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Jack Carter #1
Get Carter
THE NOVEL BEHIND THE CULT FILM STARRING MICHAEL CAINE
Doncaster, and Jack Carter is home for a funeral – his brother Frank’s. Frank’s car was found at the bottom of a cliff, with Frank inside. He was not only dead drunk but dead as well. What could have made sensible Frank down a bottle of whisky and get behind the wheel? For Jack, his death doesn’t add up. So he decides to talk to a few people, do some sniffing around.
He does, but is soon told to stop. By Gerald and Les, his bosses from the smoke. Not to mention the men who run things in Doncaster, who aren’t happy with Jack’s little holiday at home. They want him back in London, and fast. Now Frank was a mild man and did as he was told, but Jack’s not a bit like that . . .
246 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1970
117 people are currently reading
1470 people want to read
About the author
Ted Lewis
16 books63 followersTed Lewis (1940 – 1982) was a British writer born in Manchester, an only child. After World War II the family moved to Barton-upon-Humber in 1947. He had a strict upbringing and his parents did not want their son to go to art school, but Ted's English teacher Henry Treece, recognising his creative talents in writing and art, persuaded them not to stand in his way.
Lewis attended Hull Art School for four years. His first work was in London, in advertising, and then as an animation specialist in television and films (among them the Beatles' Yellow Submarine). His first novel, All the Way Home and All the Night Through was published in 1965, followed by Jack's Return Home, subsequently retitled Get Carter after the success of the film of the same name starring Michael Caine, which created the noir school of British crime writing and pushed Lewis into the best-seller list. After the collapse of his marriage Lewis returned to his home town in the 1970s.
Ted Lewis died in 1982 having published seven more novels and written several episodes for the television series Z-Cars.
Lewis attended Hull Art School for four years. His first work was in London, in advertising, and then as an animation specialist in television and films (among them the Beatles' Yellow Submarine). His first novel, All the Way Home and All the Night Through was published in 1965, followed by Jack's Return Home, subsequently retitled Get Carter after the success of the film of the same name starring Michael Caine, which created the noir school of British crime writing and pushed Lewis into the best-seller list. After the collapse of his marriage Lewis returned to his home town in the 1970s.
Ted Lewis died in 1982 having published seven more novels and written several episodes for the television series Z-Cars.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 226 reviews
December 9, 2023
2.5 stars
Classic British noir; properly titled Jack's Return Home. I understand why the film version is Get Carter; much snappier. It was written in 1970 and is actually set in Scunthorpe; my hometown, which is why I read it (the blurb is wrong, it's not Doncaster, Jack just changed trains there).
The plot is fairly similar to the film, with a few variations. It is very much a book of its time and some of the dialogue is a little obscure ("she was a bit Harrison Marks"; I had to look that one up).
The geography is a little out at times; some of the road names were accurate others not; but it wasn't far out. The descriptions of the steelworkers pubs was accurate and the casual violence of the area is true to life. The arrival of immigrants from the Indian subcontinent is depicted, along with the tensions created in the local community. The language is very strong, the women are there as sexual objects or as victims of casual violence. Now I reflect on it, the treatment of all of the female characters is brutal. Carter is an anti-hero; the only reason he is creating havoc is because it is his neice who has been exploited. If it had been someone else's he would not have been bothered. He is a cog in the wheel and ultimately stands no chance of winning.
The faults outweighed the nostalgia, but I had to read it; there aren't many novels set in Scunthorpe!!
Classic British noir; properly titled Jack's Return Home. I understand why the film version is Get Carter; much snappier. It was written in 1970 and is actually set in Scunthorpe; my hometown, which is why I read it (the blurb is wrong, it's not Doncaster, Jack just changed trains there).
The plot is fairly similar to the film, with a few variations. It is very much a book of its time and some of the dialogue is a little obscure ("she was a bit Harrison Marks"; I had to look that one up).
The geography is a little out at times; some of the road names were accurate others not; but it wasn't far out. The descriptions of the steelworkers pubs was accurate and the casual violence of the area is true to life. The arrival of immigrants from the Indian subcontinent is depicted, along with the tensions created in the local community. The language is very strong, the women are there as sexual objects or as victims of casual violence. Now I reflect on it, the treatment of all of the female characters is brutal. Carter is an anti-hero; the only reason he is creating havoc is because it is his neice who has been exploited. If it had been someone else's he would not have been bothered. He is a cog in the wheel and ultimately stands no chance of winning.
The faults outweighed the nostalgia, but I had to read it; there aren't many novels set in Scunthorpe!!
July 31, 2021
“Carter” es una de esas novelas, hay unas cuantas, de las que se dice que es la obra fundacional de la novela negra de… algún sitio, en este caso, según se dice en la contraportada de mi edición, de la novela policiaca inglesa moderna.
Efectivamente, la novela está plagada de tópicos acerca del héroe, Jack Carter, un tipo duro, ingenioso en sus sarcásticos comentarios, rápido y hábil en sus réplicas, listo, quizás demasiado para ser un mero sicario, atractivo para las mujeres, violento, sin muchos escrúpulos aunque con su poquito de buen corazón y su poquito de principios, lo cuales no incluyen no pegar a las mujeres. ¿No les suena a un tal Sam Spade o quizás a un fulano llamado Philip Marlowe?
La narración, como no, corre a cargo del propio Carter que nos irá puntualmente informando de su llegada a su antigua ciudad, un lugar sin futuro, un agujero sombrío, de esos en los que la gente se divierte los viernes por la noche “moviendo el esqueleto hasta las diez, bronca hasta la una”, y dominado por mafiosos rodeados en todo momento de esa gente que le hacían comprender a Jack que tenía razón, para deshacer un entuerto: la muerte inexplicable de su hermano.
Todo suena a conocido, es verdad, pero funciona, joder como funciona, un crescendo imparable, sin inútiles interrupciones pero con muchas mentiras, medias verdades y alguna verdad que, desgraciadamente, siempre perjudica a su sincera víctima, que nos va encaminando, no del todo rectamente, hacia un desenlace en parte anticipado y en parte no.
Me ha hecho disfrutar mucho, de ahí mis cuatro estrellas, porque no será una obra maestra de la literatura, pero como una obra no maestra de la literatura es de lo mejorcito.
October 7, 2022
Hard-edged late 1960s crime drama following London gangster Jack's frenetic investigation into his brother's death 'up North'. Originally titled - 'Jack's Return Home'. Still packs a punch in the 21st century and the film is a damn classic, a strong Three star, 7 out of 12
2010 read
2010 read
June 6, 2020
Si quieres leer una novela divertida, irreverente y gamberra, esta es la novela. Me llegaron buenas referencias de esta novela y de este autor (desconocido para mí) y me decidí. Decisión correcta.
If you want to read a funny, irreverent and hooligan novel, this is the novel. Good references came to me from this novel and from this author (unknown to me) and I decided. Right decision.
If you want to read a funny, irreverent and hooligan novel, this is the novel. Good references came to me from this novel and from this author (unknown to me) and I decided. Right decision.
July 15, 2016
When his brother dies in a drunk driving accident, Jack Carter comes back to his home town for the funeral. Since his brother never drank, Jack is suspicious and digs into his brother's final days to figure out what happened.
Get Carter is a dark murder mystery. Set in 1960s England, it features a bad man in a world of other bad men, looking for his brother's murderers. It was adapted into a classic movie in 1971 starring Michael Caine and a lackluster movie starring Sylvester Stallone in 2000.
Jack Carter walks through a spider's web of shifty English gangsters, each one dirtier than the last, trying to figure out what exactly happened to his brother. What he finds isn't pretty. Jack's conflicted feelings about his brother give the book an added dimension, keeping it from feeling like a simple revenge book.
The novel is heavy on atmosphere and dialogue but short on action for most of the book. When the action finally does come, it's as brutal as a head-on collision. Pretty much everyone Jack encounters is a filthy, smegging, lying, smegging liar and it's pretty satisfying when the parties responsible for Frank's murder get their comeuppance.
As I said before, the book is high on atmosphere. I kept picturing Ewan MacGregor or Jason Statham circa 2000 in the title role. I'd be surprised if a remake wasn't at least considered as a Jason Statham vehicle at some point. It could easily be dumbed down for the crap he usually stars in and it would have to be better than the Sylvester Stallone version of the film.
It's easy to see why Get Carter was a big deal in Britain when it was released. Four out of five stars.
Get Carter is a dark murder mystery. Set in 1960s England, it features a bad man in a world of other bad men, looking for his brother's murderers. It was adapted into a classic movie in 1971 starring Michael Caine and a lackluster movie starring Sylvester Stallone in 2000.
Jack Carter walks through a spider's web of shifty English gangsters, each one dirtier than the last, trying to figure out what exactly happened to his brother. What he finds isn't pretty. Jack's conflicted feelings about his brother give the book an added dimension, keeping it from feeling like a simple revenge book.
