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The Burglar
Harbin was thirty-four and he had been a burglar for the last eighteen years. It wasn't much of a life, but it was a living. Then Harbin met Della, a woman so mesmerizing that he just couldn't say no.
David Goodis was one of the most brilliant and original post-war writers in the mould of Chandler, Hammett and Cain. Several of his novels have been turned into classic films - Dark Passage, Shoot the Piano Player, The Moon in the Gutter - and he has been particularly revered by the film noir school of directors. His recognition is long overdue in Britain.
David Goodis was one of the most brilliant and original post-war writers in the mould of Chandler, Hammett and Cain. Several of his novels have been turned into classic films - Dark Passage, Shoot the Piano Player, The Moon in the Gutter - and he has been particularly revered by the film noir school of directors. His recognition is long overdue in Britain.
152 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1953
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About the author
David Goodis
97 books319 followersBorn and bred in Philadelphia, David Goodis was an American noir fiction writer. He grew up in a liberal, Jewish household in which his early literary ambitions were encouraged. After a short and inconclusive spell at Indiana University, he returned to Philadelphia to take a degree in journalism, graduating in 1937.
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August 17, 2023
American readers like an upbeat story with a happy ending. Probably the reason why, back in the 1950s, David Goodis found a more receptive audience for his novels in France than on his home turf.
Recall French New Wave director François Truffaut's film based on Goodis' Shoot the Piano Player, a story where a world-class classical pianist hits bottom following his wife's suicide and is reduced to eking out a living by tinkling the eighty-eight at a Philadelphia dive bar.
Recall the French existentialism of Jean-Paul Sartre and Albert Camus with their themes of alienation in a meaninglessness universe. Recall the romans durs (hard psychological novels) of Georges Simenon and more contemporary French author Pascal Garnier's tales of inner anguish and wrenching despair.
When it comes to a life of agony and woe, none of these French authors can one up the boy from Philly; indeed, pick up any novel by David Goodis and you'll read about men and women tormented by layer after layer of unimaginable trauma and psychic pain. In this way, David Goodis has strong affinities with the king of American nihilist fiction: Jim Thompson.
Usually Goodis' characters develop a thick skin, a hard shell in an attempt to deal with all they're forced to deal with. It ain't easy.
Psychological torment helps fuel action, contributing to a story made all the more compelling by Goodis' agile, skillfully constructed twists, turns and plot thickeners. Just when you figure things are headed one way - surprise!
Back when David G was in his twenties, he churned out pulp novels by the dozens, sometimes a book a week, an experience that paid off in his later years. His Vintage/Black Lizard novels pack punch and drive, almost daring a reader to put the book down. These Goodis yarns also have depth, thus there's good reason a volume within the Library of America collects five David Goodis novels (Dark Passage, Nightfall, The Burglar, The Moon in the Gutter, Street of No Return). In the upcoming weeks, I plan to read and review each of these.
A Goodis quality I especially enjoy: the author's lean, tough vocabulary. And his sentences pop, not a word is wasted. Reading a Goodis novel is one notch away from reading one of those down to the bone, spare and sparse Parker novels by Donald E. Westlake writing as Richard Stark.
The Burglar is a 150-pager (the author's usual short length) that opens with main character Nat Harbin, seasoned burglar, age thirty-four, waiting in the car at three in the morning with his fellow robbers: cantankerous oldster Baylock, thuggish brute Dohmer and a skinny, blonde gal in her early twenties by the name Gladden. The burglars are getting ready to rob $100,000 worth of emeralds kept in a safe in a Philadelphia Main Line mansion.
Too many shockers and swivels for me to divulge anything further about plot. In the spirit of movie trailer, here are clips from what could be the novel's trailer:
EXPLODING RAGE
Following the heist, the four burglars hold up in their dingy hideaway house in one of the shabbier sections of Philadelphia. Baylock gets on Harbin's back about having Gladden (a damn woman) as part of their operation. Gladden shoots back. Tension grows, tempers fire up and we read -
"Harbin felt something twisting around in his insides, something getting started in there. He knew what it was. It had happened before. He didn't want it to happen again. He tried to work it down and stifle it, but it kept moving around in there and now it began to climb."
Moments later Harbin can see Dohmer cupping his enormous hands over his head, moaning and sobbing in remorse, having socked Baycock in the eye with his huge fist. Why the violence? Harbin says it's nerves but we're given the brutal backstory of each crook, knowing the past never dies; it remains coiled up like a poisonous snake forever ready to strike.
DREAMY LAND OF BEAUTY
Later that evening, Harbin takes Gladden out to a club. Harbin is curious; he confronts Gladden about what she values most, knowing the heist, the money, isn't the most important thing in her life. Gladden slumps languidly and tells him, "The dreamy feeling. Like going back. Like resting back on a soft pillow that you can't see. Way back there."
This is vintage David Goodis - his characters might be dragged down and degraded by reams of filth, both their own psychic filth and the grime of society, but they still have the capacity to dream.
FEMME FATALE
Harbin sends Gladden off to rest and tan under the sun in Atlantic City. That evening, eating dinner at a small restaurant, he catches a glimpse of a beauty with that special something -
"He couldn't be sure whether she was smiling. Her lips were relaxed and so were her eyes. He sensed there was something international in the way she sat there, looking at him...he turned his head away, tried that for a few seconds, then brought his eyes back to hers. She was still looking at him. He noticed now she was something out of the ordinary."
Here name is Della and you bet she's something out of the ordinary. For David Goodis to tell how Della fits into Nat Harbin's future.
GUIDING LIGHT
Back in his younger days, Harbin received advice from a man named Gerald. "But the big thing to remember, Gerald would say, was the necessity of being a fine burglar, a clean and accurate operator, and honorable inside, damn it, an honorable burglar."
Nat Harbin has cause to reflect on these words, particularly in light of what Della says, "I did a lot of thinking about it, knowing definitely that life is worthwhile only when you have a chance of getting what you want."
How will it all play out for Harbin and the others? Grab a copy of The Burglar and find out.
American novelist David Goodis, 1917-1967
November 6, 2025
Say hello to Noir-A-Go-Go!
I'll clarify the 5-star rating (something that doesn't usually need clarification). Till now, I'd only read one other Goodis novel - 'Nightfall'. I liked that one quite a bit and gave that 5-stars as well - for all of the right reasons.
