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Peeper
A humorous novel about a peeping tom in Martha, Texas, who leaves a token of appreciation (a book of poems here, a silver butterfly there) on the windowsills of the women he observes unclad.
319 pages, Hardcover
First published November 24, 1981
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31 people want to read
About the author
William Brinkley
30 books42 followersWilliam Clark "Bill" Brinkley was an American writer and journalist.
Brinkley is perhaps best known for his 1988 novel, The Last Ship, and his 1956 novel, Don't Go Near the Water, which was later adapted to film in 1957 by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer as Don't Go Near the Water.
Brinkley was born in Custer City, Oklahoma on September 10, 1917, the youngest of five children and the son of a minister. He graduated from the University of Oklahoma in 1940.Brinkley was an officer in the United States Navy during World War II, where he served in Europe and the Pacific, primarily in public relations duties.
After graduating from the University of Oklahoma in 1940, Brinkley went on to work for The Daily Oklahoman in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Afterwards, Brinkley was a reporter for The Washington Post from 1941 to 1942 and from 1949 to 1951. He was also a staff writer, correspondent and assistant editor and for Life magazine from 1951 to 1958. Brinkley was also a member of the National Press Club until his death in 1993.
In 1948, after his tenure as an officer in the United States Navy during World War II, Brinkley wrote and published his first novel, Quicksand, in 1948.
In 1954, Brinkley wrote his only non-fiction book, The Deliverance of Sister Cecelia, a biography of a Slovakian nun based her memoirs as recited to him. In 1956, he went on to write the best-selling novel and perhaps his most prominent work, Don't Go Near the Water, a comedy about United States Navy sailors serving in the South Pacific during World War II. Don't Go Near the Water would later be adapted into film by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer as Don't Go Near the Water.
In 1961, Brinkley wrote and published The Fun House, a comedy novel set in the offices of a picture magazine, similar to that of Life. The following year, in 1962, Brinkley wrote and published the novel, The Two Susans, which was followed in 1966 by The Ninety and Nine, a novel detailing life on board a United States Navy LST during World War II.
In 1971, Brinkley moved to McAllen, Texas and would live there until his death in 1993. Throughout the 1970s, Brinkley only wrote one novel, Breakpoint, a novel about tennis, published in 1978.
Brinkley's 1978 novel about tennis, Breakpoint, was followed by Peeper, a comedy novel about a voyeur in the small Texas town of Martha, Texas, near the Rio Grande river. In March 1988, Brinkley wrote and published his last work, The Last Ship, a post-apocalyptic fiction novel dealing with the sailors of the USS Nathan James (DDG-80), a fictional United States Navy guided missile destroyer, which survives a brief, but full-scale global nuclear war, primarily between the United States and the Soviet Union.
After suffering from a major depressive disorder for over several years, Brinkley committed suicide at the age of 76 from an overdose of barbiturates on November 22, 1993. He died at his home in McAllen, Texas, near the Gulf of Mexico.
Brinkley is perhaps best known for his 1988 novel, The Last Ship, and his 1956 novel, Don't Go Near the Water, which was later adapted to film in 1957 by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer as Don't Go Near the Water.
Brinkley was born in Custer City, Oklahoma on September 10, 1917, the youngest of five children and the son of a minister. He graduated from the University of Oklahoma in 1940.Brinkley was an officer in the United States Navy during World War II, where he served in Europe and the Pacific, primarily in public relations duties.
After graduating from the University of Oklahoma in 1940, Brinkley went on to work for The Daily Oklahoman in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Afterwards, Brinkley was a reporter for The Washington Post from 1941 to 1942 and from 1949 to 1951. He was also a staff writer, correspondent and assistant editor and for Life magazine from 1951 to 1958. Brinkley was also a member of the National Press Club until his death in 1993.
In 1948, after his tenure as an officer in the United States Navy during World War II, Brinkley wrote and published his first novel, Quicksand, in 1948.
In 1954, Brinkley wrote his only non-fiction book, The Deliverance of Sister Cecelia, a biography of a Slovakian nun based her memoirs as recited to him. In 1956, he went on to write the best-selling novel and perhaps his most prominent work, Don't Go Near the Water, a comedy about United States Navy sailors serving in the South Pacific during World War II. Don't Go Near the Water would later be adapted into film by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer as Don't Go Near the Water.
In 1961, Brinkley wrote and published The Fun House, a comedy novel set in the offices of a picture magazine, similar to that of Life. The following year, in 1962, Brinkley wrote and published the novel, The Two Susans, which was followed in 1966 by The Ninety and Nine, a novel detailing life on board a United States Navy LST during World War II.
In 1971, Brinkley moved to McAllen, Texas and would live there until his death in 1993. Throughout the 1970s, Brinkley only wrote one novel, Breakpoint, a novel about tennis, published in 1978.
Brinkley's 1978 novel about tennis, Breakpoint, was followed by Peeper, a comedy novel about a voyeur in the small Texas town of Martha, Texas, near the Rio Grande river. In March 1988, Brinkley wrote and published his last work, The Last Ship, a post-apocalyptic fiction novel dealing with the sailors of the USS Nathan James (DDG-80), a fictional United States Navy guided missile destroyer, which survives a brief, but full-scale global nuclear war, primarily between the United States and the Soviet Union.