The novel is heavy on atmosphere and dialogue but short on action for most of the book. When the action finally does come, it's as brutal as a head-on collision. Pretty much everyone Jack encounters is a filthy, smegging, lying, smegging liar and it's pretty satisfying when the parties responsible for Frank's murder get their comeuppance.
As I said before, the book is high on atmosphere. I kept picturing Ewan MacGregor or Jason Statham circa 2000 in the title role. I'd be surprised if a remake wasn't at least considered as a Jason Statham vehicle at some point. It could easily be dumbed down for the crap he usually stars in and it would have to be better than the Sylvester Stallone version of the film.
It's easy to see why Get Carter was a big deal in Britain when it was released. Four out of five stars.
June 20, 2024
4.5 stars
"Who the hell do you think you are? They hurt me tonight. They bloody hurt me!" -- Edna
"That's nothing to what they did to my brother." -- Carter
"And what are you going to do? Do it back to them?" -- Edna
"That's right." -- Carter, originator of the phrase 'f*** around and find out'
Although nowadays, nearly 55 years after its debut, Lewis' Get Carter (originally titled Jack Returns Home) may seem a bit of a generic hardboiled crime story, similar to many 21st century movies (such at the 2008 blockbuster Taken) that have hit the theaters, DVDs, and streaming services. But I am guessing this is one of those books that established some of the tropes that we take for granted, and it is interesting to see their origins. Jack Carter is a 'fixer,' an armed enforcer for two brothers who run a London-based organized crime operation. Carter 'goes on holiday' for one weekend - and the book is only three chapters long, detailing his Friday, Saturday, and Sunday activities - as he returns to the smaller northern industrial town of his childhood for the funeral of his estranged older brother Frank. It would seem that Frank died in a routine drunk-driving traffic accident, but Carter correctly intuits that there is much more to this odd incident. Thus he begins his investigation - which soon reveals the involvement of local power brokers who mistakenly believe that they are much tougher than they actually are, in their small slice of fiefdom - as Carter harshly yet determinedly attempts to identify and vanquish those responsible for his brother's death. While a reviewer on the rear cover refers to this book as Chandleresque, I think it is much more in line with the bluntness of a Mickey Spillane or Richard Stark (a.k.a. Donald E. Westlake) paperback for featuring such an anti-heroic and aloof lead character with violent tendencies. But . . . sometimes you just want to read a concise story about what I call 'a roarin' rampage of revenge,' and Get Carter is like a shotgun blast to the face. 😉
"Who the hell do you think you are? They hurt me tonight. They bloody hurt me!" -- Edna
"That's nothing to what they did to my brother." -- Carter
"And what are you going to do? Do it back to them?" -- Edna
"That's right." -- Carter, originator of the phrase 'f*** around and find out'
Although nowadays, nearly 55 years after its debut, Lewis' Get Carter (originally titled Jack Returns Home) may seem a bit of a generic hardboiled crime story, similar to many 21st century movies (such at the 2008 blockbuster Taken) that have hit the theaters, DVDs, and streaming services. But I am guessing this is one of those books that established some of the tropes that we take for granted, and it is interesting to see their origins. Jack Carter is a 'fixer,' an armed enforcer for two brothers who run a London-based organized crime operation. Carter 'goes on holiday' for one weekend - and the book is only three chapters long, detailing his Friday, Saturday, and Sunday activities - as he returns to the smaller northern industrial town of his childhood for the funeral of his estranged older brother Frank. It would seem that Frank died in a routine drunk-driving traffic accident, but Carter correctly intuits that there is much more to this odd incident. Thus he begins his investigation - which soon reveals the involvement of local power brokers who mistakenly believe that they are much tougher than they actually are, in their small slice of fiefdom - as Carter harshly yet determinedly attempts to identify and vanquish those responsible for his brother's death. While a reviewer on the rear cover refers to this book as Chandleresque, I think it is much more in line with the bluntness of a Mickey Spillane or Richard Stark (a.k.a. Donald E. Westlake) paperback for featuring such an anti-heroic and aloof lead character with violent tendencies. But . . . sometimes you just want to read a concise story about what I call 'a roarin' rampage of revenge,' and Get Carter is like a shotgun blast to the face. 😉
October 28, 2020
”’What are you going to do if you catch who did it?’ she said.
‘What do you think?’
Another silence.
‘Why?’ she said.
‘He was my brother.’
She sat down on the bed
‘You’ll just kill them? Just like that?’
‘If they didn’t kill me first.’
‘Could you do it? I mean without worrying about it?’
‘Anybody could if it was their own flesh and blood as was involved and they knew they weren’t going to get caught.’
‘And you’re not going to get caught?’
‘No.’
‘How do you know?’
‘Because I know.’”
It’s been a while since I saw the movie Get Carter (1971) with Michael Caine, but it’s a movie that leaves an indelible impression on the watcher. The grit, the steel girders breaking up the skyline into geometric shapes, and the hardboiled, clipped dialogue had me feeling like I needed a pint just to stir the rust from my throat. This book was published in 1970 and was optioned for film when it was still in manuscript. I don’t know exactly how this happens given the number of great books that wait decades to be optioned for films. The book was originally titled Jack’s Return Home, but after the cult fame of the movie, publishers quickly changed subsequent editions of the book to the title Get Carter.
Mike Hodges wrote the introduction, and there was one section from it that really stuck with me. He quotes Steve Chibnall, who wrote the definitive book on the movie. ”’If Shakespeare could have written a gangster film, Get Carter would be the one.’ If that’s the case just remember that Ted Lewis wrote it; I only adapted it.” This is high praise for what many people would think of as a B British movie, but he is right. The Bard would have loved Jack Carter and certainly would have loved writing a play with him as his lead character, leaving a bloody trail of revenge in his wake.
As I read the dialogue, of course I hear Michael Caine’s voice, and much of the dialogue was lifted almost directly from the book for use in the movie. Hodges, ruefully, admits that he may have kept the movie script too faithful to the book, but frankly I can’t imagine why he would be second guessing himself. Maybe he feels the movie is too much Lewis and not enough Hodges. It was his first movie, so looking back maybe he thought he was too careful. He knows all too well if you fuck up in the movie biz your first film might be your last. Fortunately the film was a financial success and now enjoys a robust cult following.
Jack Carter gave his brother Frank several really good reasons to hate him. He was banished from their hometown, which was fine with Jack. He quickly makes a name for himself in the rackets as a brutal man. Frank didn’t believe in fighting, and that was one of the many reasons why Jack had some misplaced contempt for his brother. As we get older, we start to realize it takes a bigger man to walk away than the man who plants the fist in the center of some mouthy asshole’s face. Frank walked. Jack hit. A difference in philosophy that was one reason for the parting of the ways.
There were other reasons, too, unforgivable reasons. They say blood is thicker than water, but the water can sure seem way more important when you have a brother like Jack.
So Frank was about the last person that Jack would ever expect to meet with a misadventure. Something went really wrong, and as Jack starts shaking the rusty girders of his home town, he realizes that everything leads back to his niece Doreen. There’s always something that will make any man ball up his fist, even a peace loving man like Frank, and. Jack is determined to find out the truth. He might be booted out of the rackets forever, and he might have to look over his shoulder for the rest of his life...if he lives...but he is going to finish this one way or another.
If you love hardboiled novels, you are going to be asking yourself, just like I have, why has it taken you so long to read this? Considering how memorable the movie was, you would think a guy like me would have wanted to explore the origins of the plot. The book has certainly been buried by the popularity of the movie. I should have done my best a long time ago to put it back on the radar for those readers who would really appreciate the atmospheric smokestacks, flash talking hardcases, dark rust, and volcanic heat of the book that launched a genre of British hardboiled crime in the 1970s.
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/
‘What do you think?’
Another silence.
‘Why?’ she said.
‘He was my brother.’
She sat down on the bed
‘You’ll just kill them? Just like that?’
‘If they didn’t kill me first.’
‘Could you do it? I mean without worrying about it?’
‘Anybody could if it was their own flesh and blood as was involved and they knew they weren’t going to get caught.’
‘And you’re not going to get caught?’
‘No.’
‘How do you know?’
‘Because I know.’”
It’s been a while since I saw the movie Get Carter (1971) with Michael Caine, but it’s a movie that leaves an indelible impression on the watcher. The grit, the steel girders breaking up the skyline into geometric shapes, and the hardboiled, clipped dialogue had me feeling like I needed a pint just to stir the rust from my throat. This book was published in 1970 and was optioned for film when it was still in manuscript. I don’t know exactly how this happens given the number of great books that wait decades to be optioned for films. The book was originally titled Jack’s Return Home, but after the cult fame of the movie, publishers quickly changed subsequent editions of the book to the title Get Carter.
Mike Hodges wrote the introduction, and there was one section from it that really stuck with me. He quotes Steve Chibnall, who wrote the definitive book on the movie. ”’If Shakespeare could have written a gangster film, Get Carter would be the one.’ If that’s the case just remember that Ted Lewis wrote it; I only adapted it.” This is high praise for what many people would think of as a B British movie, but he is right. The Bard would have loved Jack Carter and certainly would have loved writing a play with him as his lead character, leaving a bloody trail of revenge in his wake.
As I read the dialogue, of course I hear Michael Caine’s voice, and much of the dialogue was lifted almost directly from the book for use in the movie. Hodges, ruefully, admits that he may have kept the movie script too faithful to the book, but frankly I can’t imagine why he would be second guessing himself. Maybe he feels the movie is too much Lewis and not enough Hodges. It was his first movie, so looking back maybe he thought he was too careful. He knows all too well if you fuck up in the movie biz your first film might be your last. Fortunately the film was a financial success and now enjoys a robust cult following.
Jack Carter gave his brother Frank several really good reasons to hate him. He was banished from their hometown, which was fine with Jack. He quickly makes a name for himself in the rackets as a brutal man. Frank didn’t believe in fighting, and that was one of the many reasons why Jack had some misplaced contempt for his brother. As we get older, we start to realize it takes a bigger man to walk away than the man who plants the fist in the center of some mouthy asshole’s face. Frank walked. Jack hit. A difference in philosophy that was one reason for the parting of the ways.
There were other reasons, too, unforgivable reasons. They say blood is thicker than water, but the water can sure seem way more important when you have a brother like Jack.
So Frank was about the last person that Jack would ever expect to meet with a misadventure. Something went really wrong, and as Jack starts shaking the rusty girders of his home town, he realizes that everything leads back to his niece Doreen. There’s always something that will make any man ball up his fist, even a peace loving man like Frank, and. Jack is determined to find out the truth. He might be booted out of the rackets forever, and he might have to look over his shoulder for the rest of his life...if he lives...but he is going to finish this one way or another.
If you love hardboiled novels, you are going to be asking yourself, just like I have, why has it taken you so long to read this? Considering how memorable the movie was, you would think a guy like me would have wanted to explore the origins of the plot. The book has certainly been buried by the popularity of the movie. I should have done my best a long time ago to put it back on the radar for those readers who would really appreciate the atmospheric smokestacks, flash talking hardcases, dark rust, and volcanic heat of the book that launched a genre of British hardboiled crime in the 1970s.
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/
January 18, 2022
But all that was past history. As dead as Frank. Nothing could be done about it now. But there were some things that I'd be able to put straight. Just for the sake of the past history.
Jack Carter's back in town. His brother, Frank, has died in a suspicious car accident, and Carter believes it wasn't an accident at all. Now he's looking to find out who killed Frank, and why.
"There's only one way Frank'd get mixed up in anything; that's if he saw something he didn't want to see. If that happened, then whatever he saw would have to be pretty dicey. Wouldn't you say?"
I'm torn on this one.
To be sure it is a well-paced, entertaining read, though, quite honestly, there's nothing here I haven't read before in dozens of other crime novels.
But . . .
I can't forgive the author's treatment of his female characters. The women in this book exist to be screwed, scorned, or beaten - AND, the woman had better look pretty damned good while she's being hit in the face. (He hit me, and it felt like a kiss is apparently what happens here, as an act of violence is immediately followed by intercourse.) Jack likes his boss's wife enough to want to run off with her to a sunnier clime, but not so much that he won't cheat on her. Twice.
I realize this novel is a product of its times, but this was not written during the thirties, forties, or fifties. 1970 was the original publication date. Was this backlash against a burgeoning women's movement? Or a nostalgic yearning for when women knew their places in the kitchen and bedroom?
Either way, it got under my skin, and pretty much ruined the book for me.
Jack Carter's back in town. His brother, Frank, has died in a suspicious car accident, and Carter believes it wasn't an accident at all. Now he's looking to find out who killed Frank, and why.
"There's only one way Frank'd get mixed up in anything; that's if he saw something he didn't want to see. If that happened, then whatever he saw would have to be pretty dicey. Wouldn't you say?"
I'm torn on this one.
To be sure it is a well-paced, entertaining read, though, quite honestly, there's nothing here I haven't read before in dozens of other crime novels.
But . . .
I can't forgive the author's treatment of his female characters. The women in this book exist to be screwed, scorned, or beaten - AND, the woman had better look pretty damned good while she's being hit in the face. (He hit me, and it felt like a kiss is apparently what happens here, as an act of violence is immediately followed by intercourse.) Jack likes his boss's wife enough to want to run off with her to a sunnier clime, but not so much that he won't cheat on her. Twice.
I realize this novel is a product of its times, but this was not written during the thirties, forties, or fifties. 1970 was the original publication date. Was this backlash against a burgeoning women's movement? Or a nostalgic yearning for when women knew their places in the kitchen and bedroom?
Either way, it got under my skin, and pretty much ruined the book for me.
April 21, 2013
This book was originally published in 1970 as Jack's Return Home. Then in 1971, it was filmed as Get Carter starring Michael Cain, and the book was subsequently re-released with the new title. This is a very dark, hard-boiled novel and it is credited with helping start the noir school of British crime fiction.
The main protagonist, Jack Carter, works for a pair of dodgy blokes named Gerald and Les who skate along the edges of the law. Jack is skating right out there with them on ice that's even thinner, given that Jack is also conducting a clandestine affair with Gerald's wife, Audrey.
As the book opens, we find Jack on a train, returning to his home town of Doncaster. He's going back to attend the funeral of his only brother, Frank. The authorities report that Frank died, driving drunk and crashing his car after drinking most of a bottle of Scotch. The only problem with the official scenario is, as Jack well knows, that Frank didn't drink Scotch.
Jack and Frank have been estranged for years, but Frank was still his little brother and Jack still carries very fond memories of the time they spent growing up together. Jack is also concerned about the fate of Frank's fifteen-year old daughter, Doreen, who is now orphaned. Mostly Jack is enormously pissed at the people who killed his brother and who didn't even trouble themselves enough to make the "accident" look legitimate.
Once the funeral is over, Jack begins poking around the dark underbelly of Doncaster in an effort to determine what Frank might have been involved in and who might have been angry enough with him to kill him. In the process, he's going to have to deal with a lot of lowlifes and upset more than a few apple carts. Jack couldn't care less, and when the local crime bosses decide that it's time to get Carter, Jack will only be too happy to meet them halfway.
This is a lean, spare novel that's very well written and which should appeal to anyone who likes their crime fiction dark and unnerving, populated with few, if any, redeemable characters.
The main protagonist, Jack Carter, works for a pair of dodgy blokes named Gerald and Les who skate along the edges of the law. Jack is skating right out there with them on ice that's even thinner, given that Jack is also conducting a clandestine affair with Gerald's wife, Audrey.
As the book opens, we find Jack on a train, returning to his home town of Doncaster. He's going back to attend the funeral of his only brother, Frank. The authorities report that Frank died, driving drunk and crashing his car after drinking most of a bottle of Scotch. The only problem with the official scenario is, as Jack well knows, that Frank didn't drink Scotch.
Jack and Frank have been estranged for years, but Frank was still his little brother and Jack still carries very fond memories of the time they spent growing up together. Jack is also concerned about the fate of Frank's fifteen-year old daughter, Doreen, who is now orphaned. Mostly Jack is enormously pissed at the people who killed his brother and who didn't even trouble themselves enough to make the "accident" look legitimate.
Once the funeral is over, Jack begins poking around the dark underbelly of Doncaster in an effort to determine what Frank might have been involved in and who might have been angry enough with him to kill him. In the process, he's going to have to deal with a lot of lowlifes and upset more than a few apple carts. Jack couldn't care less, and when the local crime bosses decide that it's time to get Carter, Jack will only be too happy to meet them halfway.
This is a lean, spare novel that's very well written and which should appeal to anyone who likes their crime fiction dark and unnerving, populated with few, if any, redeemable characters.
March 13, 2018
Hard-man Jack Carter returns home to Doncaster following the unexpected death of his brother Frank. Straight away the scene doesn't seem on the level; firstly, the cause of death (Frank, drunk, allegedly drove his car of a cliff) doesn't fit given Frank hardly touched the hard stuff, secondly, Jack's bosses, the criminally inclined Les and Gerald don't want Jack putting noses out of joint down in Doncaster for fear of him endangering their criminal enterprise.
What follows is a rampage of violence as Jack steadily draws lines through names of his former associates on the path to a kind of street justice. Sure, he can't reverse Frank's death but he can put a whole lot of hurt on those responsible.
Get Carter is the book which epitomizes British noir; the protagonist is a criminal (though we don't know what exactly he does for Les and Gerald) whose morals are questionable (he's sleeping with his boss's wife, prone to violence against women, and is happy to abuse the kindness of strangers), while the undercurrent of crime is exemplified by police corruption, prostitution, murder, assault, and under-aged pornography - all this circling the drain surrounding the death of Frank.
My rating: 4/5 stars. I enjoyed Get Carter and would've given the book 5 stars had it read as a second in a series; I felt like I was dropped into Jack's life without a lot of backstory surrounding his current employer or the seemingly meaningful relationships he has with people who crossed Frank.
What follows is a rampage of violence as Jack steadily draws lines through names of his former associates on the path to a kind of street justice. Sure, he can't reverse Frank's death but he can put a whole lot of hurt on those responsible.
Get Carter is the book which epitomizes British noir; the protagonist is a criminal (though we don't know what exactly he does for Les and Gerald) whose morals are questionable (he's sleeping with his boss's wife, prone to violence against women, and is happy to abuse the kindness of strangers), while the undercurrent of crime is exemplified by police corruption, prostitution, murder, assault, and under-aged pornography - all this circling the drain surrounding the death of Frank.
My rating: 4/5 stars. I enjoyed Get Carter and would've given the book 5 stars had it read as a second in a series; I felt like I was dropped into Jack's life without a lot of backstory surrounding his current employer or the seemingly meaningful relationships he has with people who crossed Frank.
April 29, 2025
Pues no ha estado nada mal la experiencia “Carter”.
Personaje absolutamente particular este Carter que nos pinta Ted Lewis. Un tipo ajeno a todo lo que no sea dar cumplimiento a su estricto sentido de la justicia; del concepto particularísimo de lo que él considera su justicia.
Se trata de un tipo frío y creo que medio sociopático: apenas muestra afectos o vínculos emocionales con nadie, y en los contados casos en que parece entablar una mínima relación personal, es capaz de renunciar a ella con el único fin de dar satisfacción a lo que antes comentaba como su particular sentido de la justicia: la justicia personal, la justicia por su mano, el jarabe de palo que decimos por aquí. Entabla una mínima relación con su sobrina, con su casera, con un tipo que le ayuda al comienzo, con la pareja del mafioso para el que trabaja. Aun así da la impresión de darle igual en la situación que deje a todos ellos tras su tempestuoso paso, o las consecuencias de su violenta actitud. Su mismo hermano, cuya muerte es es el origen del libro y de su ansia de venganza (no es espóiler, es el origen del libro), como digo su hermano tenía una relación distante con Carter, pero él debe cumplir el “mandato divino”. Muy bueno Lewis con ese perfil de personaje del que no se sale jamás.
El mismo final del libro, creo que no es más que el resultado de esta actitud sociópata que nos pinta Lewis sobre su tremendo protagonista, Carter.
Libro de serie negra total, rozando creo que con la acción más movida y desenfrenada, lo cual tiene mérito, ya que no soy yo un gran amante de este género de libros o películas de acción. Ese ritmo frenético es bastante bueno y adictivo.
Personaje absolutamente particular este Carter que nos pinta Ted Lewis. Un tipo ajeno a todo lo que no sea dar cumplimiento a su estricto sentido de la justicia; del concepto particularísimo de lo que él considera su justicia.
Se trata de un tipo frío y creo que medio sociopático: apenas muestra afectos o vínculos emocionales con nadie, y en los contados casos en que parece entablar una mínima relación personal, es capaz de renunciar a ella con el único fin de dar satisfacción a lo que antes comentaba como su particular sentido de la justicia: la justicia personal, la justicia por su mano, el jarabe de palo que decimos por aquí. Entabla una mínima relación con su sobrina, con su casera, con un tipo que le ayuda al comienzo, con la pareja del mafioso para el que trabaja. Aun así da la impresión de darle igual en la situación que deje a todos ellos tras su tempestuoso paso, o las consecuencias de su violenta actitud. Su mismo hermano, cuya muerte es es el origen del libro y de su ansia de venganza (no es espóiler, es el origen del libro), como digo su hermano tenía una relación distante con Carter, pero él debe cumplir el “mandato divino”. Muy bueno Lewis con ese perfil de personaje del que no se sale jamás.
El mismo final del libro, creo que no es más que el resultado de esta actitud sociópata que nos pinta Lewis sobre su tremendo protagonista, Carter.
Libro de serie negra total, rozando creo que con la acción más movida y desenfrenada, lo cual tiene mérito, ya que no soy yo un gran amante de este género de libros o películas de acción. Ese ritmo frenético es bastante bueno y adictivo.
January 30, 2022
They hadn’t even bothered to be careful; they hadn’t even bothered to be clever.
A tale of two brothers.
Frank is the shy, dependable one who tries to please and to stay out of trouble. Jack is the wild one, quick to anger and looking for opportunities to get ahead. As children, they had only each other against the world, but as teenagers they drifted apart. Frank stayed home, got a job, got married and made no troubles. Jack joined initially the local thugs and escaped at the first occasion to London where he became an enforcer for the major league gangsters.
Those times were the best times I ever had as a lad. Just alone with Frank down on the river. But that was before he’d begun to hate my guts.
Not that I’d exactly been full of brotherly love for him before I’d left town.
After many years of separation, a middle-aged Jack is finally coming back home, driven by a cold-blooded rage. He has come to bury his brother Frank, who has died in an apparent suicide. Never mind that Jack hasn’t spoken with his brother in years. Something is wrong with the account of the car crash that killed his brother, and if those behind it think they got away with the scene, they don’t know Jack!
She didn’t say anything for a while. I sat up and had a big drink and lay down again and closed my eyes.
“What are you going to do if you catch who did it?” she said.
“What do you think?”
Another silence.
“Why?” she said.
“He was my brother.”
She sat down on the bed.
“You’d just kill them? Just like that?”
“If they didn’t kill me first.”
>>><<<>>><<<
I saw the movie years ago and I didn’t consider reading the book a priority: Michael Caine did a great job in his portrait of Jack Carter and that was good enough for me. I’m glad my friends here helped me make up my mind and give it a second chance.
The stellar reviews on the book cover are both correct in the influence Ted Lewis had on the rise of the British ‘noir’ genre and misleading, in their comparison with Raymond Chandler. Ted Lewis style is nothing like the baroque plots and snarky dialogue, clever similes of the classic American author. The comparison rests solely on the stated purpose of noir to take crime out of the cosy saloons of the wealthy and put it back on the mean streets.
This novel is a straight shooter, minimalist both in plot and in language. Its merit is in its raw, uncompromising and frankly unpleasant portrait of the underworld: protection rackets, gambling, prostitution, drugs, money laundering. The prose if effective for me both in the natural flowing dialogue, with very little posturing and ‘tough guy’ talk and in the evocation of a small industrial town in Northern England.
By the way, the town where all these events take place is not Doncaster, which is only mentioned on the first page as the place where Jack Carter changed trains, but Scunthorpe – easily identified by locals due to the heavy, polluting presence of the steel mills. The author prefers to leave it unnamed in the novel, while the director of the movie moved the action to a place he was familiar with – Newcastle.
The local slang used by Jack and the people he comes across is also helpful in locating the place and in dating the novel : governors are the kingpins of the underworld; the smoke is London ; scuffers are policemen, and so on.
This was a quick read that I could have finished even sooner if I didn’t go back to re-read some of the few descriptive passages that reminded me of growing up poor in a dirty industrial town. Those where some of my favourite passages in the book.
I used to think, Christ, what a bloody idiot thing to do, start shacking up with the boss’s wife when you’re on such a good number and then I used to think about the things Aubrey could do to make me act like a bloody idiot.
God, she was good.
I did have some reservations about content, but minor. One is the treatment of women that feels extremely dated and misogynistic. Either toys for sex or unreliable double-crossers.
The other is Jack’s talent at street fighting, a credible render of how he became one of the top enforcers in London, but one that doesn’t remain consistent throughout the story.
>>><<<>>><<<
Instead of a conclusion, I will mention only that now I feel an urge to re-watch the movie in order to compare it with the fresh notes on the novel and that I plan to read more from Ted Lewis down the road.
A tale of two brothers.
Frank is the shy, dependable one who tries to please and to stay out of trouble. Jack is the wild one, quick to anger and looking for opportunities to get ahead. As children, they had only each other against the world, but as teenagers they drifted apart. Frank stayed home, got a job, got married and made no troubles. Jack joined initially the local thugs and escaped at the first occasion to London where he became an enforcer for the major league gangsters.
Those times were the best times I ever had as a lad. Just alone with Frank down on the river. But that was before he’d begun to hate my guts.
Not that I’d exactly been full of brotherly love for him before I’d left town.
After many years of separation, a middle-aged Jack is finally coming back home, driven by a cold-blooded rage. He has come to bury his brother Frank, who has died in an apparent suicide. Never mind that Jack hasn’t spoken with his brother in years. Something is wrong with the account of the car crash that killed his brother, and if those behind it think they got away with the scene, they don’t know Jack!