Here, I'm bucking that trend. 'The Burglar' is not as good. It occasionally plays with the potential fire of being a bad book. More than a few times (oh, like, with some of the dialogue) I mumbled to myself, 'Mr. Goodis, you've got to be kidding!' But, each time, the author would swing back from a temporary derailment and, again, cook properly with gas.
Let's say... even though it's noir territory, more than the usual number of allowances might have to be made. The characters may all be handling it with a straight face - but the reader might not always be able to.
Still... when Goodis is good, he's very good.
What mainly holds the book together is the strength of the backstory for protagonist Nat. We learn about the skewed view of the man who raised him:
In classic noir tradition, 'The Burglar' gets other things right. The main 'dame' is appropriately low-rent:
Still, even with its flaws, I liked the book a lot and hesitate in bringing it down to size. Even when it flirts with being bad, it remains immensely provocative. A bit wackier than the average noir, but certainly not boring.
I'll clarify the 5-star rating (something that doesn't usually need clarification). Till now, I'd only read one other Goodis novel - 'Nightfall'. I liked that one quite a bit and gave that 5-stars as well - for all of the right reasons.
Here, I'm bucking that trend. 'The Burglar' is not as good. It occasionally plays with the potential fire of being a bad book. More than a few times (oh, like, with some of the dialogue) I mumbled to myself, 'Mr. Goodis, you've got to be kidding!' But, each time, the author would swing back from a temporary derailment and, again, cook properly with gas.
Let's say... even though it's noir territory, more than the usual number of allowances might have to be made. The characters may all be handling it with a straight face - but the reader might not always be able to.
Still... when Goodis is good, he's very good.
What mainly holds the book together is the strength of the backstory for protagonist Nat. We learn about the skewed view of the man who raised him:
Gerald would say that aside from all this, aside from all the filthy dealing involved, the stink of deceit and lies and the lousy taste of conniving and corruption, it was possible for a human being to live in this world and be honorable with himself. To be honorable with himself, Gerald would say, was the only thing could give living a true importance, an actual nobility. If a man decided to be a burglar and he became a burglar and made his hauls with smoothness and finesse, with accuracy and artistic finish, and got away with the haul, then he was, according to Gerald, an honorable man.In Nat's mind, with Nat's particular background, as long as no one is physically hurt, taking is honorable.
In classic noir tradition, 'The Burglar' gets other things right. The main 'dame' is appropriately low-rent:
"I wish... sometime I could get to talk with women. If once a month I could talk lady talk with ladies I'd be happy."Goodis can be adept at noir-esque description:
"I told you I'm not a little girl anymore. I've grown up, I know the alphabet."
She had seated herself in a deep sofa that looked like it was fashioned from pistachio ice cream and would melt away any minute.~even if there can be purple self-parody in his prose:
The liquid of her lips poured into his brains. There was a bursting in his brain as everything went out of his brain and Della came in, filling his brain so that his brain was crammed with Della.But, putting the book's sporadic OTT moments aside, the whole novel falls into the danger of coming undone as it reaches a somewhat-extended conclusion that is not only ludicrous but, quite simply, could never possibly happen. It's just about laughable.
Still, even with its flaws, I liked the book a lot and hesitate in bringing it down to size. Even when it flirts with being bad, it remains immensely provocative. A bit wackier than the average noir, but certainly not boring.
December 3, 2021
if you like this review, i now have website: www.michaelkamakana.com
051010 second review: i just read it again. realized this is perhaps my favourite goodis- probably for the doomed romance plot. here the plot is clear, is simple, is plausible even when at first glance seems absurd. there is a reason for everything. the protagonist is a professional, an honourable burglar, a man who thinks, who plans and practices, who never wants to hurt anyone, who wants to forever keep his promises. the burglary goes like clockwork. he talks his way out of trouble. he runs his surrogate family smooth and thoughtful. he focuses on what to do, how to do, when and where- but buries all thought of why until it is too late. goodis captures best the real moments just when this character and this other character react emotionally and reveal it is not the money, not the pleasure of stealing, but in the end- love. he loves her as she has grown up to love him. even the dangerous cop realizes it is love of the girl he has always wanted... but he has never had 'class' like our doomed burglar, who only comes to understand love when it is too late, when all you can do is lose...
i read that the philosopher Wittgenstein once dismissed work of fellow academics by pointing to such ‘roman noir’/crime pulp and claiming there was more philosophy in these books than their professional works. even if i am not necessarily rabid fan of him, i would say this is not just a joke but sometimes true, as in this work: always existentialist, always up against the world he has made, always trying to be true, always doomed in love, finally determinist, tragic, inescapable. there is no other way this can end, the way i could only remember in effect and not in detail... i was waiting for it. i up the rating up to a five...
??? 2000s first review: something to be said for a story that goes exactly where you want, direct and concise, writing that does not bore or distract from lean plot. the first goodis i have read, though i have seen truffaut’s film shoot the piano player. sharp, direct, from 53. i see the overwhelming style of hemingway in dialog and short, punchy, description of emotional stoicism. and kerouac in workmanlike prose, cool, rootless, losers. sharp. simple plot. embedded morality. have they made a film out of this- yes but i have not seen it or found it...
more
Street of No Return
Shoot the Piano Player
The Wounded and the Slain
Dark Passage
David Goodis: Five Noir Novels of the 1940s & 50s (LOA #225): Dark Passage / Nightfall / The Burglar / The Moon in the Gutter / Street of No Return: Dark ... Return
051010 second review: i just read it again. realized this is perhaps my favourite goodis- probably for the doomed romance plot. here the plot is clear, is simple, is plausible even when at first glance seems absurd. there is a reason for everything. the protagonist is a professional, an honourable burglar, a man who thinks, who plans and practices, who never wants to hurt anyone, who wants to forever keep his promises. the burglary goes like clockwork. he talks his way out of trouble. he runs his surrogate family smooth and thoughtful. he focuses on what to do, how to do, when and where- but buries all thought of why until it is too late. goodis captures best the real moments just when this character and this other character react emotionally and reveal it is not the money, not the pleasure of stealing, but in the end- love. he loves her as she has grown up to love him. even the dangerous cop realizes it is love of the girl he has always wanted... but he has never had 'class' like our doomed burglar, who only comes to understand love when it is too late, when all you can do is lose...
i read that the philosopher Wittgenstein once dismissed work of fellow academics by pointing to such ‘roman noir’/crime pulp and claiming there was more philosophy in these books than their professional works. even if i am not necessarily rabid fan of him, i would say this is not just a joke but sometimes true, as in this work: always existentialist, always up against the world he has made, always trying to be true, always doomed in love, finally determinist, tragic, inescapable. there is no other way this can end, the way i could only remember in effect and not in detail... i was waiting for it. i up the rating up to a five...
