Drowned Hopes Book

Published in 1947, this is a classic noir novel. The protagonist, a man named Jim Vanning, may be a good man thrust into a very bad situation due to circumstances beyond his control. On the other hand, he may just be a cold-blooded killer. The reader can't be sure and it appears that Vanning himself isn't sure. Through the course of the novel he is forced to deal with some very bad people as he attempts to sort through his predicament. The cops are on his trail and along the way, as so often happens in a novel like this, he falls for someone who may or may not be The Wrong Woman.

It's impossible to say much of anything about this book without giving away critical plot points and so I'll keep this brief. Goodis was a fairly prolific author of noirish crime novels, and this is a very good one. If this is a genre that appeals to you, you might want to search this out. Happily, a couple of years ago, Stark House reprinted the novel in a single volume along with two other Goodis novels, Cassidy's Girl and Night Squad and so the novel is readily available. Nightfall, Cassidy's Girl, Night Squad