madeline's justifications for doing what she does, as her quest to bring honor/peace to her accidental victim takes her to darker decisions, are a wonder of inner psychology, the type of character-building that I loved in Woolrich's novel Fright, and in the short stories of his that I've read. And even though the point-of-view is nominally Madeline's, Woolrich allows her to be our ears as other characters tell us their histories and reveal their own misdeeds and bad choices. I'm not sure that anyone in the book is truly sympathetic. Even Madeline becomes less sympathetic as the novel progresses. But because we met her at the start, at her lowest point, and saw how her mission reinvigorates her, we at least feel a growing horror at just how much she's willing to do to bring peace to the spirit of the woman she killed.
But there is one brutally violent scene that made me uncomfortable, an attempted rape that hit me in the pit of my stomach and which I'm sure will be a trigger for some people. Woolrich builds up to it in a way that the reader cannot avoid knowing what's coming, cannot avoid hoping it won't go where it inevitably does; the entire scene is like a master class in building suspense, of bringing the reader along to a place they'd rather not visit. There are similar scenes (but not involving rape) in the other Woolrich works I've read, so I shouldn't have been surprised that there would be at least one in this novel. (There's a little bit of dialogue added to the scene by Block, according to the post-script, but otherwise the scene is entirely Woolrich.)
The question of "how much is Woolrich, how much is Block" is answered in an essay/post-script at the end of the book. 90% is Woolrich, and other than two sections that Block had to create from whole-cloth to fill in gaps most of Block's work is paragraph length or so insertions into existing scenes. Block also had to complete the unfinished final scene, and this is where many of the book's critics have taken exception: that the ending feels too "upbeat" for a Woolrich book. I'd have to agree that I expected a bit of a darker ending given the tone of the rest of the book. But then again, I think it would be just like Woolrich to subvert reader expectations of his own work, so perhaps the ending Block gives us is indeed the ending Woolrich intended. (It should be noted that Block himself might be his harshest critic for this work -- or at the very least, he's willing to poke fun at himself for daring to step in to finish a fellow Master's work.)
Regardless of what you think of the ending, if you're a noir fan it's worth trying to track down a copy of this last work from the author who gave us so many excellent suspense novels and stories.
March 18, 2018
Read pages 23 - 169, the bulk of Woolrich’s unfinished manuscript. Whomever allowed Block to “complete” this book should be tortured by having his so-called dislogue read to him eternally by a banshee.
October 15, 2015
As his final book which had to be finished (and perhaps touched up) by Lawrence Block, it was pretty good. The motive was quite strange and the outcome even stranger.
April 28, 2016
This was Cornell Woolrich’s final novel, left uncompleted at the time of his death in 1968. It was finally finished nearly 20 years later by the incomparable Lawrence Block.
Events are related through an obsessive, often irrational narrator. Madeline Chalmers is a desperate woman trying to commit suicide in the opening paragraph because, as she puts it, “life has no meaning”. The gun misfires against her temple. In a flood of relief Madeline tosses the gun onto a table, at which point it does fire, and the errant bullet flies out an open window and hits a passerby, Starr Bartlett.
This bizarre turn of events lends Madeline a new purpose to live for. She attempts to learn about the woman she killed and vows to fulfill any of Starr’s unfinished life purposes. This soon includes killing Starr’s ex-husband Vick, the man who broke her heart, and also wreaking revenge on the woman who wrecked their marriage.
Much like the only other Woolrich novel I have read (Fright), the prose is intentionally Gothic, almost melodramatic. Another similarity is inclusion of a few ludicrous plot holes: Madeline sees a picture of Vick but forgets what he looks like. She later includes a return address on an anonymous letter.
The strengths of Fright are also on display: The author makes great use of powerful tableaux. These are scenes in which he stops the action for several paragraphs to describe a split moment in painstaking detail. The one that stands out most is the description of a corpse submerged face down in a bathtub, with its unforgettable images of the dead woman’s arms caught on the lip of the porcelain bowl, thin slivers of blood trapped under her fingernails.
Several times I thought I could differentiate between passages written by Woolrich and Block, but I was wrong on all counts. Several of the minor characters had interesting, bleak backgrounds—the woman who lost her five year old son, the vet who was castrated by a hand grenade--that reminded me of some of Block’s best work in the Matt Scudder series. But no, these details all came from Woolrich.
Block’s major contributions were the first 14 pages (which I would have sworn were Woolrich’s own words) and the climax in the last 2 pages.
It is Block’s tacked-on happy ending which ultimately betrays what had been a decent potboiler up to that point. As explained in the afterward, Block chose to have Madeline fall in love with Vick because that is the ending Woolrich seemed to have been building towards, based on a discarded crossed-out first draft. It could have worked, but Block did not execute this strategy very well. Perhaps he was trying not to add more to Woolrich’s words than absolutely necessary. Block did not explain how Madeline’s emotions toward Vick went from disgust in the previous scene to love in the final scene. Nor did he establish the alternate creepy, perverse explanation—that perhaps Madeline in her own obsessive way was to trying to complete a total submersion into Starr’s life by stealing her identify and taking her place in the marriage.
Events are related through an obsessive, often irrational narrator. Madeline Chalmers is a desperate woman trying to commit suicide in the opening paragraph because, as she puts it, “life has no meaning”. The gun misfires against her temple. In a flood of relief Madeline tosses the gun onto a table, at which point it does fire, and the errant bullet flies out an open window and hits a passerby, Starr Bartlett.
This bizarre turn of events lends Madeline a new purpose to live for. She attempts to learn about the woman she killed and vows to fulfill any of Starr’s unfinished life purposes. This soon includes killing Starr’s ex-husband Vick, the man who broke her heart, and also wreaking revenge on the woman who wrecked their marriage.
Much like the only other Woolrich novel I have read (Fright), the prose is intentionally Gothic, almost melodramatic. Another similarity is inclusion of a few ludicrous plot holes: Madeline sees a picture of Vick but forgets what he looks like. She later includes a return address on an anonymous letter.
The strengths of Fright are also on display: The author makes great use of powerful tableaux. These are scenes in which he stops the action for several paragraphs to describe a split moment in painstaking detail. The one that stands out most is the description of a corpse submerged face down in a bathtub, with its unforgettable images of the dead woman’s arms caught on the lip of the porcelain bowl, thin slivers of blood trapped under her fingernails.
Several times I thought I could differentiate between passages written by Woolrich and Block, but I was wrong on all counts. Several of the minor characters had interesting, bleak backgrounds—the woman who lost her five year old son, the vet who was castrated by a hand grenade--that reminded me of some of Block’s best work in the Matt Scudder series. But no, these details all came from Woolrich.
Block’s major contributions were the first 14 pages (which I would have sworn were Woolrich’s own words) and the climax in the last 2 pages.
It is Block’s tacked-on happy ending which ultimately betrays what had been a decent potboiler up to that point. As explained in the afterward, Block chose to have Madeline fall in love with Vick because that is the ending Woolrich seemed to have been building towards, based on a discarded crossed-out first draft. It could have worked, but Block did not execute this strategy very well. Perhaps he was trying not to add more to Woolrich’s words than absolutely necessary. Block did not explain how Madeline’s emotions toward Vick went from disgust in the previous scene to love in the final scene. Nor did he establish the alternate creepy, perverse explanation—that perhaps Madeline in her own obsessive way was to trying to complete a total submersion into Starr’s life by stealing her identify and taking her place in the marriage.
December 9, 2014
An excellent read! Block seamlessly weaves his work through the partial narrative left behind by Woolrich and the result is one heck of a great read!
May 2, 2024
An extremely compelling read; Block's new ending is devastating, bleak, and true to the story.
July 29, 2024
Po smrti autora dokončený román Cornella Woolriche. Naštěstí zbývalo k napsání jen nějakých patnáct úvodních stránek a tři poslední (a nějaké to dobroušení a doplnění vnitřku), čili to nebyl ten případ, kdy má autor napsaná tři slova, z nichž dvě jsou předložky, někdo si vymyslí zbytek a celé to pak vyjde jako nově objevené dílo. Za Woolriche to dopisoval Lawrence Block a musím přiznat, že jsem si ani švů nevšiml. Podařilo se mu udržet Woolrichův poetický styl, občas přerušený nějakou lakonickou hláškou.
Co se týče stylu, je to pořád paráda. Co se týče děje… no, rozhodně bych to do woolrichovské klasiky nezařadil. I když nápad je dobrý, to zase ano.
Hlavní hrdinka hodlá spáchat sebevraždu. Vytáhne pistoli, přiloží si ji k hlavě, ale nakonec si to rozmyslí, hodí pistoli na stůl, třeskne výstřel – a zabije na ulici náhodnou kolemjdoucí. (Možná proto to nebylo dokončeno. Autor marně hledal způsob, jak to napsat, aby to působilo aspoň trochu uvěřitelně.) Když hrdinku nezatkne policie, rozhodne se svůj zločin aspoň částečně napravit. Zjistit, co byla mrtvá zač a dokončit to, co mrtvá plánovala udělat. Problém je, že plány mrtvé byly poměrně ultimativní. Pomstít se jedné ženě a zabít jednoho muže. A hrdinka tyhle plány začne naplňovat.
Je to v podstatě obdoba Woolrichových mstitelských románů (Nevěsta v černém, Černý anděl) jen s tou změnou, že tady hrdinka vlastně ani pořádně neví, proč by měla těm lidem ubližovat. Přebrala pomstu někoho jiného. Ale byl ten člověk normální? A je vůbec normální hlavní hrdinka?
Jak to hrdinka dělá z pocitu povinnosti, chybí tomu ale emoce. Navíc jsou její oběti velmi slušné a vstřícné a hrdinka působí opravdu jako magor, když jim chce zničit život, aby napravila to, že už jeden život zničila.
Jsou tu pořád zajímavé scény a fascinující pozorování, jak bylo pro ženu v poválečných letech komplikované jakékoliv pátrání a vyptávání se. Je tu i pár napínavých situací, ale rozhodně to není thriller a skoro ani detektivka. Jo, něco se odhalí, ale spíš tím, že se lidi hrdince svěřují a vypráví jí své osudy.
Mohlo by se z toho vykřísnout vážně silný drama, ale to by asi chtělo víc dopilovat a přitvrdit. Víc tlačit na emoce, na pochybnosti a třeba i na to, jak se z lidké bytosti stává monstrum. Hrdinka sice zpochybňuje své chování a jeho následky, ale je to čistě řečené, nikoliv zapojené do příběhu.
Ve výsledku je to sice hezky napsaná, ale stejně až moc light verze příběhů, které už Woolriche napsal dřív a lépe. Záležitost vážně jen pro sběratele a kompletisty.
Co se týče stylu, je to pořád paráda. Co se týče děje… no, rozhodně bych to do woolrichovské klasiky nezařadil. I když nápad je dobrý, to zase ano.
Hlavní hrdinka hodlá spáchat sebevraždu. Vytáhne pistoli, přiloží si ji k hlavě, ale nakonec si to rozmyslí, hodí pistoli na stůl, třeskne výstřel – a zabije na ulici náhodnou kolemjdoucí. (Možná proto to nebylo dokončeno. Autor marně hledal způsob, jak to napsat, aby to působilo aspoň trochu uvěřitelně.) Když hrdinku nezatkne policie, rozhodne se svůj zločin aspoň částečně napravit. Zjistit, co byla mrtvá zač a dokončit to, co mrtvá plánovala udělat. Problém je, že plány mrtvé byly poměrně ultimativní. Pomstít se jedné ženě a zabít jednoho muže. A hrdinka tyhle plány začne naplňovat.