??? 2000s first review: something to be said for a story that goes exactly where you want, direct and concise, writing that does not bore or distract from lean plot. the first goodis i have read, though i have seen truffaut’s film shoot the piano player. sharp, direct, from 53. i see the overwhelming style of hemingway in dialog and short, punchy, description of emotional stoicism. and kerouac in workmanlike prose, cool, rootless, losers. sharp. simple plot. embedded morality. have they made a film out of this- yes but i have not seen it or found it...
more
Street of No Return
Shoot the Piano Player
The Wounded and the Slain
Dark Passage
David Goodis: Five Noir Novels of the 1940s & 50s (LOA #225): Dark Passage / Nightfall / The Burglar / The Moon in the Gutter / Street of No Return: Dark ... Return
February 27, 2023
Goodis’ 1953 novel, the Burglar, like Black Friday (1954), released the following year, is the story of a gang of jewel thieves preying on the mansions dotting Philadelphia’s Main Line neighborhoods. Both novels focus not so much on a particular caper, but on the burgeoning tensions between members of the gang. In Black Friday, Goodis focuses on an outsider and his disruptive influence on the gang. The Burglar focuses on a four-person gang with the focus being on an integral member of the gang, Hardin.
Like many other crime novels, the story tells us how hard it is to just walk away. With Hardin, there’s no escaping his fate no matter how much he tries. It’s at its root the story of commitments and responsibilities, beginning with the debt Hardin pays by taking care of Gladden all these years. Hardin is a particularly sorrowful character, smart as a whip, but eternally condemned to run.
It’s also the story of a suitcase full of emeralds and how everyone fights over them. In 1957, it was turned into a motion picture with none other than Jayne Mansfield playing the role of Gladden. Martha Vickers played the femme fatale Della. And, Dan Duryea played Nat Harbin. It spawned another motion picture remake in 1971 starring Omar Sharif and Dyan Cannon, although that was set in Greece, not Philadelphia and Atlantic City.
Like many other crime novels, the story tells us how hard it is to just walk away. With Hardin, there’s no escaping his fate no matter how much he tries. It’s at its root the story of commitments and responsibilities, beginning with the debt Hardin pays by taking care of Gladden all these years. Hardin is a particularly sorrowful character, smart as a whip, but eternally condemned to run.
It’s also the story of a suitcase full of emeralds and how everyone fights over them. In 1957, it was turned into a motion picture with none other than Jayne Mansfield playing the role of Gladden. Martha Vickers played the femme fatale Della. And, Dan Duryea played Nat Harbin. It spawned another motion picture remake in 1971 starring Omar Sharif and Dyan Cannon, although that was set in Greece, not Philadelphia and Atlantic City.
May 26, 2012
4.5 stars, really. Call it serendipity or whatever, but I read THE BURGLAR (1953) while revising my own work-in-progress which is about thieves pulling off a diamond heist. Goodis has his gang of five thieves (4 men and a lady) rip off a cache of emeralds from a mansion in a posh enclave of Philadelphia. Nat Harbin, the boss and brains, fools a pair of cops who come nosing around during the robbery to get lost.
The gang manages to finish the emerald caper and return to their seedy hideout they call The Spot. Things unravel fast from that point. After all, this is classic noir. For one thing, Harbin is over-protective of the waifish lady thief simply called Gladden while he romances a rich divorcee named Della. That right there produces sparks galore.
THE BURGLAR didn't shine quite as much as the other Goodis novels I've read. It was published by Lion, not his usual publisher, Gold Medal. Perhaps GM had given it a pass. At any rate, several convenient coincidences have to occur in the plot to make it work right. That said, now I can gush. The ending will haunt me. The prose is poetic and stark, as always. The back story of Nat's thief mentor Gerald (also Gladden's father) defines who Nat is. The steamy, sticky Atlantic City setting is ideal to cast a noir.
I have not seen the movie versions, so I can't comment on them. Buxom Jayne Mansfield seems an odd casting choice for the waifish Gladden, however.
For two nights, I loved reading THE BURGLAR in spite of its minor flaws. Is it a re-read for me? Definitely.
The gang manages to finish the emerald caper and return to their seedy hideout they call The Spot. Things unravel fast from that point. After all, this is classic noir. For one thing, Harbin is over-protective of the waifish lady thief simply called Gladden while he romances a rich divorcee named Della. That right there produces sparks galore.
THE BURGLAR didn't shine quite as much as the other Goodis novels I've read. It was published by Lion, not his usual publisher, Gold Medal. Perhaps GM had given it a pass. At any rate, several convenient coincidences have to occur in the plot to make it work right. That said, now I can gush. The ending will haunt me. The prose is poetic and stark, as always. The back story of Nat's thief mentor Gerald (also Gladden's father) defines who Nat is. The steamy, sticky Atlantic City setting is ideal to cast a noir.
I have not seen the movie versions, so I can't comment on them. Buxom Jayne Mansfield seems an odd casting choice for the waifish Gladden, however.
For two nights, I loved reading THE BURGLAR in spite of its minor flaws. Is it a re-read for me? Definitely.
March 23, 2015
Lean, mean, and terribly bleak, once this story starts moving it's pretty hard to break away from it until the haunting ending (one of the best endings I've read)! This was my first novel by the nearly forgotten David Goodis and it won't be my last.
Example of Goodis's poetic bleakness:
“He couldn’t speak. The thing that crushed down on him was the sum weight of all the years, and her voice was a lance cutting through it, breaking it all up and showing him it added up to nothing but a horrible joke he had played on himself.”
Example of Goodis's poetic bleakness:
“He couldn’t speak. The thing that crushed down on him was the sum weight of all the years, and her voice was a lance cutting through it, breaking it all up and showing him it added up to nothing but a horrible joke he had played on himself.”