After suffering from a major depressive disorder for over several years, Brinkley committed suicide at the age of 76 from an overdose of barbiturates on November 22, 1993. He died at his home in McAllen, Texas, near the Gulf of Mexico.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
July 24, 2020
What a unusual book this was, while the cover promises erotic voyeuristic delight, what you get is a whole different kettle of fish. This book is centred round the big event of a peeping tom staring through the windows of a wide range of females in a small Texan town, Martha. The meat of the book is actually about Baxter and how he runs a small town newspaper.
Yes this book is more about small town Texas. You get very detailed description of vegetation, animals, printing press, fonts, small town politics, food and of course woman. This book is extremely dated and screams 80s at the style presented, but also humorous in the way it shows the small town reaction to the peeping tom.
The book acts as a mystery to who the culprit is. If you can get through the slog of poetic descriptions and very unrealistic manly views of females you may have a pleasant time.
Yes this book is more about small town Texas. You get very detailed description of vegetation, animals, printing press, fonts, small town politics, food and of course woman. This book is extremely dated and screams 80s at the style presented, but also humorous in the way it shows the small town reaction to the peeping tom.
The book acts as a mystery to who the culprit is. If you can get through the slog of poetic descriptions and very unrealistic manly views of females you may have a pleasant time.
August 17, 2017
A friend of a friend recommended this book because my background is in newspaper journalism and this captures a small town newspaper pretty well. It's also an interesting story about a peeper with some victims enjoying being peeped. The author nails small-town politics but the sexism throughout is off-putting. The storyline has an undercurrent of the male gaze. And, while I enjoyed the dynamics of the newspaper, it's so out of date both technically and how news is reported today that it becomes anachronistic. There's something to it though and I could see it modernized into an interesting movie plot. The women enjoy that the peeper *understands* them better than their spouses.
January 19, 2016
A newspaper colleague of mine lent me a hardbound copy of “Peeper: A Comedy,” a novel by William Brinkley because he and I had both been editors of small-town newspapers years ago. I was glad he did because this 1981 book is fun and brought back memories of the workings of smaller newspapers.
The novel alternates first-person chapters narrated by newspaperman Daniel Baxter and third-person chapters about a peeping Tom, whose identity is not revealed until the end of the book, all taking place in the town of Martha, Texas, in the Rio Grande Valley. Baxter runs a weekly newspaper, and he is soon joined by Jamie Scarborough, his new reporter fresh out of Southern Methodist University, described in this way: “She appeared barely five feet, and I would have placed her weight at about ninety-eight pounds. She looked like some kind of waif, or stray. Maybe she was a runaway kid from upstate headed to Mexico.”
The novel is a mixture of mystery (who is the Peeper?), humorous portrait of a south Texas agricultural town and its residents, romantic comedy, and an accounting of the routines and challenges of being a small-town newspaper editor.
Baxter, who reveals to the reader he was a reporter in Washington, D.C., (the author was a reporter for the Washington Post), tells us why he likes the admittedly longer hours toiling at a weekly newspaper:
“I felt the town orbiting around me. It is amazing how much a newspaper stands at the center of its town. The town revolving around it, feeding into it, and the editor deciding which of those feed-ins, of those thousands same yet ever changing aspects that constitute the small town, to put into print. … A small-town newspaper is one of the last refuges for bringing to life whatever it is that you may have inside you. Instead of having it filtered, altered, mutilated, castrated by fifty other people.”
This book is undoubtedly out of print, but it is worth the effort to find a copy and enjoy, especially if you lived in small towns or in Texas.
The novel alternates first-person chapters narrated by newspaperman Daniel Baxter and third-person chapters about a peeping Tom, whose identity is not revealed until the end of the book, all taking place in the town of Martha, Texas, in the Rio Grande Valley. Baxter runs a weekly newspaper, and he is soon joined by Jamie Scarborough, his new reporter fresh out of Southern Methodist University, described in this way: “She appeared barely five feet, and I would have placed her weight at about ninety-eight pounds. She looked like some kind of waif, or stray. Maybe she was a runaway kid from upstate headed to Mexico.”
The novel is a mixture of mystery (who is the Peeper?), humorous portrait of a south Texas agricultural town and its residents, romantic comedy, and an accounting of the routines and challenges of being a small-town newspaper editor.
Baxter, who reveals to the reader he was a reporter in Washington, D.C., (the author was a reporter for the Washington Post), tells us why he likes the admittedly longer hours toiling at a weekly newspaper:
“I felt the town orbiting around me. It is amazing how much a newspaper stands at the center of its town. The town revolving around it, feeding into it, and the editor deciding which of those feed-ins, of those thousands same yet ever changing aspects that constitute the small town, to put into print. … A small-town newspaper is one of the last refuges for bringing to life whatever it is that you may have inside you. Instead of having it filtered, altered, mutilated, castrated by fifty other people.”
This book is undoubtedly out of print, but it is worth the effort to find a copy and enjoy, especially if you lived in small towns or in Texas.
April 21, 2009
Funny light story about a male peeper in a small town and how the women react to the possibility of someone secretly looking in their windows.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews