Originally published in 1955, this is a classic noir novel from the prolific pulp writer, Lionel White. The main protagonist, Johnny Clay, is fresh out of prison with what he believes to be a foolproof plan for a robbery that will net a huge score. Clay plans to hit a horse racing track on the day of a big race and grab the day's proceeds just before they would be loaded into an armored truck to be taken to the bank.
The plan is so audacious and seemingly impossible, that no one has ever tried it before. But Clay has calculated the plan down to the last second and has recruited an unusual crew to assist him. Johnny believes that using professional crooks would be the mistake that would doom the plan. Rather, he has brought into the scheme a group of men, all of whom have regular jobs and all of whom have money problems that could be resolved by getting their share of the loot.
As the story unfolds, the point of view shifts among the various members of the crew and a few others as well. We watch them plan the robbery, and almost immediately, we see the weak point in the scheme. This is, after all, a noir novel and in these sorts of books things never go according to plan, and they generally don't turn out well. The characters are well-drawn, and the plot sucks the reader in from the beginning. It's a great example of the genre.
Stanley Kubrick made an excellent movie from this novel called The Killing, starring Sterling Hayden as Johnny, and Stark House has just released a new edition of the novel, joined with another of White's books, The Snatchers. There's a couple of great evenings to be had here, first reading the novel and then watching the film.
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Clean Break Paperback – August 1, 2004
by
Lionel White
(Author)
A groundbreaking, multi-part narrative about a plot to rob a racetrack on its busiest day of the year, using one criminal mastermind, and several ordinary people.
The heist comes up smooth, but things go awry when one of the regular guys involved tells the wrong person.
Stanley Kubrick liked the story so much, he optioned the rights, hiring Jim Thompson as screenwriter to produce noir classic "The Killing."
The heist comes up smooth, but things go awry when one of the regular guys involved tells the wrong person.
Stanley Kubrick liked the story so much, he optioned the rights, hiring Jim Thompson as screenwriter to produce noir classic "The Killing."
- Print length128 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherDisruptive Pub
- Publication dateAugust 1, 2004
- Dimensions6 x 0.5 x 8.75 inches
- ISBN-10159654113X
- ISBN-13978-1596541139
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Product details
- Publisher : Disruptive Pub (August 1, 2004)
- Language : English
- Paperback : 128 pages
- ISBN-10 : 159654113X
- ISBN-13 : 978-1596541139
- Item Weight : 8 ounces
- Dimensions : 6 x 0.5 x 8.75 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #9,439,651 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #385,800 in Mysteries (Books)
- Customer Reviews:
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Reviewed in the United States on January 21, 2018
Reviewed in the United States on January 2, 2007
Great book, not-so-great edition. This edition must have been made from a scanned original transformed into text, because there are a lot of typos, weird letter & symbol combinations and a few incomplete sentences. This distracts from the reading experience, but I guess since it's out of print anyway I was glad to at least be able to read it in this format. Anyone looking for a copy of this for their collection though should try to find an original edition.