Safe Return Doubtful

Published 1941

Unlucky enough to be clobbered on the head by a piece from a stone statue which falls from a building, Frank Townsend dusts himself down and continues on his way home to his wife Virginia.
But, she doesn’t live there any more. When he eventually tracks her down, he realises that he has been missing for three years, and that Virgina assumed that he walked out on her on, at the end of January in 1938, a day he can barely remember.
This all happens in the first short chapter, which is the norm for Woolrich’s openings.

To say any more about the plot would deter from the enjoyment of anyone considering reading it, which I would recommend. But, the plot isn’t the reason to read Woolrich. It’s his prose that keep readers like me coming back. At one stage Townsend makes a narrow escape from a chase, and emerges..feeling like a bath towel after three people have used it
Written in four parts, the denouement, the last part, falls apart a bit in terms of a climax, and by way of explanation.

For anyone new to Woolrich, I wouldn’t start with this. Instead perhaps, [book:The Bride Wore Black|280727] or [book:Night Has a Thousand Eyes|45337]. But for those who would consider themselves fans, as I do, there are plenty more quotable snippets like the one above.

My Goodreads score 3 / 5