Room Service

by Alan Williams

ROOM SERVICE

For about ten years, Miles Farrington had known that his wife, Brenda, had been unfaithful to him. He had not done anything about it. He had not had affairs with
other women. He devoted himself to business, to his hobbies and to philanthropy, and he tried to convince himself that he was leading a full life. But the time had come when he could no longer evade the issue.

His friends were telling him about Brenda’s affair. She was being openly, boastfully, adulterous and Miles realized that he was a fool, not a saint, in the eyes of the world.

Something would have to be done. It would have to be something involving action,
direct action…

160 pages, Paperback

Published February 1, 2023

About the author

Alan Emlyn Williams was a journalist and foreign correspondent, reporting from notable hotspots worldwide including Hungary in 1956, Algeria, Vietnam and Northern Ireland. In 1962 he started writing thrillers which brought him the accolade "the natural heir to Ian Fleming" but it was his well-researched spy stories such as The Beria Papers and Gentleman Traitor (which featured real life traitor Kim Philby) which brought him international success.

Reviews

[AC · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another “lost masterpiece”, recovered by the reprint houses — this one from 1936. The tone is more late ‘jazz age’ than 1950’s ‘noir’. The premise is rather silly and unconvincing. The book is interesting, but not *that* interesting. DNF

[Richard · Rating 5 out of 5]

Successful businessman Miles Farrington is a moderately likable fugitive on the lam after he murders a young woman he picked up during an insensible drinking binge. A psychologist would suggest he imagined strangling his blatantly adulterous wife after the unusually cruel incident (even for her), that triggered the binge. After that setup, much of the novel explores milquetoast Farrington’s track as he eludes justice and hooks up with a short succession of hard-drinking harlots.

Room Service delivers a solid plot, but its hypnotic pull is its enthralling characterization, painted with smoldering prose and scintillating dialogue. You can put it down between readings if you want, but it won’t be easy.

Peripheral elements of Williams’ own life experiences abound in Room Service as its pages fly by. They’re illuminated through Bill Pronzini’s excellent backgrounder on this talented lost author, and this story in particular. If your hunger for classic crime novels needs sating, the Room Service revival begins in February 2023.