Je to v podstatě obdoba Woolrichových mstitelských románů (Nevěsta v černém, Černý anděl) jen s tou změnou, že tady hrdinka vlastně ani pořádně neví, proč by měla těm lidem ubližovat. Přebrala pomstu někoho jiného. Ale byl ten člověk normální? A je vůbec normální hlavní hrdinka?
Jak to hrdinka dělá z pocitu povinnosti, chybí tomu ale emoce. Navíc jsou její oběti velmi slušné a vstřícné a hrdinka působí opravdu jako magor, když jim chce zničit život, aby napravila to, že už jeden život zničila.
Jsou tu pořád zajímavé scény a fascinující pozorování, jak bylo pro ženu v poválečných letech komplikované jakékoliv pátrání a vyptávání se. Je tu i pár napínavých situací, ale rozhodně to není thriller a skoro ani detektivka. Jo, něco se odhalí, ale spíš tím, že se lidi hrdince svěřují a vypráví jí své osudy.
Mohlo by se z toho vykřísnout vážně silný drama, ale to by asi chtělo víc dopilovat a přitvrdit. Víc tlačit na emoce, na pochybnosti a třeba i na to, jak se z lidké bytosti stává monstrum. Hrdinka sice zpochybňuje své chování a jeho následky, ale je to čistě řečené, nikoliv zapojené do příběhu.
Ve výsledku je to sice hezky napsaná, ale stejně až moc light verze příběhů, které už Woolriche napsal dřív a lépe. Záležitost vážně jen pro sběratele a kompletisty.
July 8, 2024
This has been recently re-released by Hard Case Crime. Cornell Woolrich was a master of dark noir. He left this book unfinished. Lawrence Block is a first-rate mystery and thriller writer and a long time Woolrich friend and fan. He finished the book.
The set up is that a young woman, Madeline Chalmers, decides to commit suicide with a pistol. She pulls the trigger on an empty chamber. She is flooded with relief. As she puts the pistol down, it misfires. The bullet goes out of the window of her apartment and kills a young woman standing across the street.
I had problems with the plot. We start with a wild coincidence. That was a one in a million shot. The book has three sections, and each section turns on an unbelievable coincidence. None of them were convincing to me.
I had a problem with the motivation of Madeline Chalmers after the shooting. She decides that she is responsible for the life of Starr Bartlett, the young woman killed by her stray bullet. She tracks down Starr's mother and says she is a friend of Starr's. She tracks down Starr's ex-husband and the woman who broke up Starr's marriage. It is never clear to me why she is doing any of this. Starr is dead, so revenging slights to her does no good.
Woolrich writes in an intense suspenseful style which seems to be trying to distract from the obvious questions that come while reading the book. We get allot of over wrought sentences like, "Her voice was a terrible thing such as Madeline had never heard before. It wasn't a voice, it was hate incarnate."
I suspect that the reason Woolrich never finished the book was because he was not satisfied that it held together as a story. There are some excellent suspenseful scenes. But, at bottom, the basic motivation of the central character doesn't make sense and there are too many wild coincidences for a sound plot.
The set up is that a young woman, Madeline Chalmers, decides to commit suicide with a pistol. She pulls the trigger on an empty chamber. She is flooded with relief. As she puts the pistol down, it misfires. The bullet goes out of the window of her apartment and kills a young woman standing across the street.
I had problems with the plot. We start with a wild coincidence. That was a one in a million shot. The book has three sections, and each section turns on an unbelievable coincidence. None of them were convincing to me.
I had a problem with the motivation of Madeline Chalmers after the shooting. She decides that she is responsible for the life of Starr Bartlett, the young woman killed by her stray bullet. She tracks down Starr's mother and says she is a friend of Starr's. She tracks down Starr's ex-husband and the woman who broke up Starr's marriage. It is never clear to me why she is doing any of this. Starr is dead, so revenging slights to her does no good.
Woolrich writes in an intense suspenseful style which seems to be trying to distract from the obvious questions that come while reading the book. We get allot of over wrought sentences like, "Her voice was a terrible thing such as Madeline had never heard before. It wasn't a voice, it was hate incarnate."
