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The Last of Philip Banter
The 1947 cult classic from acclaimed crime writer John Franklin Bardin, now available for the first time in eBook edition.
Philip Banter is a little too fond of drink, and his marriage isn't what it should be. He's also troubled by a penchant for forgetting. That doesn't mean he's losing his mind.
Then Philip finds a manuscript entitled "Confession" in his office. He reads about a surprise dinner party his wife held, of the conversation that took place, and —to his horror—of his own infidelity. But the "confession" turns out to be a prophecy, accurate in almost every detail.
Is he the victim of a conspiracy to drive him mad, or did he type the manuscript himself? As the "confession" grows lengthier and more destructive, can he find the willpower to resist its terrifying inevitability?
Philip Banter is a little too fond of drink, and his marriage isn't what it should be. He's also troubled by a penchant for forgetting. That doesn't mean he's losing his mind.
Then Philip finds a manuscript entitled "Confession" in his office. He reads about a surprise dinner party his wife held, of the conversation that took place, and —to his horror—of his own infidelity. But the "confession" turns out to be a prophecy, accurate in almost every detail.
Is he the victim of a conspiracy to drive him mad, or did he type the manuscript himself? As the "confession" grows lengthier and more destructive, can he find the willpower to resist its terrifying inevitability?
191 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1947
9 people are currently reading
204 people want to read
About the author
John Franklin Bardin
16 books37 followersJohn Franklin Bardin was born in Cincinnati, Ohio on November 30, 1916. During his teens, he lost nearly all his immediate family to various ailments. As he approached thirty, he moved to New York City where during his adulthood he was an executive of an advertising agency, published ten novels and taught creative writing as well as advertising at the NEW SCHOOL FOR SOCIAL RESEARCH.
In 1946, Bardin entered a period of intense creativity during which he wrote three crime novels that were relatively unsuccessful at first, one of them not even being published in America until the late 1960s, but which have since become well-regarded cult novels. His best-regarded works, The Deadly Percheron, The Last of Philip Banter and Devil Take the Blue-Tail Fly experienced renewed interest in the 1970s when they were discovered by British readers.
Also involved in public relations and journalism, Mr. Bardin resided thereafter in New York City until his death.
In 1946, Bardin entered a period of intense creativity during which he wrote three crime novels that were relatively unsuccessful at first, one of them not even being published in America until the late 1960s, but which have since become well-regarded cult novels. His best-regarded works, The Deadly Percheron, The Last of Philip Banter and Devil Take the Blue-Tail Fly experienced renewed interest in the 1970s when they were discovered by British readers.
Also involved in public relations and journalism, Mr. Bardin resided thereafter in New York City until his death.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 31 reviews
July 2, 2019
I like Bardin's The Deadly Percheron, for in it the dream elements of classic noir are intensified by an impossibly surrealistic plot, a plot brought to a believable—if complicated—resolution by a hero we have grown to respect. The classic noir elements are in Philip Banter too—the nightmare, the hallucination, the fragmentation of time, rivers of alcohol, the psychologically perverse and its inevitable Freudian interpretation—but the plot is not audacious, the characters are not likable, and the resolution is far from satisfactory.
Womanizer and marathon boozer Philip Banter, who has only held onto his ad agency job because he has married the boss's daughter, enters his office on the morning of December 1st to find a 15 page manuscript with his name on it sitting beside his typewriter. Strange, he has no memory of writing it; stranger still, it describes the events of this very evening, the evening of December 1st. Is it a prophecy, an alcoholic hallucination, or one small piece of some vast plot? That is the question Philip—and the novel—sets out to solve.
It is an intriguing premise, but the answer to that question turns out not to be interesting, and by the time it is revealed the answer doesn't really matter because the reader does not like any of the characters and is not concerned with what happens to them.
If you're crazy about Madmen, perhaps Banter will hold your interest because—although set a decade and a half earlier--it has something of the same atmosphere: fedoras, ad agency politics, bourbon, exploited women, and self-absorbed men.
But I wouldn't bet on it. I like Madmen a lot, and that atmosphere sure didn't help me.