She didn’t say anything for a while. I sat up and had a big drink and lay down again and closed my eyes.
“What are you going to do if you catch who did it?” she said.
“What do you think?”
Another silence.
“Why?” she said.
“He was my brother.”
She sat down on the bed.
“You’d just kill them? Just like that?”
“If they didn’t kill me first.”
>>><<<>>><<<
I saw the movie years ago and I didn’t consider reading the book a priority: Michael Caine did a great job in his portrait of Jack Carter and that was good enough for me. I’m glad my friends here helped me make up my mind and give it a second chance.
The stellar reviews on the book cover are both correct in the influence Ted Lewis had on the rise of the British ‘noir’ genre and misleading, in their comparison with Raymond Chandler. Ted Lewis style is nothing like the baroque plots and snarky dialogue, clever similes of the classic American author. The comparison rests solely on the stated purpose of noir to take crime out of the cosy saloons of the wealthy and put it back on the mean streets.
This novel is a straight shooter, minimalist both in plot and in language. Its merit is in its raw, uncompromising and frankly unpleasant portrait of the underworld: protection rackets, gambling, prostitution, drugs, money laundering. The prose if effective for me both in the natural flowing dialogue, with very little posturing and ‘tough guy’ talk and in the evocation of a small industrial town in Northern England.
By the way, the town where all these events take place is not Doncaster, which is only mentioned on the first page as the place where Jack Carter changed trains, but Scunthorpe – easily identified by locals due to the heavy, polluting presence of the steel mills. The author prefers to leave it unnamed in the novel, while the director of the movie moved the action to a place he was familiar with – Newcastle.
The local slang used by Jack and the people he comes across is also helpful in locating the place and in dating the novel : governors are the kingpins of the underworld; the smoke is London ; scuffers are policemen, and so on.
This was a quick read that I could have finished even sooner if I didn’t go back to re-read some of the few descriptive passages that reminded me of growing up poor in a dirty industrial town. Those where some of my favourite passages in the book.
I used to think, Christ, what a bloody idiot thing to do, start shacking up with the boss’s wife when you’re on such a good number and then I used to think about the things Aubrey could do to make me act like a bloody idiot.
God, she was good.
I did have some reservations about content, but minor. One is the treatment of women that feels extremely dated and misogynistic. Either toys for sex or unreliable double-crossers.
The other is Jack’s talent at street fighting, a credible render of how he became one of the top enforcers in London, but one that doesn’t remain consistent throughout the story.
>>><<<>>><<<
Instead of a conclusion, I will mention only that now I feel an urge to re-watch the movie in order to compare it with the fresh notes on the novel and that I plan to read more from Ted Lewis down the road.
July 27, 2014
It has more to do with the introduction to the book, written by Mike Hodges who directed the Michael Caine film classic of this, but I couldn’t stop hearing, “In a costal town, they forgot to shut down….Come Armageddon, Come Armageddon Come” in my head over and over again while reading this.
The novel opens with a lone man travelling into a city. He’s returning to the town (ok I said city, but I have my reasons) he grew up in. Why? Don’t know, but this will unfold fairly soon. Instead it opens with this man. The town. Him arriving. And as he starts to go about his business the reader finds out that he’s returned home because his older brother has killed himself drunk driving. He’s there for the funeral.
He’s there because his brother is the boring type, the one who will only drink a half pint of bitter after work. The type that when he does go to get pissed never brings his car. He’s responsible and boring. He’s a square. In Ellroy speak, a geek.
This lone man is part of the crime syndicates down in London. He’s here to bury his brother and find out who killed him, because the boring fucker wouldn’t have done this to himself.
His name is Carter, and he is here for revenge.
I can’t help thinking of this in light of another character who readers are introduced to as he walks meanly across the George Washington Bridge with revenge and murder on his mind. He’s even got a similar name, Parker (although Carter does have a first name, Parker is only Parker).
I don’t know if Get Carter has any debts to pay to the Richard Stark series that began eight years previous to it. But it is interesting to look at Hunter and Get Carter together.
Both are basically revenge books. Someone fucked with the main character and he’s going to make them pay. Parker is clear right from the get go about who is going to go kill, there may be a little mystery to it, but he pretty much knows who he has to get to. Carter, first has to play amateur sleuth to find out who is responsible for his brother’s murder. Where one is fairly straight forward crime fiction the other dabbles in the traditional mystery novel with a host of red herrings and things thrown in.
Personally, I prefer crime to mystery, but both are quite enjoyable when they are done well. And Get Carter does the mystery part of the story serviceably well.
The Parker novels are written in no-frills muscular prose, like the protagonist there aren’t any niceties. A job has to be done so it is done. In Get Carter, Ted Lewis is taking a page from Raymond Chandler and the prose becomes almost a character in the book. I don’t want this to sound too disparaging but there is a Literary-ness to the book, the feeling that the author is trying to transcend the genre. And from the introduction it sounds like he was, he was adding something to the crime novel as it was being written in England at the time, he was adding a roughness and some of Chandler.
Chandler’s not the worst person to try to write like. His novels are possibly some of the best written pieces of American fiction of the 20th Century. But he is still a mystery writer. And straight forward mysteries are not exactly fun to read. Mysteries are convoluted. They test the reader with their sleights of hand and misdirection. In a certain sense you read them to be duped and cheated in the same way people go see illusionists to be deceived, it’s all part of the fun.
Mystery’s close relative and shelf-mate Crime Fiction doesn’t deceive. The tricks reader needs to be taken along and walked along with the characters as the crime is committed. There can be some mystery involved, but big inductive leaps and trickery will tax the credulity of the reader. You want to see the intricacies that go into say pulling off a heist, but there needs to be a believability involved. That believability can’t just be taken at face value though the way that strange solutions to whodunits can and still be successful.
And that is the problem I had with Get Carter. As a mystery novel and as a piece of literary fiction it was spot on. But it was also playing at being a crime novel and when the time came for Carter to seek his revenge the author couldn’t shift gears out of being a clever mystery writer and being the sort of writer that Stark is. Revenge is a serious business and doesn’t feel quite right when it’s wrapped up in too cute and clever devices that rely one an inordinate amount of coincidences (or a giant stretch of the readers imagination about the abilities of the protagonist) to pull off.
For me the novel was too cute and it was the blurring of if this novel was striving to be a mystery in the classical British sense or an American crime novel that created a kind of weirdness that I found a little unsettling.
The book was probably better than the three stars I gave it, but in comparing it to other crime novels that I have enjoyed and loved I found it lacking. It is a fun read though.
The novel opens with a lone man travelling into a city. He’s returning to the town (ok I said city, but I have my reasons) he grew up in. Why? Don’t know, but this will unfold fairly soon. Instead it opens with this man. The town. Him arriving. And as he starts to go about his business the reader finds out that he’s returned home because his older brother has killed himself drunk driving. He’s there for the funeral.
He’s there because his brother is the boring type, the one who will only drink a half pint of bitter after work. The type that when he does go to get pissed never brings his car. He’s responsible and boring. He’s a square. In Ellroy speak, a geek.
This lone man is part of the crime syndicates down in London. He’s here to bury his brother and find out who killed him, because the boring fucker wouldn’t have done this to himself.
His name is Carter, and he is here for revenge.
I can’t help thinking of this in light of another character who readers are introduced to as he walks meanly across the George Washington Bridge with revenge and murder on his mind. He’s even got a similar name, Parker (although Carter does have a first name, Parker is only Parker).
I don’t know if Get Carter has any debts to pay to the Richard Stark series that began eight years previous to it. But it is interesting to look at Hunter and Get Carter together.
Both are basically revenge books. Someone fucked with the main character and he’s going to make them pay. Parker is clear right from the get go about who is going to go kill, there may be a little mystery to it, but he pretty much knows who he has to get to. Carter, first has to play amateur sleuth to find out who is responsible for his brother’s murder. Where one is fairly straight forward crime fiction the other dabbles in the traditional mystery novel with a host of red herrings and things thrown in.
Personally, I prefer crime to mystery, but both are quite enjoyable when they are done well. And Get Carter does the mystery part of the story serviceably well.
The Parker novels are written in no-frills muscular prose, like the protagonist there aren’t any niceties. A job has to be done so it is done. In Get Carter, Ted Lewis is taking a page from Raymond Chandler and the prose becomes almost a character in the book. I don’t want this to sound too disparaging but there is a Literary-ness to the book, the feeling that the author is trying to transcend the genre. And from the introduction it sounds like he was, he was adding something to the crime novel as it was being written in England at the time, he was adding a roughness and some of Chandler.
Chandler’s not the worst person to try to write like. His novels are possibly some of the best written pieces of American fiction of the 20th Century. But he is still a mystery writer. And straight forward mysteries are not exactly fun to read. Mysteries are convoluted. They test the reader with their sleights of hand and misdirection. In a certain sense you read them to be duped and cheated in the same way people go see illusionists to be deceived, it’s all part of the fun.
Mystery’s close relative and shelf-mate Crime Fiction doesn’t deceive. The tricks reader needs to be taken along and walked along with the characters as the crime is committed. There can be some mystery involved, but big inductive leaps and trickery will tax the credulity of the reader. You want to see the intricacies that go into say pulling off a heist, but there needs to be a believability involved. That believability can’t just be taken at face value though the way that strange solutions to whodunits can and still be successful.
And that is the problem I had with Get Carter. As a mystery novel and as a piece of literary fiction it was spot on. But it was also playing at being a crime novel and when the time came for Carter to seek his revenge the author couldn’t shift gears out of being a clever mystery writer and being the sort of writer that Stark is. Revenge is a serious business and doesn’t feel quite right when it’s wrapped up in too cute and clever devices that rely one an inordinate amount of coincidences (or a giant stretch of the readers imagination about the abilities of the protagonist) to pull off.
For me the novel was too cute and it was the blurring of if this novel was striving to be a mystery in the classical British sense or an American crime novel that created a kind of weirdness that I found a little unsettling.
The book was probably better than the three stars I gave it, but in comparing it to other crime novels that I have enjoyed and loved I found it lacking. It is a fun read though.
January 15, 2022
Jack's brother is dead, and that means trouble for somebody. With that simple premise, Lewis delivers a Brit Noir gut-punch of a novel (originally titled "Jack's Return Home") that proved influential to English crime novelists of the era, and spawned a cult-classic film version starring a young Michael Caine. The plot was more convoluted than it needed to be and you might get the supporting characters mixed up at times but the ride is worth it.
didn-t-finish
May 21, 2025I’m two for two on books I’ve borrowed from a friend that I just didn’t enjoy. (Upon retrospect, there were others I didn’t enjoy, but these two happened to be back to back.)
I got to page 58 of this, skipped to the last ten or so and decided the destination wasn’t worth the trip and pulled the plug.
Since noir and anti-heroes aren’t my thing, and I didn’t hate the book, I’m not going to give this a star count. I don’t feel it’s fair to the book and to those who might enjoy it and I don’t have anything bad to say about the structure.
The setting was gritty and felt real, the characters, while all unlikable, also felt realistic. The dialogue also felt true to the time, location and people. The pacing wasn’t too fast or slow, the word choices didn’t boot one out of the story and it all built to a feeling of suspense. So technically, there was nothing wrong with the book.
I just don’t like violence, adultery, etc and I like to read to escape reality, not to dive even deeper into it.
Sorry Friend. Maybe third’s a charm and I’ll enjoy the next borrow better? 😅
I got to page 58 of this, skipped to the last ten or so and decided the destination wasn’t worth the trip and pulled the plug.
Since noir and anti-heroes aren’t my thing, and I didn’t hate the book, I’m not going to give this a star count. I don’t feel it’s fair to the book and to those who might enjoy it and I don’t have anything bad to say about the structure.
The setting was gritty and felt real, the characters, while all unlikable, also felt realistic. The dialogue also felt true to the time, location and people. The pacing wasn’t too fast or slow, the word choices didn’t boot one out of the story and it all built to a feeling of suspense. So technically, there was nothing wrong with the book.
I just don’t like violence, adultery, etc and I like to read to escape reality, not to dive even deeper into it.
Sorry Friend. Maybe third’s a charm and I’ll enjoy the next borrow better? 😅
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 12, 2012
Tell him. Tell him, I'm f*cking coming!
Originally titled Jack's Return Home this 1970 novel from Ted Lewis is the story of Jack Carter and his return to Doncaster from London after the death of his estranged older brother. Jack is certain that it was murder and will have his vengeance in this life or the next.
Taking place between Thursday Night and Sunday morning there's no time to blink let alone breath as Carter tackles his problems at an unrelenting pace. Having as much in common with kitchen sink dramas such as Saturday Night and Sunday Morning as violent revenge thrillers like The Hunter the bodies still manage to pile up by the final page thanks to Carter's no holds barred attitude.
Lewis really captured the time and place with his prose, the description of working class lifestyles in Britain in the 70s painted in true grim light and the attitudes are guaranteed to shock in this age of cotton wool and insane politcal correctness. Not that I'm advocating violence towards women, rape, murder and mayhem, underage pornography, bent cops, paki bashing or anything else that takes place during these three days but I think ignoring the fact that it actually used to happen and still does happen is even more absurd than those who perpetrate such things; there's no revelling in the gruesome details, this is the true bleak reality of it and Lewis makes it clear that it's not a glamourous life.
Carter is a fascinating mix of hard case hitman, hard boiled hero, cocky geezer, frightened boy; regret filled and growing old, a little bit of Alfie, a major influence on The Limey and if Guy Ritchie hadn't read it he at least saw the movie before making Lock, Stock & Two Smoking Barrels.
Incredibly this novel was the basis for three movie adaptations but I think it's fair to say that none of them captured the true essence of the book. Michael Caine may have come closest in 1971 but having seen it a couple of times I know for a fact it was toned down and several aspects changed despite my having forgotten the entire plot by the time it came to reading the book. Of the two American versions I would recommend the blaxploitation version Hit Man over the Stallone abomination every time.
Ted Lewis died at the horribly young age of 42 but wrote several more novels after this one, I think after the brilliant promise shown in this novel I will have to check out more of his work.
Originally titled Jack's Return Home this 1970 novel from Ted Lewis is the story of Jack Carter and his return to Doncaster from London after the death of his estranged older brother. Jack is certain that it was murder and will have his vengeance in this life or the next.
Taking place between Thursday Night and Sunday morning there's no time to blink let alone breath as Carter tackles his problems at an unrelenting pace. Having as much in common with kitchen sink dramas such as Saturday Night and Sunday Morning as violent revenge thrillers like The Hunter the bodies still manage to pile up by the final page thanks to Carter's no holds barred attitude.
Lewis really captured the time and place with his prose, the description of working class lifestyles in Britain in the 70s painted in true grim light and the attitudes are guaranteed to shock in this age of cotton wool and insane politcal correctness. Not that I'm advocating violence towards women, rape, murder and mayhem, underage pornography, bent cops, paki bashing or anything else that takes place during these three days but I think ignoring the fact that it actually used to happen and still does happen is even more absurd than those who perpetrate such things; there's no revelling in the gruesome details, this is the true bleak reality of it and Lewis makes it clear that it's not a glamourous life.
Carter is a fascinating mix of hard case hitman, hard boiled hero, cocky geezer, frightened boy; regret filled and growing old, a little bit of Alfie, a major influence on The Limey and if Guy Ritchie hadn't read it he at least saw the movie before making Lock, Stock & Two Smoking Barrels.
Incredibly this novel was the basis for three movie adaptations but I think it's fair to say that none of them captured the true essence of the book. Michael Caine may have come closest in 1971 but having seen it a couple of times I know for a fact it was toned down and several aspects changed despite my having forgotten the entire plot by the time it came to reading the book. Of the two American versions I would recommend the blaxploitation version Hit Man over the Stallone abomination every time.
Ted Lewis died at the horribly young age of 42 but wrote several more novels after this one, I think after the brilliant promise shown in this novel I will have to check out more of his work.
January 15, 2021
Novela negra entretenida y fácil de leer, con todos los elementos del género y una buena dosis de acción. El personaje de Carter saltó al cine encarnado con acierto por Michael Caine en la película de 1971 'Get Carter'.
La novela, titulada en inglés 'Jack's return home', comienza cuando Jack Carter, miembro del crimen organizado en Londres, asiste al funeral de su hermano en su pequeña ciudad natal y empieza a ver comportamientos sospechosos en los que le rodean, que le hacen pensar que su muerte no fue un accidente.
Ted Lewis posteriormente escribió dos precuelas con el mismo personaje. Ha sobrevivido bien al tiempo, casi un clásico.
La novela, titulada en inglés 'Jack's return home', comienza cuando Jack Carter, miembro del crimen organizado en Londres, asiste al funeral de su hermano en su pequeña ciudad natal y empieza a ver comportamientos sospechosos en los que le rodean, que le hacen pensar que su muerte no fue un accidente.
Ted Lewis posteriormente escribió dos precuelas con el mismo personaje. Ha sobrevivido bien al tiempo, casi un clásico.
June 7, 2020
“La Velvet Underground no sólo fue el primer grupo punk de la historia sino el más punk que ha existido. Lo mismo sucede con ésta, la primera y más negra novela británica, oscura desde la ambientación de suburbio siderúrgico inglés hasta la atormentada y ulcerosa alma de los personajes.”
.
“Vertiginosa. Apasionante. Demoledora. Prueba fehaciente de que calidad y entretenimiento pueden ir de la mano. La novela que más regalaré este año.”
.