I suspect that the reason Woolrich never finished the book was because he was not satisfied that it held together as a story. There are some excellent suspenseful scenes. But, at bottom, the basic motivation of the central character doesn't make sense and there are too many wild coincidences for a sound plot.
May 23, 2024
I am always a bit suspicious when I hear about books by classic authors being finished posthumously by others. Too often there is a risk that random scraps of paper left behind are used to create something that doesn't even come close to what the original author's proper work would have looked like.
But in the case of INTO THE NIGHT I needn't have worried. It appears that most of what is between the covers is indeed by Woolrich and the first couple of pages that are the most prominent addition to the novel so masterfully mirror his style that I'd have actually placed a bet on it staking that this was from Woolrich's own mind.
The entire plot is quintessential Woolrich and something of a reverse take on one of his most prominent tropes where the protagonist (male or female) seeks revenge on a group of people they deem responsible for the death of a loved one (e.g. THE BRIDE WORE BLACK). In INTO THE NIGHT the protagonist herself is in fact the accidental killer of a random stranger and subsequently attempts to learn more about that person and ultimately to right the wrongs that her victim is no longer able to do herself.
Wonderfully twisted in a way only Woolrich can be. I am now curious though to also source earlier editions of this book as this new paperback appears to have changed the previous finale to make it more in line with Woolrich's original vision. The current climax for me, however, is probably the weakest aspect of this book and the previous one from what I know about it seems to have been much more appropriate (even though it had in the past itself been criticised for being off brand).
But in the case of INTO THE NIGHT I needn't have worried. It appears that most of what is between the covers is indeed by Woolrich and the first couple of pages that are the most prominent addition to the novel so masterfully mirror his style that I'd have actually placed a bet on it staking that this was from Woolrich's own mind.
The entire plot is quintessential Woolrich and something of a reverse take on one of his most prominent tropes where the protagonist (male or female) seeks revenge on a group of people they deem responsible for the death of a loved one (e.g. THE BRIDE WORE BLACK). In INTO THE NIGHT the protagonist herself is in fact the accidental killer of a random stranger and subsequently attempts to learn more about that person and ultimately to right the wrongs that her victim is no longer able to do herself.
Wonderfully twisted in a way only Woolrich can be. I am now curious though to also source earlier editions of this book as this new paperback appears to have changed the previous finale to make it more in line with Woolrich's original vision. The current climax for me, however, is probably the weakest aspect of this book and the previous one from what I know about it seems to have been much more appropriate (even though it had in the past itself been criticised for being off brand).
July 22, 2024
Into the Night, Cornell Woolrich & Lawrence Block [Edition Notes: Hard Case Crime, 2024. Originally published in different form by The Mysterious Press, 1987.]
Madeline Chalmers, a lonely young woman living in a boarding house, attempts suicide with a handgun she inherited from her deceased alcoholic father. When the hammer strikes an empty barrel, she is filled with joy and snaps on the radio, while forcefully placing the gun on a table. The revolver accidentally discharges and a young woman walking on the street is killed by the stray bullet. Wracked by guilt, Madeline begins investigating her victim’s past and learns that she was intent on killing her ex-husband; a vendetta Madeline decides to continue…
***
Cornell Woolrich is an architect of the noir genre. His work includes The Bride Wore Black, The Phantom Lady, and “It Had to Be Murder,” the basis of Hitchcock’s film Rear Window. Into the Night was left unfinished at the time of Woolrich’s death in 1968, and was completed by Lawrence Block. Black is the Night, a collection of stories by various authors in tribute to Cornell Woolrich was published this year by Titan Books.
***
Lawrence Block is a prolific author of crime and mystery fiction, as well as books on the craft of writing. His other Hardcase Crime titles include A Walk Among the Tombstones, Killing Castro, and Grifter’s Game.