January 17, 2021
”Philip let the pages fall onto the desk. He pressed his hand against his forehead and eyes to shut out all light. As he had read, he had been overcome with a feeling of unreality--as if he did not exist in this room, but only in the pages he was reading. Even now, with his eyes shut and the friendly, self-consoling pressure of his hand to remind him of his own, incontestable existence, he was not certain. The ‘Confession’ goaded him, tormented him.”
Philip Banter is a drunk. He drinks during the day whenever he gets a chance, and then in the evenings, he really ties one on. It’s a form of self-medication to quiet the voices in his head. When he finds his typewriter out on his desk at his office next to a pile of papers, he thinks someone is playing a joke on him. As he reads the “Confession,” he goes through a variety of emotions, disbelief, anger, and finally fear.
What the hell is going on?
The “Confession” reads as if the events related have already happened, but Philip has no memory of any of it. Could he have done these things during an alcohol induced blackout? The manuscript details not only what will happen but what conversations will be had and with whom. To his horror, it also reveals that he will commit adultery. If this is a joke, it is a very sick joke. He goes home thinking someone is playing an elaborate prank and soon discovers himself trapped in the very script laid out in the “Confession.” Only it isn’t a confession: it is a prophecy.
”’Philip,’ she had said, ‘your face is so innocent and your mouth is so evil.’”
John Franklin Bardin wrote ten novels, but he wrote his best three hardboiled novels between the years of 1946-1948: The Deadly Percheron, The Last of Philip Banter, and Devil Take the Blue-Tail Fly. I read these all decades ago, but decided that I wanted to revisit them. If you like Cornell Woolrich, you will find that John Franklin Bardin writes in a similar vein.
This book explores psychological elements that had a great interest for Bardin. His mother suffered from mental health issues for most of her life, and certainly Bardin, while working as a bookstore clerk, read a lot of material on the subject. Philip Banter is already having mental issues. The question is, is someone giving him a final shove into a padded room?
I could see the pudgy shadow of Alfred Hitchcock hovering in the background of this novel. He certainly could have taken the suspenseful elements of the plot and turned this into a fantastic movie.
This is considered the weaker of the three novels because there are some fantastical pieces of the plot that will defy the belief of most readers. The struggles that Banter has with alcohol and with his own churning mind add levels of speculation that kept me from being sure about my own suppositions. The misdirection, though, was not as tidy as I would have liked, but this is certainly considered part of the canon of hardboiled literature.
If you wish to see more of my most recent book and movie reviews, visit http://www.jeffreykeeten.com I also have a Facebook blogger page at:https://www.facebook.com/JeffreyKeeten and an Instagram account https://www.instagram.com/jeffreykeeten/
Philip Banter is a drunk. He drinks during the day whenever he gets a chance, and then in the evenings, he really ties one on. It’s a form of self-medication to quiet the voices in his head. When he finds his typewriter out on his desk at his office next to a pile of papers, he thinks someone is playing a joke on him. As he reads the “Confession,” he goes through a variety of emotions, disbelief, anger, and finally fear.
What the hell is going on?
The “Confession” reads as if the events related have already happened, but Philip has no memory of any of it. Could he have done these things during an alcohol induced blackout? The manuscript details not only what will happen but what conversations will be had and with whom. To his horror, it also reveals that he will commit adultery. If this is a joke, it is a very sick joke. He goes home thinking someone is playing an elaborate prank and soon discovers himself trapped in the very script laid out in the “Confession.” Only it isn’t a confession: it is a prophecy.
”’Philip,’ she had said, ‘your face is so innocent and your mouth is so evil.’”
John Franklin Bardin wrote ten novels, but he wrote his best three hardboiled novels between the years of 1946-1948: The Deadly Percheron, The Last of Philip Banter, and Devil Take the Blue-Tail Fly. I read these all decades ago, but decided that I wanted to revisit them. If you like Cornell Woolrich, you will find that John Franklin Bardin writes in a similar vein.
This book explores psychological elements that had a great interest for Bardin. His mother suffered from mental health issues for most of her life, and certainly Bardin, while working as a bookstore clerk, read a lot of material on the subject. Philip Banter is already having mental issues. The question is, is someone giving him a final shove into a padded room?
I could see the pudgy shadow of Alfred Hitchcock hovering in the background of this novel. He certainly could have taken the suspenseful elements of the plot and turned this into a fantastic movie.
This is considered the weaker of the three novels because there are some fantastical pieces of the plot that will defy the belief of most readers. The struggles that Banter has with alcohol and with his own churning mind add levels of speculation that kept me from being sure about my own suppositions. The misdirection, though, was not as tidy as I would have liked, but this is certainly considered part of the canon of hardboiled literature.
If you wish to see more of my most recent book and movie reviews, visit http://www.jeffreykeeten.com I also have a Facebook blogger page at:https://www.facebook.com/JeffreyKeeten and an Instagram account https://www.instagram.com/jeffreykeeten/
May 1, 2020
Yeah, I liked it. There was way too much exposition, the omniscient narrator POV didn't really work, and it was extremely obvious whodunnit all the way through, but I liked it all the same. You can see Bardin struggling to push the crime genre into a whole new shape, because it's 1947 and what he's trying to do is decades ahead of its time. If he succeeds less well here than he did with The Deadly Percheron, I can hardly hold it against him. And if his ambition outstrips his ability, well, I can relate to that too.
October 3, 2009
This may be the weakest of John Franklin Bardin's three classic novels but its fascinating nonetheless and may have the most remarkable sequence of any of his three novels. In it Phillip Banter drunken and panicked stumbles into a movie and begins to confuse his own story with the story of the crime melodrama he's watching, stumbles out of the theater more distressed than before only to have a chance encounter with a discharged soldier who maybe crazier than he is. It captures perfectly the mood of despair, guilt and desperation that the novel as a whole manages to suggest throughout with sustaining.
More than worth reading.
More than worth reading.
February 10, 2015
John Franklin Bardin fue un gran desconocido, incluido en su país de origen, Estados Unidos. Su obra destaca por unos argumentos aparentemente sencillos, marcados sobre todo por temas psicológicos. En su obra se pueden encontrar policías cínicos, mujeres fatales, seres deformes, intelectuales neuróticos, etc. Sus novelas, escritas a finales de los años 40 del pasado siglo, recién terminada la Segunda Guerra Mundial, desarrollan lo psicológico, el psicoanálisis.
Sus obras más conocidas, y por las que pasará a la posteridad, son ‘El percherón mortal’ (1946), ‘El final de Philip Banter’ (1947) y ‘Al salir del infierno’ (1948), que conforman una especie de trilogía. Con una prosa cuidada, son un retrato magistral de la demencia, la paranoia, las alucinaciones y la enfermedad mental. La prosa de Bardin está muy cuidada, y con su mezcla de misterio y psicología, allanó el camino para futuros escritores y novelas, como Patricia Highsmith y ‘Extraños en un tren’ (1949). Sin duda, Bardin fue un adelantado a su tiempo.
‘El final de Philip Banter’ (The Last of Philip Banter) tiene como protagonista al Banter del título, un publicista, casado, bebedor y mujeriego, que un buen día se encuentra sobre su mesa un manuscrito, “La Confesión”, firmado por él mismo. Philip no recuerda haberlo escrito, pero increíblemente, todo lo que relata se va haciendo realidad esa misma noche. Como personaje secundario, nos encontramos a un viejo conocido, el psiquiatra-detective George Matthews, que ya aparecía en ‘El percherón mortal’.
Una gran novela de un gran novelista, injustamente olvidado.
Sus obras más conocidas, y por las que pasará a la posteridad, son ‘El percherón mortal’ (1946), ‘El final de Philip Banter’ (1947) y ‘Al salir del infierno’ (1948), que conforman una especie de trilogía. Con una prosa cuidada, son un retrato magistral de la demencia, la paranoia, las alucinaciones y la enfermedad mental. La prosa de Bardin está muy cuidada, y con su mezcla de misterio y psicología, allanó el camino para futuros escritores y novelas, como Patricia Highsmith y ‘Extraños en un tren’ (1949). Sin duda, Bardin fue un adelantado a su tiempo.
‘El final de Philip Banter’ (The Last of Philip Banter) tiene como protagonista al Banter del título, un publicista, casado, bebedor y mujeriego, que un buen día se encuentra sobre su mesa un manuscrito, “La Confesión”, firmado por él mismo. Philip no recuerda haberlo escrito, pero increíblemente, todo lo que relata se va haciendo realidad esa misma noche. Como personaje secundario, nos encontramos a un viejo conocido, el psiquiatra-detective George Matthews, que ya aparecía en ‘El percherón mortal’.
Una gran novela de un gran novelista, injustamente olvidado.
April 6, 2021
This was a rip roaring good story. The quality of the writing exceeds the average entertaining mystery. It was like a cross between The Lost Weekend and characters of Crime Noir with a dash of Girl on a Train, except the writing was far superior to the latter.
It was superior to most mysteries as far as writing style and plot development are concerned.
Without giving anything away here is the premise:
Philip Banter has a serious drinking problem. He knows this. He knows he's a louse to his wife and narcissistic enough to believe that every woman he winks at wants him.
The story starts with Banter waking up at his desk in the office where he works as an advertising executive. In front of him is his typewriter, uncovered and recently used. Who used his typewriter? Was it him or someone else? Where was he last night and how did he end up here?
His wrist is bandaged. It wasn't bandaged last night. On the desk is writing. Fifteen pages. He reads it. Written in the first person, he reads about events that happen from his point of view: According to the paper, he goes home to his wife, who surprises him with an old friend and his girlfriend coming over.
It speaks of him having an affair with the woman and then coming to his office. Is that what happened last night?
Except. The date on the writing is for the following night. How can he or anyone have written about the future. He forgets about it.
Then. That night, everything starts happening as the writing predicts. Sort of. Not exactly.
So what is happening? Is he crazy or is someone trying to persuade him that he's crazy?
This is a well written compelling psychological suspense mystery without any down time.
Unfortunately, John Franklin Bardin only wrote a couple of really good mysteries, but I am going to read them because he is now one of my favorite mystery authors.
It was superior to most mysteries as far as writing style and plot development are concerned.
Without giving anything away here is the premise:
Philip Banter has a serious drinking problem. He knows this. He knows he's a louse to his wife and narcissistic enough to believe that every woman he winks at wants him.
The story starts with Banter waking up at his desk in the office where he works as an advertising executive. In front of him is his typewriter, uncovered and recently used. Who used his typewriter? Was it him or someone else? Where was he last night and how did he end up here?
His wrist is bandaged. It wasn't bandaged last night. On the desk is writing. Fifteen pages. He reads it. Written in the first person, he reads about events that happen from his point of view: According to the paper, he goes home to his wife, who surprises him with an old friend and his girlfriend coming over.
It speaks of him having an affair with the woman and then coming to his office. Is that what happened last night?
Except. The date on the writing is for the following night. How can he or anyone have written about the future. He forgets about it.
Then. That night, everything starts happening as the writing predicts. Sort of. Not exactly.
So what is happening? Is he crazy or is someone trying to persuade him that he's crazy?
This is a well written compelling psychological suspense mystery without any down time.
Unfortunately, John Franklin Bardin only wrote a couple of really good mysteries, but I am going to read them because he is now one of my favorite mystery authors.
May 25, 2022
Philip Banter, and ad man, sits down at his office desk early one morning still shaking off the effects from his late night binge drinking, his memory is hazy. Irritable and hungover he notices a manuscript labelled “Confession” on his desk. Intrigued, he flips through the pages, skimming its contents. At first, he can hardly believe what he’s read; some sort of joke perhaps? But on second reading, panic sets in.
The document details the events of an upcoming dinner party, and of a night of infidelity in which Philip will leave his wealthy wife for an attractive younger woman. He dismisses the event as a prank, but it the beginning of his mental disintegration.
First published in 1947, this has a Gallic noir quality to it. Banter is a thoroughly dislikeable character, and his misogynistic, drunken and just plain strange behaviour has his office colleagues and friends doubting his sanity.
Its a clever premise with the tension always high, the blind alleys and the misdirections are always well done. Its deadpan though, and in the hands of a lesser writer may fall flat, but Bardin has timing, which include some well-placed shocks.
With Banter working in advertising, though set in 1945, there was more than once I was put in mind of Don Draper, and Weiner's Mad Men. I wonder if this was an influence for him.
This is probably the least known of Bardin's three novels, all of which are well worth reading. He is perhaps best known for The Deadly Pecheron.
The document details the events of an upcoming dinner party, and of a night of infidelity in which Philip will leave his wealthy wife for an attractive younger woman. He dismisses the event as a prank, but it the beginning of his mental disintegration.
