The latest Classic Club Spin challenged you to read book 11 on your CC Spin #41 list by 24th August. That was Brighton Rock by Graham Greene for me.

Vintage Digital| 2 October 2010| 258 pages| e-book| 4*

Description on Amazon:

A gang war is raging through the dark underworld of Brighton. Seventeen-year-old Pinkie, malign and ruthless, has killed a man. Believing he can escape retribution, he is unprepared for the courageous, life-embracing Ida Arnold. Greene’s gripping thriller exposes a world of loneliness and fear, of life lived on the ‘dangerous edge of things.

In this gripping, terrifying, and unputdownable read, discover Greene’s iconic tale of the razor-wielding Pinkie.

I’ve enjoyed some of Greene’s books, so I’ve been meaning to get round to reading Brighton Rock for some years and I was pleased it came up as my Spin book. It was his ninth book, first published in 1938, and one of his Catholic Novels (the others being The End of the Affair, The Power and the Glory and The Heart of the Matter). In his Introduction J M Coetzee writes that it was his first serious novel, serious in the sense of working with serious ideas. Brighton in the 1930s had two faces, one the attractive seaside resort, and the other a nest of criminal activity in the desolate industrial suburbs.

The opening line sets the scene for a murder – “Hale knew, before he had been in Brighton three hours, that they meant to murder him.’ Later he is found dead, apparently from a heart attack. Ida Arnold, who had met Fred as he tried to evade the gang, had left him alone for a few minutes and when she returned he was nowhere to be seen. She is determined to find out what really had happened to him as the official account of his death doesn’t match up with what she knew. So when the police ignore what she says she carries out her own investigation. She believes in Right and Wrong – to Ida death was the end of everything, she didn’t believe in heaven or hell, and she wants justice for Fred.

To say that Pinkie Brown, the teenage gangleader, is a complex character is an understatement. He is desperately trying to cover up his involvement with Fred. Rose is a young innocent girl who could reveal his guilt although she doesn’t realise it. Pinkie believes that if he marries her she wouldn’t be able to give evidence against him. Both of them are Roman Catholics. Rose believes in Good and Evil and salvation, whereas Pinkie believes in Hell fire and damnation, but is unsure about the existence of Heaven. He becomes increasingly paranoiac, more desperate and violent.

This novel is bleak, full of violence, menace and suspense, not a book I could enjoy. I struggled at first to understand what was going on and who all the characters were. It’s an odd mixture really – a crime is committed and the amount of violence is shocking, but it is also a psychological character study and an in-depth consideration of the questions of life and death. It’s a tough book to read and to review without giving away any spoilers, which is why I haven’t gone into much detail about the plot. Whilst it is not my favourite book by Graham Greene, it is well written with memorable characters and brilliantly described which brings it all vividly and terrifyingly to life.