July 17, 2012
Underneath the facade' of a heist novel lies a story about a damaged man who slowly finds himself, only to loose his tender grip on a perfect reality just as he begins to grasp it. Nat Harbin grew up, fostered by a thief, raised as one, consumed by the idea and thrill of the take. Deeper than most in the sub genre, 'The Burglar' inches towards literature by virtue of its core plot element and rationalisation of character. For Nat, the deducer, evaluator, and strategist, planning, execution and reward are drivers in a less than lawful lifestyle - this he recognises while succumbing to old adage of being a product of his environment. While the less than ideal childhood led him down the path to stolen jewels, police shootouts, death, and murder, its the steady cause for redemption and realisation of romantic notions that drives his character throughout the novel.
'The Burglar' offers a glimpse at the grim over glitter side of the profession. Herein lies broken truths and empty dreams as members of the gang turn all too quickly for monetary gain, damning false friendship in preference for saving themselves when the sirens come. Adding to a shattered criminal dynamic is a shyster in police blues who acts as the twist to each turn orchestrated by Goodis as the gang of thieves struggle to make way with their household take. The inception of the corrupt figure, a wolf in sheep's clothing, promises so much and delivers far more - a testament to Goodis' boundary-stretching noir (largely thanks to a mysterious women named Della who eases herself too easily into the frame).
Female lead Gladden is the primary reason for the novel's deception, turning heist to romance, to noir with literally qualities. Having grown up with Nat, there was always going to be some sort of complex - one that bears fruit just at the right time for the readers enjoyment.
My only real complaint with Goodis is that his male leads tend to be interchangeable, 'The Burglar', 'Dark Passage' and 'Nightfall' all have protagonists with similar if not the same voice, that aside, this was a nice read. Different to what I had perceived and rewarding all the same. 4 stars
This review is from 'The Burglar' which appears in David Goodis: Five Noir Novels of the 1940s and 50s: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12...
'The Burglar' offers a glimpse at the grim over glitter side of the profession. Herein lies broken truths and empty dreams as members of the gang turn all too quickly for monetary gain, damning false friendship in preference for saving themselves when the sirens come. Adding to a shattered criminal dynamic is a shyster in police blues who acts as the twist to each turn orchestrated by Goodis as the gang of thieves struggle to make way with their household take. The inception of the corrupt figure, a wolf in sheep's clothing, promises so much and delivers far more - a testament to Goodis' boundary-stretching noir (largely thanks to a mysterious women named Della who eases herself too easily into the frame).
Female lead Gladden is the primary reason for the novel's deception, turning heist to romance, to noir with literally qualities. Having grown up with Nat, there was always going to be some sort of complex - one that bears fruit just at the right time for the readers enjoyment.
My only real complaint with Goodis is that his male leads tend to be interchangeable, 'The Burglar', 'Dark Passage' and 'Nightfall' all have protagonists with similar if not the same voice, that aside, this was a nice read. Different to what I had perceived and rewarding all the same. 4 stars
This review is from 'The Burglar' which appears in David Goodis: Five Noir Novels of the 1940s and 50s: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12...
December 23, 2024
A perfect gem. This is no longer an old-styled 1950’s noir. It is something later. The beginnings of neo-noir (?), it has the feel of a much more modern, more contemporary novel. Whereas the first two books in the series (Dark Passage and Nightfall) were written in black-and-white, this one is “filmed“ in color.
August 17, 2023
He couldn’t speak. The thing that crushed down on him was the sum weight of all the years, and her voice was a lance cutting through it, breaking it all up and showing him it added up to nothing but a horrible joke he had played on himself.
The third novel in Library of America's notable collection of Goodis's 1950 noir novels is this story of a burglar whose life is turned upside-down after a large jewel heist. As usual for Goodis - who is most well known for his second novel Dark Passage which was filmed starring Humphrey Bogart and which inspired the iconic TV show "The Fugitive" - the focus is on the inner monologue - the hopes, desires, dreams, and fears - of a tormented character who finds himself fighting upstream against the course of precipitous events that could elevate him or crush him forever. Published in 1953, squarely in the middle of the busiest portion of Goodis's novel-writing career, the story was filmed in 1956 (the first directorial effort of Paul "Gidget" Wendkos) - the only screenplay Goodis authored that was produced as a film.
"I never wanted anyone to die." He stared ahead, at the people seated in the pavilion, the people on the boardwalk, and indicating them, he said, "I swear I have nothing against them. Not a thing. Look at them. All of them. I like them. I really like them, even though they hate my guts." His voice went very low. "Yours too."
The third novel in Library of America's notable collection of Goodis's 1950 noir novels is this story of a burglar whose life is turned upside-down after a large jewel heist. As usual for Goodis - who is most well known for his second novel Dark Passage which was filmed starring Humphrey Bogart and which inspired the iconic TV show "The Fugitive" - the focus is on the inner monologue - the hopes, desires, dreams, and fears - of a tormented character who finds himself fighting upstream against the course of precipitous events that could elevate him or crush him forever. Published in 1953, squarely in the middle of the busiest portion of Goodis's novel-writing career, the story was filmed in 1956 (the first directorial effort of Paul "Gidget" Wendkos) - the only screenplay Goodis authored that was produced as a film.
"I never wanted anyone to die." He stared ahead, at the people seated in the pavilion, the people on the boardwalk, and indicating them, he said, "I swear I have nothing against them. Not a thing. Look at them. All of them. I like them. I really like them, even though they hate my guts." His voice went very low. "Yours too."
February 16, 2023
At 34 years old Nathaniel Harbin has been a burglar for 18 years and has never even been close to getting caught. At the outset of the novel, it’s just another routine working day as he heads a gang of four that steal a necklace of diamonds from a mansion.
He is the brains behind the operation, choosing the jobs and meticulously planning each detail. Unlike many noirs of the time, all four of the team are streetwise, experienced and successful; two hoods, Baylock and Dohmer, who lack the brain but make up for it with brawn, and the woman, Gladdin, who is in love with Harbin, and who he has brought up since she was 7 years old.
It’s a great opening to a novel.
The heist went well, but with one tiny flaw.. and of course, that sparks trouble, and before we know it, everything changes. Ed Gorman
For those intent on reading this, seek to know no more about the plot.
Goodis’s brilliance is in creating the underlying sense of doom, from the moment Harbin exits the mansion, and it’s almost unbearable at times, urging for the pages to be turned. This is, to date, the strongest of his books for me.
It stands out in its field for several reasons as I have hinted at above, but also as rather than a solitary protagonist it concerns a group dynamic, the four are practically family. Regardless though, it will end in tears, common to Goodis’s work, his lead character, or here characters, will give everything, bit it won’t be enough.
He didn’t do happy endings.
A fitting description of his writing from the much loved author, Ed Gorman,
He is the brains behind the operation, choosing the jobs and meticulously planning each detail. Unlike many noirs of the time, all four of the team are streetwise, experienced and successful; two hoods, Baylock and Dohmer, who lack the brain but make up for it with brawn, and the woman, Gladdin, who is in love with Harbin, and who he has brought up since she was 7 years old.
It’s a great opening to a novel.
The heist went well, but with one tiny flaw.. and of course, that sparks trouble, and before we know it, everything changes. Ed Gorman
For those intent on reading this, seek to know no more about the plot.
Goodis’s brilliance is in creating the underlying sense of doom, from the moment Harbin exits the mansion, and it’s almost unbearable at times, urging for the pages to be turned. This is, to date, the strongest of his books for me.
It stands out in its field for several reasons as I have hinted at above, but also as rather than a solitary protagonist it concerns a group dynamic, the four are practically family. Regardless though, it will end in tears, common to Goodis’s work, his lead character, or here characters, will give everything, bit it won’t be enough.
He didn’t do happy endings.
A fitting description of his writing from the much loved author, Ed Gorman,
David Goodis didn’t write novels, he wrote suicide notes.
December 7, 2024
Loyalty And Noir
The noir novels of David Goodis (1917 -- 1967) should receive widespread attention with the publication of a new Library America volume of five novels Goodis wrote in the 1940's and 50's. David Goodis: Five Noir Novels of the 1940s and 50s (Library of America) As I work through the LOA volume, I have been enjoying reviewing each individual book in more detail than would be possible in a review of the single volume of five novels.
Written in 1953 when Goodis had left Hollywood and moved back to his native Philadelphia, "The Burglar" was published only in an inexpensive paperback edition. It was the sort of book sold in bus stations or at newstands for a short, entertaining read. Like some other art, Goodis' books were not written or sold with the expectation that they would one day be found of long term value. In 1957, a movie version of "The Burglar" was released directed by Paul Wendklos with stars including Dan Duryea and Jane Mansfield and with the screenplay by Goodis himself.
Goodis' novel is set in Philadelphia and Atlantic City in the late 1940's. For a short book, "The Burglar" includes a considerable number of well-developed characters and addresses several important themes in addition to the robberies and murders of a crime story.
The primary character, Nat Harbin, 33, is the leader of a group of four robbers who live together in an old house in a shabby area of Philadelphia. Harbin's confederates are two slightly older men, Baylock and Dohmer, and a young woman in her early 20s, Gladden, whose relationship with Harbin is developed in the course of the book. As the book opens, Goodis' gang of four meticulously pulls off a heist of $100,000 in emeralds from a safe in a wealthy Philadelphia home. Tensions break out among the four members, and the loyalty and cohesiveness of the group is severely tested. A major source of the tension involves Harbin, who falls heavily for a wealthy woman named Della whom he meets, apparently by chance in a cheap restaurant. Della invites Harbin to live with her in an idyllic home in rural Pennsylvania. The group appears to be about to dissolve.
The search for love, and its elusive character, is a major theme of "The Burglars" as Goodis creates a poignant, surprisingly thoughtful love story. The major theme of the book, however, is loyalty. Although I doubt that Goodis was aware of the connection, the emphasis on loyalty in "The Burglars" reminded me of the American philosopher Josiah Royce who put the virtue of loyalty at the heart of ethics. When Harbin's parents died during his adolescence, he was taken in by a thief named Gerald Gladden who treated him kindly and taught him the trade. When Gladden died in a robbery, Harbin took responsibility for the care of his young daughter, then six, whom he called simply "Gladden". Gerald instilled in Harbin the value of loyalty in addition to the tools of theft. Here is how Goodis describes Gerald's teachings to young Harbin:
"This big thing, Gerald would say, this thing of being honorable, was the only thing, and actually, if a human being didn't have it, there wasn't much point in going on living. As matters stood, life offered very little aside from an occasional plunge into luxurious sensation, which never lasted for long and even while it happened was accompanied by the dismal knowledge that it would soon be over. In the winter Gerald had a mania for oyster stew, and always while he ate the stew he would complain the plate would soon be empty and his stomach would be too full for him to enjoy another plate. All these things like oyster stew and clean underwear and fresh cigarettes were temporary things, little passing touches of pleasure, limited things, unimportant things. What mattered, what mattered high up there by itself all alone, Gerald would say, was whether things are honorable."
In Goddis' novel, Harbin has to examine both his personal relationship to Gladden and his relationship to his fellow thieves and assess them in light of his passion for Della. These themes are developed in the context of a noir story which includes as well passages of acute description of run-down Atlantic city hotels, furious storms, and poor Philadelphia bars and restaurants.
"The Burglars" is a thoughtful, difficult novel in the unprepossessing guise of a throwaway paperback. The Library of America did a service in publishing its volume of Goodis novels.
Robin Friedman
The noir novels of David Goodis (1917 -- 1967) should receive widespread attention with the publication of a new Library America volume of five novels Goodis wrote in the 1940's and 50's. David Goodis: Five Noir Novels of the 1940s and 50s (Library of America) As I work through the LOA volume, I have been enjoying reviewing each individual book in more detail than would be possible in a review of the single volume of five novels.
Written in 1953 when Goodis had left Hollywood and moved back to his native Philadelphia, "The Burglar" was published only in an inexpensive paperback edition. It was the sort of book sold in bus stations or at newstands for a short, entertaining read. Like some other art, Goodis' books were not written or sold with the expectation that they would one day be found of long term value. In 1957, a movie version of "The Burglar" was released directed by Paul Wendklos with stars including Dan Duryea and Jane Mansfield and with the screenplay by Goodis himself.
Goodis' novel is set in Philadelphia and Atlantic City in the late 1940's. For a short book, "The Burglar" includes a considerable number of well-developed characters and addresses several important themes in addition to the robberies and murders of a crime story.
The primary character, Nat Harbin, 33, is the leader of a group of four robbers who live together in an old house in a shabby area of Philadelphia. Harbin's confederates are two slightly older men, Baylock and Dohmer, and a young woman in her early 20s, Gladden, whose relationship with Harbin is developed in the course of the book. As the book opens, Goodis' gang of four meticulously pulls off a heist of $100,000 in emeralds from a safe in a wealthy Philadelphia home. Tensions break out among the four members, and the loyalty and cohesiveness of the group is severely tested. A major source of the tension involves Harbin, who falls heavily for a wealthy woman named Della whom he meets, apparently by chance in a cheap restaurant. Della invites Harbin to live with her in an idyllic home in rural Pennsylvania. The group appears to be about to dissolve.
The search for love, and its elusive character, is a major theme of "The Burglars" as Goodis creates a poignant, surprisingly thoughtful love story. The major theme of the book, however, is loyalty. Although I doubt that Goodis was aware of the connection, the emphasis on loyalty in "The Burglars" reminded me of the American philosopher Josiah Royce who put the virtue of loyalty at the heart of ethics. When Harbin's parents died during his adolescence, he was taken in by a thief named Gerald Gladden who treated him kindly and taught him the trade. When Gladden died in a robbery, Harbin took responsibility for the care of his young daughter, then six, whom he called simply "Gladden". Gerald instilled in Harbin the value of loyalty in addition to the tools of theft. Here is how Goodis describes Gerald's teachings to young Harbin:
"This big thing, Gerald would say, this thing of being honorable, was the only thing, and actually, if a human being didn't have it, there wasn't much point in going on living. As matters stood, life offered very little aside from an occasional plunge into luxurious sensation, which never lasted for long and even while it happened was accompanied by the dismal knowledge that it would soon be over. In the winter Gerald had a mania for oyster stew, and always while he ate the stew he would complain the plate would soon be empty and his stomach would be too full for him to enjoy another plate. All these things like oyster stew and clean underwear and fresh cigarettes were temporary things, little passing touches of pleasure, limited things, unimportant things. What mattered, what mattered high up there by itself all alone, Gerald would say, was whether things are honorable."
In Goddis' novel, Harbin has to examine both his personal relationship to Gladden and his relationship to his fellow thieves and assess them in light of his passion for Della. These themes are developed in the context of a noir story which includes as well passages of acute description of run-down Atlantic city hotels, furious storms, and poor Philadelphia bars and restaurants.
"The Burglars" is a thoughtful, difficult novel in the unprepossessing guise of a throwaway paperback. The Library of America did a service in publishing its volume of Goodis novels.
Robin Friedman
September 23, 2016
The Burglar by David Goodis is a direct transport vehicle into the minds of characters seen in film noir movies like the Maltese Falcon and Double Indemnity. That mindset values a clarity that can be brutal but also beautiful.
All fat is trimmed away here. The characters are primarily known by one name, their last. Goodis can build dramatic tension at will and there are some nail-biting scenes, but this novel is more interior than the others of his I've read. Harbin, the protagonist, is like an American Tarzan, rescued and raised by a kind of wolf as he was starving, adrift as an adolescent in the concrete jungle of Depression America,
"He had been an infant, sixteen years old but all the same an infant, an orphan, sixteen years old, with nothing in his mind but a drastic need for food, and the piteous bewilderment of an infant begging for aid from a world that wouldn't listen."
His literal savior is a burglar named Gerald who asks,
"what laws could control the need to take food and put it in the stomach? No law, Gerald would say, could erase the practice of taking. According to Gerald, the basic and primary moves in life amounted to nothing more than this business of taking, to take and get away with it. A fish stole the eggs of another fish. A bird robbed another bird's nest. Among the gorillas, the clever thief was the king of the tribe. Among men, Gerald would say, the princes and kings and tycoons were the successful thieves, either big strong thieves or suave soft-spoken thieves who moved in from the rear. But thieves, Gerald wold claim, and more power to them if they could get away with it."
In accepting this description of society however, Harbin does not abandon morality. Instead he does the opposite, fashioning a morality that is not rife with hypocrisy. This is the essence of what attracts me to this genre, a philosophy that is forged from the raw material of experience.
"Gerald would say that aside from all this, aside from all the filthy dealing involved, the stink of deceit and lies and the lousy taste of conniving and corruption, it was possible for a human being to live in this world and be honorable within himself. To be honorable within oneself, Gerald would say, was the only thing that could give living a true importance, an actual nobility."
Yep
All fat is trimmed away here. The characters are primarily known by one name, their last. Goodis can build dramatic tension at will and there are some nail-biting scenes, but this novel is more interior than the others of his I've read. Harbin, the protagonist, is like an American Tarzan, rescued and raised by a kind of wolf as he was starving, adrift as an adolescent in the concrete jungle of Depression America,
"He had been an infant, sixteen years old but all the same an infant, an orphan, sixteen years old, with nothing in his mind but a drastic need for food, and the piteous bewilderment of an infant begging for aid from a world that wouldn't listen."
His literal savior is a burglar named Gerald who asks,
"what laws could control the need to take food and put it in the stomach? No law, Gerald would say, could erase the practice of taking. According to Gerald, the basic and primary moves in life amounted to nothing more than this business of taking, to take and get away with it. A fish stole the eggs of another fish. A bird robbed another bird's nest. Among the gorillas, the clever thief was the king of the tribe. Among men, Gerald would say, the princes and kings and tycoons were the successful thieves, either big strong thieves or suave soft-spoken thieves who moved in from the rear. But thieves, Gerald wold claim, and more power to them if they could get away with it."
In accepting this description of society however, Harbin does not abandon morality. Instead he does the opposite, fashioning a morality that is not rife with hypocrisy. This is the essence of what attracts me to this genre, a philosophy that is forged from the raw material of experience.
"Gerald would say that aside from all this, aside from all the filthy dealing involved, the stink of deceit and lies and the lousy taste of conniving and corruption, it was possible for a human being to live in this world and be honorable within himself. To be honorable within oneself, Gerald would say, was the only thing that could give living a true importance, an actual nobility."