First published in 1947, this has a Gallic noir quality to it. Banter is a thoroughly dislikeable character, and his misogynistic, drunken and just plain strange behaviour has his office colleagues and friends doubting his sanity.
Its a clever premise with the tension always high, the blind alleys and the misdirections are always well done. Its deadpan though, and in the hands of a lesser writer may fall flat, but Bardin has timing, which include some well-placed shocks.
With Banter working in advertising, though set in 1945, there was more than once I was put in mind of Don Draper, and Weiner's Mad Men. I wonder if this was an influence for him.
This is probably the least known of Bardin's three novels, all of which are well worth reading. He is perhaps best known for The Deadly Pecheron.
July 2, 2014
Aunque me chirría un poco la historia de la Confesión y me parece algo rebuscada, la verdad es que es un libro interesante y a veces fascinante (me encanta la escena del cine, cuando Philip está en plena crisis neurótica). J.F Bardin explora el proceso de volverse o creerse loco y perfila una galería de personajes muy interesantes (me quedo con Brent y Dorothy), involucrados en un thriller de suspense hasta el final. La acción transcurre en unos pocos días y las relaciones entre los diferentes personajes me convencen. Vale la pena
June 8, 2015
John Franklin Bardin's writing style reminds me a lot of Fredric Brown's--the unreliable narrator in somewhat bizarre circumstances. This one is about an alcoholic ad man who shows up at the office hungover one day, not able to remember what happened the night before, only to find a confession that he supposedly had written on his desk.
Interesting premise, but Bardin doesn't pull it off. All the characters are equally unappealing and by the end you don't give a damn whether Philip Banter wrote his own confession or someone wrote it for him.
Interesting premise, but Bardin doesn't pull it off. All the characters are equally unappealing and by the end you don't give a damn whether Philip Banter wrote his own confession or someone wrote it for him.
October 4, 2021
High points for originality! This book is a page turner with an intriguing plot. So engaging I read it in two sittings. The unfortunate thing is the writer had to drop out of college when his father died, and it shows. The writing style is very unpolished. I thought at first this book was targeted towards young adults because the vocabulary was very simple. Not just that but the sentence structure is very plain. But the one thing you can't teach in a fiction class is how to come up with a good idea. This writer, if he had had access to a good teacher would have been a magnificent writer, a writer with the caliber of Stephen King.
The things about this book that are sort of unexpected which a better writer would have fixed before publication is for example, if he needed to establish that Jeremy sometimes leaves his door unlocked, that could have been mentioned very early on in a very soft background way - and then at the end of the book it could be part of an important reveal. Instead the writer kind of realizes very late in the game the need to have the door open and the apartment accessible so there's an explanation only a few pages or paragraphs before the reveal. And there are often changes of perspective that are rapid and startling. We're not always in the head of Philip Banter, we might for a few pages be with Miss Grey and then for a paragraph be in the head of Dorothy, it's very unusual, especially for the time period.
All in all though, this was a fun romp. I'm glad I read this book. It was very entertaining and there wasn't gore or much violence. (I personally don't enjoy books with graphic scenes of violence.)
The things about this book that are sort of unexpected which a better writer would have fixed before publication is for example, if he needed to establish that Jeremy sometimes leaves his door unlocked, that could have been mentioned very early on in a very soft background way - and then at the end of the book it could be part of an important reveal. Instead the writer kind of realizes very late in the game the need to have the door open and the apartment accessible so there's an explanation only a few pages or paragraphs before the reveal. And there are often changes of perspective that are rapid and startling. We're not always in the head of Philip Banter, we might for a few pages be with Miss Grey and then for a paragraph be in the head of Dorothy, it's very unusual, especially for the time period.
All in all though, this was a fun romp. I'm glad I read this book. It was very entertaining and there wasn't gore or much violence. (I personally don't enjoy books with graphic scenes of violence.)
March 15, 2019
How can you not love a story about a hero with bad character? who is a heavy drinking, compulsive adulteror? who got married strictly for social position? The Sherlock is his psychiatrist who has dabbled in crime mystery before.
