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benjaminparris's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
dan78's review against another edition
4.0
No good deed goes unpunished or bad people, do bad things and get punished.
Well written, dark circumstances and a proper thriller of a plot all meant this was a perfect crime read for me!
Wonderful discriptions of places long gone and people, lifestyles and careers we'll never see the likes of again.
A cracking good read, I couldn't put down.
Well written, dark circumstances and a proper thriller of a plot all meant this was a perfect crime read for me!
Wonderful discriptions of places long gone and people, lifestyles and careers we'll never see the likes of again.
A cracking good read, I couldn't put down.
han_cat's review against another edition
4.0
I really don't know any other 30s writer who wrote dark psychological thrillers. This is a cold cold book, deliberately so. You are not supposed to like any of the characters yet feel conflicted about the badness of it all.E.g. surely you should like the housewife and want to protect her? Its just not that simple in CS Forester world.
I love his crime books, they have so much doubt about right & wrong in them. They are sinister and unflinching, daring in imagination and well executed.
I love his crime books, they have so much doubt about right & wrong in them. They are sinister and unflinching, daring in imagination and well executed.
lnatal's review against another edition
4.0
From BBC Radio 4 - Saturday Drama:
Most famous for his Hornblower series, C.S. Forester wrote three seminal psychological thrillers at the start of his career that took crime writing in a new direction, portraying ordinary, desperate people committing monstrous acts, and showing events spiralling terribly, chillingly, out of control.
Plain Murder, set in 1928, takes us into a London advertising agency. Morris, Oldroyd and Reddy, have been caught taking bribes. One of their colleagues threatens to blow the whistle on them. Instant dismissal will inevitably be the result, and at a time of severe unemployment, their future prospects are bleak. Morris, a menacing bully, offers them a road out of their dilemma - a perfect murder, cleverly disguised as a tragic accident. But is there such a thing as the perfect murder?
Most famous for his Hornblower series, C.S. Forester wrote three seminal psychological thrillers at the start of his career that took crime writing in a new direction, portraying ordinary, desperate people committing monstrous acts, and showing events spiralling terribly, chillingly, out of control.
Plain Murder, set in 1928, takes us into a London advertising agency. Morris, Oldroyd and Reddy, have been caught taking bribes. One of their colleagues threatens to blow the whistle on them. Instant dismissal will inevitably be the result, and at a time of severe unemployment, their future prospects are bleak. Morris, a menacing bully, offers them a road out of their dilemma - a perfect murder, cleverly disguised as a tragic accident. But is there such a thing as the perfect murder?
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