Madeline Chalmers, a lonely young woman living in a boarding house, attempts suicide with a handgun she inherited from her deceased alcoholic father. When the hammer strikes an empty barrel, she is filled with joy and snaps on the radio, while forcefully placing the gun on a table. The revolver accidentally discharges and a young woman walking on the street is killed by the stray bullet. Wracked by guilt, Madeline begins investigating her victim’s past and learns that she was intent on killing her ex-husband; a vendetta Madeline decides to continue…
***
Cornell Woolrich is an architect of the noir genre. His work includes The Bride Wore Black, The Phantom Lady, and “It Had to Be Murder,” the basis of Hitchcock’s film Rear Window. Into the Night was left unfinished at the time of Woolrich’s death in 1968, and was completed by Lawrence Block. Black is the Night, a collection of stories by various authors in tribute to Cornell Woolrich was published this year by Titan Books.
***
Lawrence Block is a prolific author of crime and mystery fiction, as well as books on the craft of writing. His other Hardcase Crime titles include A Walk Among the Tombstones, Killing Castro, and Grifter’s Game.
May 14, 2024
Madeline is considering suicide, then decides not to. The gun she thought about using accidentally goes off and kills an innocent woman on the street. Madeline decides to pick up the threads of her victim’s life, carrying out a mission of vengeance on her behalf against the man she loved and lost—and the nightclub-singing femme fatale who drove them apart.
To me, it makes no sense. Why would she do that? And why would she put so much effort into it? It made for a fairly boring read, following a woman doing something that just seems to be nonsense. Definitely disappointing, as I've enjoyed Woolrich's books before.
To me, it makes no sense. Why would she do that? And why would she put so much effort into it? It made for a fairly boring read, following a woman doing something that just seems to be nonsense. Definitely disappointing, as I've enjoyed Woolrich's books before.
May 5, 2017
While not as good as the dark fiction of his 1930s peak, there are still moments of piercing prose from the master of malevolent fate. If you enjoy noir fiction such as Chandler and Cain, but haven't discovered Cornell Woolrich (who wrote the novelette Hitchcock's "Rear Window" was based), start out with anything with the word "Black" in the title. You will not be sorry, even though his characters always are.
June 6, 2024
It is a beautiful piece of literature. I think Lawrence Block completed it in the same style as Woolrich.
Not sure if Woolrich would have picked the same exact ending, or not, but it all seems seemlessly in the Woolrich style and plot. I enjoyed the passages, the descriptions and the beauty of this noir romantic tale.
Not sure if Woolrich would have picked the same exact ending, or not, but it all seems seemlessly in the Woolrich style and plot. I enjoyed the passages, the descriptions and the beauty of this noir romantic tale.
September 25, 2023
When Madeline's suicidal impulses subside, an innocent bystander is accidentally shot. Thus begins Madeline's journey into the even darker lives of the dead and their family and friends. The novel was completed by Lawrence Block, but the dread and suspense are all Woolrich.
May 30, 2024
Solid mystery that had a strange twist. Good character development, and adequate setting but the plot line and ending felt off. I’m not sure where the story started to drift, but it fell off a cliff.
August 30, 2024
In the midst of the story, I was thinking maybe 4 stars, which dropped to three as the story was progressing, ending at a 2 star rating. Too many unresolved questions and issues and unsatisfactory conclusion.
November 24, 2018
I found this so out of synch with Woolrich's style as to be off-putting. Attempts at "finishing" another author's work can be hit and miss. This was a miss for me
August 25, 2023
Excessivament dispersa. L'assassinat accidental d'una noia jove arran d'un suïcidi frustrat desencadena una trama no gaire ben desenvolupada i amb un desenllaç decebedor.
October 8, 2020
說不上來但真的不喜歡女主角的自以為是，以為自己是誰在那邊自說自話。但她也是作者安排的主角就是了，沒有她也無法構成這本書了。
故事的分段有點破碎，往往下一個段落就飛躍到另外一個時間點且中間沒有鋪陳。
故事的分段有點破碎，往往下一個段落就飛躍到另外一個時間點且中間沒有鋪陳。
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