Philip Banter has gotten into alcohol so much that he can't tell the difference between reality and hallucination. Other characters are exploiting that vulnerability. Rich stuff for pulp fiction. There's even a psychoanalytical discourse on the complexity of the Casanova serial seducer.
I admire writers who can write a mystery without a lot of distracting extra characters. You can count the possible killers on one hand.
"Finally, it seemed to him that he was not sitting at a bar, but rather that he was placed beside an endless conveyor belt that kept moving past him. On the belt were glass after glass of whisky. It was his task to pick up each glass and drain it, and throw a half dollar after it, before the next one came along. He had been doing this for years, it seemed, and so far he had been able to keep up--but now they were speeding up the belt."
Philip Banter has gotten into alcohol so much that he can't tell the difference between reality and hallucination. Other characters are exploiting that vulnerability. Rich stuff for pulp fiction. There's even a psychoanalytical discourse on the complexity of the Casanova serial seducer.
I admire writers who can write a mystery without a lot of distracting extra characters. You can count the possible killers on one hand.
"Finally, it seemed to him that he was not sitting at a bar, but rather that he was placed beside an endless conveyor belt that kept moving past him. On the belt were glass after glass of whisky. It was his task to pick up each glass and drain it, and throw a half dollar after it, before the next one came along. He had been doing this for years, it seemed, and so far he had been able to keep up--but now they were speeding up the belt."
December 5, 2019
Not quite the equal of the other two books in the Bardin Omnibus, The Last of Philip Banter's greatest weakness is also the book's greatest strength: that is the heated, almost obsessive and downright strange way the book is written manages to be both slightly overwritten and baggily structured, but that hasty, first draft feeling also gives it the weird, obsessional tone that makes it so compelling. Last time I read this I hadn't been aware of my own mental health issues and although I am not anything like Philip Banter, I'm more aware of anxiety and depression and the inevitability of obsessive addiction (in my case comfort eating) than I was last time I read this. So I won't quite go as far as this is *triggering* but it did feel like a sort of unpleasant peak into a world not entirely unfamiliar to my own. It's also quite nice to see the hero of Percheron doing okay for himself, even if it is pretty much the closest this book gets to a happy ending for anyone. What a strange, bleak, uncomfortable book it is and I will never get over how forward thinking Bardin was with these novels. Astonishing
March 31, 2019
Siguiendo la línea de la muy recomendable El percherón mortal, parte de una situación inverosímil con un narrador falible y a partir de ahí, en gran parte por esto último, las cosas se empiezan a complicar. Si bien tiene algunos bajones, en general mantiene bien el interés y el misterio hasta, literalmente, el último par de páginas, cosa nada fácil de conseguir. Tampoco es un libro muy largo, así que decididamente merece la pena para cualquier amante del suspense.
July 3, 2021
Although this book has elements of a traditional "whodunnit" mystery, it's also got nightmarish noir elements. It's difficult to classify within conventional genres.
I pulled this one off the shelf somewhat randomly. I've been trying to play catch-up with all the Centipede Press titles I have purchased, with very limited success.
This one is a short, easy read. I have to confess that it's highly original, even if I didn't care for it all that much.
I pulled this one off the shelf somewhat randomly. I've been trying to play catch-up with all the Centipede Press titles I have purchased, with very limited success.
This one is a short, easy read. I have to confess that it's highly original, even if I didn't care for it all that much.
April 28, 2023
This book gets a cumulative 4 stars in conjunction with its companion volume, Devil Take the Blue Tail Fly, published simultaneously by Centipede Press in 2020. These novels were first published in the 40s. Some Top Shelf noir to get myself out of a reading slump. The ending was a little forced, but I don't see what else the author could have done. In the act of creating a gripping narrative he kind of wrote himself into a corner. His depictions of encroaching madness are very well rendered.
August 25, 2017
B list Noir
Once again we're in the NYC familiar to Cornell Woolrich fans, with a tale convoluted and stylish enough to be the basis for a noir movie with Dana Andrews in the lead. Not as intriguing as Bardin's 'Deadly Percheron' and not as much momentum as a typical Woolrich, but still worth your time.
Once again we're in the NYC familiar to Cornell Woolrich fans, with a tale convoluted and stylish enough to be the basis for a noir movie with Dana Andrews in the lead. Not as intriguing as Bardin's 'Deadly Percheron' and not as much momentum as a typical Woolrich, but still worth your time.
October 6, 2018
A fairly standard, pacey who-dunnit!
I like Bardin’s book’s. They’re fairly quick, fairly fun, have a good amount of twists and turns. They are enjoyable as you read them, but not wholly memorable once you’ve finished them. A little bit of reading filler, and eloquently crafted. I feel that the premise of Bardin’s books are often better than the end product though!
I like Bardin’s book’s. They’re fairly quick, fairly fun, have a good amount of twists and turns. They are enjoyable as you read them, but not wholly memorable once you’ve finished them. A little bit of reading filler, and eloquently crafted. I feel that the premise of Bardin’s books are often better than the end product though!
January 10, 2021
"Delightfully" 1940s, from the gender dynamics to the obsession with psychoanalysis. Reads convincingly like moving through a dreamlike haze, which I take to be the main reason it's considered remarkable; it's also, unfortunately, a spell that's broken by the conventional noir resolution.
January 11, 2021
Seems like a standard noir-ish type story from the era (1940s / 1950s) following the mental breakdown of the main character.
A bit slow to start but picks up in the second installment and comes to a trainwreck of an ending in the third installment.
Good, quick read!
A bit slow to start but picks up in the second installment and comes to a trainwreck of an ending in the third installment.
Good, quick read!
Read
September 24, 2025Joder, qué marrón.
Me gusta que la historia sea un thriller psicológico que no solo no trata de un asesinato, sino que tampoco da mil rodeos para confundir al lector. Es un drama romántico que acompaña a una neurosis. Mis dies
Me gusta que la historia sea un thriller psicológico que no solo no trata de un asesinato, sino que tampoco da mil rodeos para confundir al lector. Es un drama romántico que acompaña a una neurosis. Mis dies
October 21, 2017
I like Bardin, especially The Deadly Percheron, but this one is awful.
June 19, 2020
Take a dash of noir, a sprinkling of Mad Men, and stir in some David Lynch. A light but clever mystery.
November 24, 2020
En la misma línea del Percherón Mortal, una interesante historia, quizás algo lenta pero con un final aceptable.
December 4, 2025
i loved this book but i read it when i was like 14 so maybe it's not as good as i remember
March 2, 2017
A fascinating clever story. The reader is left not only trying to decide who is mac or going mad, but also experiencing the mind of someone being driven or going mad. It seems quite real, to the point of discomfort.
I am also left wondering what the authors experience was with mental illness. It seems a more complete knowledge than I would expect from someone without direct experience, especially in the forties. Psychoanalysis was just beginning its heyday which lasted until the seventies to be ended by the psychoactive drugs. I wonder if psychoanalyst ate even being trained anymore.
The authors detail is deeply interested in the forties and does a wonderful job of bringing that era back to life. Despite the troubling intrusion of madness he makes it seem a kinder simpler era.
I am also left wondering what the authors experience was with mental illness. It seems a more complete knowledge than I would expect from someone without direct experience, especially in the forties. Psychoanalysis was just beginning its heyday which lasted until the seventies to be ended by the psychoactive drugs. I wonder if psychoanalyst ate even being trained anymore.
The authors detail is deeply interested in the forties and does a wonderful job of bringing that era back to life. Despite the troubling intrusion of madness he makes it seem a kinder simpler era.
April 6, 2016
Part of trilogy of strange thrillers set in New York in the 1940s. Fascinating but I can't say I really enjoyed reading them. The other 2 books in the trilogy that I read were "The Deadly Percheron" and "Devil Take the Blue-Tail-Fly" which was the most bizarre of the lot - about a musician coming our of a mental institution and returning to her husband.
August 27, 2014
A second highly intriguing psychological what-the-hell-is-going-on thriller from JFB. A couple of the characters from 'The Deadly Percheron' make a reappearance and, as in that book, the author mucks it up at the end by allowing things to get far too melodramatic.
March 2, 2010
My favorite novel so far from the eminently quotable Bardin.
"As he entered his own living-room he was still existing partly in the emotional context of his youth" (63)
"As he entered his own living-room he was still existing partly in the emotional context of his youth" (63)
December 3, 2010
Clever and compelling.
December 2, 2014
A taut story that offers plentiful suspense right till the end... a classic of the genre.
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