Safe Return Doubtful

American Pulp Fiction / Noir – Published 1951

This is a fine piece of pulp fiction that soon moves into noir territory.

The original cover, that I have used for the edition I read, is a false indication of what is to follow, something like that of a Harlequin romance, though those who embark on a Goodis novel are well aware that it is highly unlikely to end happily, despite its beginning..

..Muscular bus driver, Jim Cassidy, cannot escape the draw of his full-figured wife, despite the deterioration in the relationship; they constantly argue and shout abuse at each other. Their seedy apartment, and the local saloon, Lundy’s Tavern, are the main settings; typically bleak Goodis, as indeed are almost all of the characters in the novel, lost alcoholics stumbling though quarts of whisky to make it through the morning.

More so than the plot, which does tick along, this is an examination into the lives of people like Cassidy, just about to hit the bottom, but determine he can turn his life around. But the plot is important also, especially two twists. The first goes someway to explain Cassidy’s situation, that he was involved in an horrific event that took the lives of innocent people, and reaffirms the book’s grim and depressing tone. The second is much later on, and less convincing.

This is the sort of book that epitomises Goodis’s writing of blunt noir poetry with unflinching depictions of people trapped between bottle and rock bottom.

My GoodReads score 4 / 5