“Qué maravilla. Con la buena literatura vuelas imaginando por encima de las palabras, pero esta novela criminal posee un componente visual extra que consigue que directamente veas lo que lees.”
.
“Qué gran historia, qué bien tejida y qué oscuros recovecos esconden los personajes. Otro absoluto clasicazo que recupera @sajalin_ed para todos nosotros.”
.
“Vertiginosa. Apasionante. Demoledora. Prueba fehaciente de que calidad y entretenimiento pueden ir de la mano. La novela que más regalaré este año.”
.
“Qué maravilla. Con la buena literatura vuelas imaginando por encima de las palabras, pero esta novela criminal posee un componente visual extra que consigue que directamente veas lo que lees.”
.
“Qué gran historia, qué bien tejida y qué oscuros recovecos esconden los personajes. Otro absoluto clasicazo que recupera @sajalin_ed para todos nosotros.”
February 21, 2022
Apparently Get Carter (1970) is considered one of the best British crime novels ever written. Lewis, who died young, wrote two sequels. Jack Carter returns to his childhood home after his brother's suspicious death. What was once a small village in northern England has become a boom town thanks to the steelworks there. Carter is already well aware of the organized crime presence there (primarily loan sharks), because the firm he works for in London does business that involves them. Over a short and action-packed weekend, he single-handedly takes on all the dirty footwork to get to the bottom of his brother's death. I read that Lewis intentionally left the police out of the story, and, despite the locale, Carter's maniacal intensity to do everything on his own puts the novel's feel into the American Western genre, with its vigilante revenge motif.
Lewis's writing and the story are top-notch. I really enjoyed the way Lewis allows Carter's history in the town to very slowly trickle down bit-by-bit to the reader. Not that all detectives, professional or first-timers, have to be compared with Chandler's Phillip Marlowe, but once a writer uses similarities of character, he or she is subject to critique about the comparison. In my opinion, Marlowe comes across as sarcastic and jaded, but usually not to the point of hatred, and almost always with a nice dose of humor thrown in. I understand that Carter has a very personal stake here, since it's his (estranged) brother who's died, but my reading of Carter's attitude was that of a chronically bitter man. Marlowe seems socially pretty neutral; Carter's "I'm above it all" attitude didn't sit well with me. I was annoyed by his over-detailed psychoanalysis of people he sees, based solely on their dress and facial expressions. When the police do briefly appear at a distance, he refers to them with loathing. Yes, a lot of them are on the take, but his feelings seem overdone. Carter is also disgusted by wealthy people, apparently because they are wealthy and assumed to be snobs. Get (past the attitude of) Carter, and you'll have a good time with this one.
Lewis's writing and the story are top-notch. I really enjoyed the way Lewis allows Carter's history in the town to very slowly trickle down bit-by-bit to the reader. Not that all detectives, professional or first-timers, have to be compared with Chandler's Phillip Marlowe, but once a writer uses similarities of character, he or she is subject to critique about the comparison. In my opinion, Marlowe comes across as sarcastic and jaded, but usually not to the point of hatred, and almost always with a nice dose of humor thrown in. I understand that Carter has a very personal stake here, since it's his (estranged) brother who's died, but my reading of Carter's attitude was that of a chronically bitter man. Marlowe seems socially pretty neutral; Carter's "I'm above it all" attitude didn't sit well with me. I was annoyed by his over-detailed psychoanalysis of people he sees, based solely on their dress and facial expressions. When the police do briefly appear at a distance, he refers to them with loathing. Yes, a lot of them are on the take, but his feelings seem overdone. Carter is also disgusted by wealthy people, apparently because they are wealthy and assumed to be snobs. Get (past the attitude of) Carter, and you'll have a good time with this one.
October 28, 2017
Having seen the original 1971 classic film version of "Get Carter" umpteen times over the years it was impossible for the film portrayals not to completely inform the story's characters in my mind's eye. This familiarity also meant the story held few surprises (though there are some interesting points of divergence). I would rather have approached this book without these preconceptions.
Like you need me to tell you, this is a classic 'avenging angel' tale, and Jack Carter, the avenging angel, will not rest until there is full restitution for some serious sins.
Putting the film to one side, the book stands on its own merits. What Ted Lewis achieves brilliantly, in common with all great genre fiction, is to say something else about the world. In this instance he evokes the late 1960s, and the Britain I remember vividly as I grew up in the 1970s. A violent, bored, depressed place trying to come to terms with the slow death of traditional industries and pre-War certainties.
Ted Lewis also skewers that ambiguous strata of society where criminality and respectability combine. This a world where very nasty things happen - brutality, exploitation and casual violence are the norm. "Get Carter" nails the grim humour, the squalor, the boozers, the snooker halls, the fights, all wedded to a compelling tale of revenge and family loyalty.
The reason the film is such an enduring classic is because Ted Lewis wrote "Jack's Return Home" (retitled "Get Carter" after the film was released), a perfect crime novel, and essential reading.
Anyone who enjoys this book, and is looking for something with similar qualities, should seek out Derek Raymond's Factory novels.
4/5
Like you need me to tell you, this is a classic 'avenging angel' tale, and Jack Carter, the avenging angel, will not rest until there is full restitution for some serious sins.
Putting the film to one side, the book stands on its own merits. What Ted Lewis achieves brilliantly, in common with all great genre fiction, is to say something else about the world. In this instance he evokes the late 1960s, and the Britain I remember vividly as I grew up in the 1970s. A violent, bored, depressed place trying to come to terms with the slow death of traditional industries and pre-War certainties.
Ted Lewis also skewers that ambiguous strata of society where criminality and respectability combine. This a world where very nasty things happen - brutality, exploitation and casual violence are the norm. "Get Carter" nails the grim humour, the squalor, the boozers, the snooker halls, the fights, all wedded to a compelling tale of revenge and family loyalty.
The reason the film is such an enduring classic is because Ted Lewis wrote "Jack's Return Home" (retitled "Get Carter" after the film was released), a perfect crime novel, and essential reading.
Anyone who enjoys this book, and is looking for something with similar qualities, should seek out Derek Raymond's Factory novels.
4/5
August 24, 2017
"Carter" es, por decirlo finamente, como si alguien te golpease los cojones con un bate de baseball...varias veces. Un libro duro, lleno de tipos duros, donde ocurren cosas...si, duras. Y no esperéis que los desgraciados que pueblan estas páginas sean el prototipo hollywoodiano de "gánster simpático y con principios morales y blablablabla"...no, aquí solo hay gente jodida, que hace cosas jodidas y que terminan jodiendo la vida de los que les rodean.
Y, si, imaginarse a Michael Caine como Jack Carter, sinceramente, le da un puntazo cojonudisimo a la novela.
Y, si, imaginarse a Michael Caine como Jack Carter, sinceramente, le da un puntazo cojonudisimo a la novela.
August 19, 2018
Psycho runs amok in a northern English town (not Doncaster) to revenge his brother’s death. Satisfyingly grim but I missed some leavening wit or intelligence. Good read but no Red Harvest.
July 30, 2020
Imagine The Revenger's Tragedy set in Scunthorpe in the 1960s – a corrupt society, a cast of villains, and here’s Jack Carter, the biggest villain of the lot, back home from London and out to avenge his innocent murdered brother. Very Jacobean and very atmospheric. When he arrives, Jack’s home town is encircled by the flames of furnaces – and his descent into hell begins. There are wonderful descriptions of people and places. Here’s our introduction to one of the local Mr Bigs:
“Cyril Kinnear was very, very fat. He was the kind of man that fat men like to stand next to. He had no hair and a handlebar moustache that his face made look a foot long on each side. In one way it was a very pleasant face, the face of a wealthy farmer or of an ex-Indian army officer in the used car business but the trouble was he had eyes like a ferret’s. They had black pupils an eighth of an inch in diameter surrounded by whites the colour of the fish part of fish fingers.”
Splendid stuff and Ted Lewis had a savage eye for contemporary detail. Jack’s brother’s forlorn terraced house has all been lovingly modernized in “cherry-red formica” and “fake brassy material” – and there’s even a list of the paperback authors on his bookshelf that tell you pretty much all you need to know about ordinary, innocent brother Frank. The Mr Bigs hang out in hugely expensive but equally tasteless homes. And as for Scunthorpe – it possibly gets a raw deal, and then again possibly not. Here comes the band in a local boozer:
“While we’d been talking the band had drifted on to the stage. There was an old fat drummer in an old tux and a bloke on an electric bass and at the organ with all the magic attachments sat a baldheaded man with a shiny face, a blue crew-neck sweater and a green cravat. They struck up with ‘I’m a Tiger.’ ”
Classic writing and a classic revenge tragedy. Pity that Ted Lewis has gone...
“Cyril Kinnear was very, very fat. He was the kind of man that fat men like to stand next to. He had no hair and a handlebar moustache that his face made look a foot long on each side. In one way it was a very pleasant face, the face of a wealthy farmer or of an ex-Indian army officer in the used car business but the trouble was he had eyes like a ferret’s. They had black pupils an eighth of an inch in diameter surrounded by whites the colour of the fish part of fish fingers.”
Splendid stuff and Ted Lewis had a savage eye for contemporary detail. Jack’s brother’s forlorn terraced house has all been lovingly modernized in “cherry-red formica” and “fake brassy material” – and there’s even a list of the paperback authors on his bookshelf that tell you pretty much all you need to know about ordinary, innocent brother Frank. The Mr Bigs hang out in hugely expensive but equally tasteless homes. And as for Scunthorpe – it possibly gets a raw deal, and then again possibly not. Here comes the band in a local boozer:
“While we’d been talking the band had drifted on to the stage. There was an old fat drummer in an old tux and a bloke on an electric bass and at the organ with all the magic attachments sat a baldheaded man with a shiny face, a blue crew-neck sweater and a green cravat. They struck up with ‘I’m a Tiger.’ ”
Classic writing and a classic revenge tragedy. Pity that Ted Lewis has gone...
March 24, 2010
Considering the movie adaptation of this novel is one of my favorite crime films, it's hard to give the book that inspired the movie anything less than 5 stars.
That said, the book (originally published as "Jack's Return Home") is a hell of a fun read. Violent and morally complex, the action plays as character study to a man who is on the edge of losing his humanity.
Great characters, dialogue, and a strong sense of place. This book deserves to be rediscovered as a hard-boiled classic.
That said, the book (originally published as "Jack's Return Home") is a hell of a fun read. Violent and morally complex, the action plays as character study to a man who is on the edge of losing his humanity.
Great characters, dialogue, and a strong sense of place. This book deserves to be rediscovered as a hard-boiled classic.
January 4, 2024
'Get Carter' - is Ted Lewis 1970 novel, originally published as 'Jack's Return Home' but subsequently reissued under the new snappier title following the 1971 film adaptation of the same name.
Indeed, for anyone having seen the original film version, it's difficult to read the novel and not superimpose Michael Caine's interpretation of main protagonist Jack Carter onto every page.
Lewis' novel is a gritty noir thriller set in the north of England which, typically of the genre is imbued with byzantine plot twists throughout - sporadically hard to keep track of and culminating in an ambiguous but dramatically effective denouement, but nonetheless engaging for that.
'Get Carter' is a tightly paced revenge/crime thriller which pretty much delivers what it says on the tin with all that you would expect it to entail - but none the worse for that. It certainly captures a side of the north of England that to all intents and purposes is now long gone. So whilst Lewis' novel does sometimes feel like a period piece - being contemporary to the time of writing, it still manages to deliver an effective and compelling narrative.
Indeed, for anyone having seen the original film version, it's difficult to read the novel and not superimpose Michael Caine's interpretation of main protagonist Jack Carter onto every page.
Lewis' novel is a gritty noir thriller set in the north of England which, typically of the genre is imbued with byzantine plot twists throughout - sporadically hard to keep track of and culminating in an ambiguous but dramatically effective denouement, but nonetheless engaging for that.
'Get Carter' is a tightly paced revenge/crime thriller which pretty much delivers what it says on the tin with all that you would expect it to entail - but none the worse for that. It certainly captures a side of the north of England that to all intents and purposes is now long gone. So whilst Lewis' novel does sometimes feel like a period piece - being contemporary to the time of writing, it still manages to deliver an effective and compelling narrative.
February 14, 2021
Little idea what this would be going into it, other than it was the basis for one of Michael Caine's earlier - and apparently iconic - film roles. Good, but much darker than I anticipated - at least in this book, Lewis is almost like a British Jim Thompson, with nary a sympathetic character in sight, (even including the oft-abused women). And the book is very British, and very old (1970), so there are a lot of references like "a crooner in a John Collier suit was trying to sound like Vince Hall" that really told me nothing.
There are three books in the Jack Carter saga, and while this was the first written it is the final book chronologically, which fact should save you a lot of confusion once you get into the story.
Hoopla has the movie for free, so will probably watch that sometime soon. Would love to then watch "The Ipcress File" (which I read for the first time last year) for comparison sake, but can't seem to locate a copy under Amazon's $15. To my surprise, "Carter" was filmed a full six years after "Ipcress" - I had thought they were more contemporaneous. But "Ipcress" was filmed right after Caine's breakout role in "Zulu," while "Carter" was almost mid-career, shot between "The Last Valley" and "Sleuth." The things you learn.
UPDATE: So did watch the movie...not bad, but very much of its time, and I don't think I could have followed the plot if I hadn't read the book. But Caine with his three-piece and shotgun is such an iconic image, that alone was worth it - quite the antithesis of the nerdy Harry Palmer in "Ipcress."
There are three books in the Jack Carter saga, and while this was the first written it is the final book chronologically, which fact should save you a lot of confusion once you get into the story.
Hoopla has the movie for free, so will probably watch that sometime soon. Would love to then watch "The Ipcress File" (which I read for the first time last year) for comparison sake, but can't seem to locate a copy under Amazon's $15. To my surprise, "Carter" was filmed a full six years after "Ipcress" - I had thought they were more contemporaneous. But "Ipcress" was filmed right after Caine's breakout role in "Zulu," while "Carter" was almost mid-career, shot between "The Last Valley" and "Sleuth." The things you learn.
UPDATE: So did watch the movie...not bad, but very much of its time, and I don't think I could have followed the plot if I hadn't read the book. But Caine with his three-piece and shotgun is such an iconic image, that alone was worth it - quite the antithesis of the nerdy Harry Palmer in "Ipcress."
January 23, 2022
Enjoyed this - hard to put down and the character of Carter was great but was slightly disappointed with the ending. Can’t say more without spoiling it but this is still well worth a read and very evocative of 1960s gangland life.
January 23, 2018
Sólo quiero decir que es una auténtica novela negra. No he visto aún su adaptación al cine (me refiero a la primera, Get Carter de 1971), pero he podido imaginarla claramente.
July 31, 2017
Suelen gustarme las novelas cuyo título es el nombre o apellido del protagonista (o el alias, tanto da). Suelen presagiar personajes intensos, cincelados con la navaja de cortar cuellos que todo buen matón lleva encima siempre, por si acaso. Carter (el título original de la novela es "Jack's Return Home", convertido después en "Get Carter" por la magnífica peli basada en el libro) es un tipo con una misión: descubrir qué le ha pasado a su hermano y, llegado el caso, castigar a los responsables. Así que vuelve a su ciudad natal, una de esas feas ciudades industriales del norte de Inglaterra donde las casas, el paisaje y hasta el mar son del mismo color que el hollín y la mugre que flotan en el aire, para dar caza a los asesinos, si es que los hay, de su hermano. A base de flashbacks nos enteramos de la historia del protagonista y de su hermano, y a base de conversaciones regadas con suficiente whisky como para llenar una piscina, de que todo el mundo miente como un bellaco. Así que a Carter, en un momento dado, se le hincha el escroto más de lo recomendable y empieza a repartir leña como el que distribuye los naipes en una partida de póker. Sólo que con más mala uva.
Carter, como casi todo lo que publica la maravillosa Sajalín, es una novela de otra época, con unos personajes hijos de su tiempo y lugar, que llega hasta nosotros casi intacta. Recomendadísima para los fans del género negro.
Carter, como casi todo lo que publica la maravillosa Sajalín, es una novela de otra época, con unos personajes hijos de su tiempo y lugar, que llega hasta nosotros casi intacta. Recomendadísima para los fans del género negro.
February 26, 2011
Set in Doncaster in the Seventies, this book is in the great tradition of the It's Grim Up North school, where gritty kitchen sink dramas ground people's noses into the squalour. Jack Carter, eponymous anti-hero of this novel, likes to literally grind people's noses into the sink, or anywhere else handy, in an effort to find out who killed his brother. Refreshingly utterly non-PC, Jack flits around the town back-handing women (because they like it, secretly), being handy with a shooter, remarking occasionally on the multi-culturalism of the area and kicking people around working men's clubs. The pace never lets up as Jack stalks his prey, following the clues and false trails until he catches up with all of them.
Despite having seen the movie with Michael Caine several times, I didn't picture him as the lead as I read this novel. Perhaps it's because Caine is a Londoner while the tone of this novel was so unremittingly Northern that a Cockney wide-boy, no matter how hard, would stand out like a Chihuahua at a dog track. I read this book in a day, and it's very few that I can say that about. Excellent stuff.
Despite having seen the movie with Michael Caine several times, I didn't picture him as the lead as I read this novel. Perhaps it's because Caine is a Londoner while the tone of this novel was so unremittingly Northern that a Cockney wide-boy, no matter how hard, would stand out like a Chihuahua at a dog track. I read this book in a day, and it's very few that I can say that about. Excellent stuff.
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