Yep
September 14, 2013
Nat Harbin is a burglar with a strong sense of obligation to his "family"-- that is, the other thieves in his little circle. The strongest obligation is to Gladden, the girl he's been looking after since her father (Nat's instructor in the art of burglary) was killed. This responsibility is Nat's closest link to humanity, and it's also his curse. It's a great weight on his soul, but one he can't shed. After a big heist in which the gang snatches a fortune in emeralds, the dynamics between them all start going south-- tensions reach the breaking point, and paranoia rears its ugly head. Turns out they have a good reason to be paranoid; someone is on to them, someone intent on taking their haul away by any means available. Nat, who has long suppressed his emotions, falls hard for the beautiful and mysterious Della, decides to leave the gang (and Gladden) behind-- but getting out isn't that easy, and there might be more to Della than just an escape. She might be Nat's doom.
THE BURGLAR is an example of David Goodis at the height of his powers as a writer, using all the hallmarks he's known for: a quietly intense protagonist, torn apart by his own hubris, vivid supporting characters illustrated in minimal strokes, choices the protagonist has to make (here and in others by Goodis brought to life in the form of two very different woman), and most notably a dreamy, almost surreal tone that looms over everything like white smoke, closing in.
There are some remarkably memorable set pieces in THE BURGLAR. The scene on the road, where Nat and his partners are on their way to Atlantic City when they get pulled over by the cops is really strong. The rain pounding down out of the black sky, a storm coming in, the sudden violence as guns are drawn and people die, is as striking as any action scene I've read. And the end, the end... a beautifully done finale, on the beach at night in Atlantic City, a showdown of sorts, an unexpected proclamation of love, and a desperate and doomed attempt at escape by ocean as the crowds and the cops close in.
Classic, solid noir is what that is.
David Goodis, to me, is the real father of noir, and THE BURGLAR illustrates why. Highly recommended.
THE BURGLAR is an example of David Goodis at the height of his powers as a writer, using all the hallmarks he's known for: a quietly intense protagonist, torn apart by his own hubris, vivid supporting characters illustrated in minimal strokes, choices the protagonist has to make (here and in others by Goodis brought to life in the form of two very different woman), and most notably a dreamy, almost surreal tone that looms over everything like white smoke, closing in.
There are some remarkably memorable set pieces in THE BURGLAR. The scene on the road, where Nat and his partners are on their way to Atlantic City when they get pulled over by the cops is really strong. The rain pounding down out of the black sky, a storm coming in, the sudden violence as guns are drawn and people die, is as striking as any action scene I've read. And the end, the end... a beautifully done finale, on the beach at night in Atlantic City, a showdown of sorts, an unexpected proclamation of love, and a desperate and doomed attempt at escape by ocean as the crowds and the cops close in.
Classic, solid noir is what that is.
David Goodis, to me, is the real father of noir, and THE BURGLAR illustrates why. Highly recommended.
November 1, 2014
I ducked out of work early just so I could sit down and finish reading this book. That’s my recommendation. It’s always a mystery why some writers get anointed and not others. Why Raymond Carver instead of Lee K. Abbott? (Imagine how different late 20th century American short fiction would be if Abbott had been on the pantheon and everyone tried to imitate him instead of Carver?). Likewise, why were Chandler and Cain inducted and Goodis forgotten? Clearly Goodis was appreciated by Film Noir directors, with several of his novels making it to celluloid. Yet, his novels struggle to stay in print. To my sensibility, anyway, I see no light between The Burglar and Cain and Chandler’s novels. And, stylistically, Goodis is in many ways superior at the sentence level with more depth and more poetry in the way he works his words. So if you’ve read Cain and Chandler, but not Goodis, give him a read. And if you like heist stories, start with The Burglar.
June 26, 2016
Nat Harbin is a burglar. Highly skilled, professional, and confident. This is why he heads a motley gang. Each member has their own skill and hangup. One is meticulous when it comes to planning but is perpetually complaining. One is a brute but with a quick temper. And the girl is swift but lacks in the brains department. Does this sound like an all-star crew you would want to run?
After a successful score, Harbin makes the acquaintance of a tanned bombshell. Following her toward a new beginning requires leaving the gang and his criminal career behind. No problem, right? Well...let's just say that things aren't always what they appear to be. Tangled relationships and frayed nerves plunge Harbin into a delicate situation as he pursues the love of his life while staying ahead of the man who is hunting the valuable merchandise from his successful score.
The Burglar is great hardboiled crime fiction and it also shares many characteristics with the melodrama movies (aka film noir) that were released during its authorship decade. James Ellroy has a wonderful definition for film noir: "It means your f@#*&ed." Goodis is wonderful at conveying this feeling to the reader especially since the source of the troubles stem from a femme fatale character. These pitfalls are so human and very interesting. They make me think back to previous crushes and all of the stupid things I would do at the drop of a hat. Would I have committed a crime on behalf of their wishes? Dunno. You never can tell.
Classic crime enthusiasts will eat this up and readers of contemporary fiction will enjoy the suspense. The Burglar stands up to today's standards and has that timeless quality of making the reader relate to the desperate and helpless intentions of the novel's characters.
After a successful score, Harbin makes the acquaintance of a tanned bombshell. Following her toward a new beginning requires leaving the gang and his criminal career behind. No problem, right? Well...let's just say that things aren't always what they appear to be. Tangled relationships and frayed nerves plunge Harbin into a delicate situation as he pursues the love of his life while staying ahead of the man who is hunting the valuable merchandise from his successful score.
The Burglar is great hardboiled crime fiction and it also shares many characteristics with the melodrama movies (aka film noir) that were released during its authorship decade. James Ellroy has a wonderful definition for film noir: "It means your f@#*&ed." Goodis is wonderful at conveying this feeling to the reader especially since the source of the troubles stem from a femme fatale character. These pitfalls are so human and very interesting. They make me think back to previous crushes and all of the stupid things I would do at the drop of a hat. Would I have committed a crime on behalf of their wishes? Dunno. You never can tell.
Classic crime enthusiasts will eat this up and readers of contemporary fiction will enjoy the suspense. The Burglar stands up to today's standards and has that timeless quality of making the reader relate to the desperate and helpless intentions of the novel's characters.
September 17, 2015
Huge parts of this book I utterly, utterly loved. But there were also parts I found cheesy or vague or something.
May 29, 2024
Noir + Pulp Fiction = David Goodis. And maybe not in that order, as this is probably more pulpish than noirish. OK, both, because it's really dark, too.
This short novel opens when Nat Harbin and his associates - Baylock, Dohmer and Gladden - are sitting in the car at 3am, waiting for the right moment to break into a mansion and steal $100,000 worth of emeralds. All the advance work has been done by Gladden, getting the proper layout of the mansion, if/where there are any burglar alarms, and when the owners will be absent leaving only the servants sleeping on the top floors. While doing the job, some cops show up because the car in the street is apparently suspicious. Harbin goes back out to reassure them he has left the car because it had mechanical problems.
The story gets more complicated from there with others looking to get the emeralds, too. I could imagine a B-Grade black and white movie coming from this. I liked almost all of it except the ending. It was awful. I don't have enough imagination to write, but surely he could have come up with something better. Actually, Harbin had a good idea right before the awfulness - Goodis could have gone with that.
I'm glad to have discovered David Goodis. Pulpish and Noirish is just the thing sometimes. This is probably only 3-stars, but maybe those stars are more than just plain ones, that they have a little glow to them.
This short novel opens when Nat Harbin and his associates - Baylock, Dohmer and Gladden - are sitting in the car at 3am, waiting for the right moment to break into a mansion and steal $100,000 worth of emeralds. All the advance work has been done by Gladden, getting the proper layout of the mansion, if/where there are any burglar alarms, and when the owners will be absent leaving only the servants sleeping on the top floors. While doing the job, some cops show up because the car in the street is apparently suspicious. Harbin goes back out to reassure them he has left the car because it had mechanical problems.
The story gets more complicated from there with others looking to get the emeralds, too. I could imagine a B-Grade black and white movie coming from this. I liked almost all of it except the ending. It was awful. I don't have enough imagination to write, but surely he could have come up with something better. Actually, Harbin had a good idea right before the awfulness - Goodis could have gone with that.
I'm glad to have discovered David Goodis. Pulpish and Noirish is just the thing sometimes. This is probably only 3-stars, but maybe those stars are more than just plain ones, that they have a little glow to them.
January 13, 2023
Goodis is an impressive talent who writes sentimental fabulist romances from a male perspective and disguises them as crime novels. He’s a wonderful storyteller and can tell a great crime story, but he doesn’t seem interested in crime or heists but in “true love” and the psychology and tragedy surrounding it. This usually makes for a disappointing, frustrating, or unbelievable crime novel. Giving Goodis up for now.
October 2, 2019
The last 50 pages of this goes as follows:
Earbuds in at work, listening to a mixture of dark ambient/new age and reading Goodis, finishing Goodis.
The melancholy I felt was amazing, if that's how I can describe it.
The sadness, the hopelessness, the flawed characters - thumbs up.
Sometimes, circumstances keep things out of reach and you go down grasping eternally.
Earbuds in at work, listening to a mixture of dark ambient/new age and reading Goodis, finishing Goodis.
The melancholy I felt was amazing, if that's how I can describe it.
The sadness, the hopelessness, the flawed characters - thumbs up.
Sometimes, circumstances keep things out of reach and you go down grasping eternally.
May 24, 2017
Astonishing brevity and concision in its emotional content. More of an allegory than a crime story; about honour and things much more important than one's profession and how good you are at it. The irony of the title, that this is about duty and love rising above wealth and greed; whilst the framework of a heist story is constructed to deliver high impact emotions. Goodis throws these feelings into conflict as Harbin stands in confusion between two incredible women. The ending, especially, feels a lot more like a black & white French romantic movie as ennui and melancholy are suffused into the spare plotting of what becomes a fast moving chase story. The few characters sacrifice themselves for love, whilst staring into danger. It leaves you churning inside. The typical drama of people heading boldly straight into the face of peril; compelled by higher emotions rather than a lust for the emeralds at the heart of the plot.
March 16, 2008
Creepy crawly tale of a burnt out house burglar and his vow to take care of his mentor's daughter while a crooked policeman and his B-Girl accomplice stalk them for some stolen jewels.
One of David Goodis' better suspense stories, and the novel's short length means there's no literary lollygagging going on to slow down the action. The movie starring Jayne Mansfield and Dan Duryea is great, but this book is just as good.
One of David Goodis' better suspense stories, and the novel's short length means there's no literary lollygagging going on to slow down the action. The movie starring Jayne Mansfield and Dan Duryea is great, but this book is just as good.
January 25, 2011
It's fucked up, how dark and miserable those pulp guys in the '50s sometimes got. Something was in the water. This is a perfectly balanced crime novel -- 100% bleak without losing its humanity, tightly structured without sacrificing its poetic style. The ending maybe overreaches a bit toward operatic tragedy, but the story is so vivid it almost feels like it's unfolding in slow motion. Hardcore stuff.
July 11, 2007
This was my second time reading The Burglar. The set-up is oddly reminiscent of Richard Stark's/Lawrence Block Parker novels, but this came long before those books. Goodis's vision is so relentlessly bleak it seems impossible that the write so beautifully. The last four pages of the novel stayed with me for over a decade and they're even better than I remember.
February 22, 2016
Dark, concise, introspective. I simply couldn't put it down. I haven't been familiar with noir fiction so far, but we should all start from somewhere.
October 31, 2021
Family can be where you find it, even for those with no one, even for those who live outside the law. Love can come in many shapes and can be a heavy burden, even a snare for the unwary. This is a tale of love and family so wretched that to be hopeless would be a step up. Our protagonist is a professional burglar who learned his trade from a professional burglar, but stuck in middle management, never having had a big score. Why would a burglar venture out to Philly's Main Line -- because that's where the money is. Our hero needs money and breaks the law to get it. But then there's love, and family, and a femme fatale, and from there the plot takes twists, turns, and tricks both tortured and tortuous. An ending as bleak as any the reader may ever encounter. Also a 1957 film with Dan Duryea and a 23-year-old Jayne Mansfield.
April 14, 2025
The Buggerlugs
There were a few moments in this thing, but they were very few and certainly no better than any heist story.
The bulk of this book was the gay hero worrying about which girl loves him for real and which girl he loves for real. Throughout the book, I couldn't help picturing the cartoon of Pepe Le Pew plucking petals -- "She loves me, she loves me not." I can put up with just about any amount of "Grrrr ... grrr" interior monologue, but I'll tolerate no amount of "Hmmm... hmmm" pondering.
Crime novel? My ass.
(This is the first book I read by this "genius". It's gonna take some doing to get me to burn myself twice.)
There were a few moments in this thing, but they were very few and certainly no better than any heist story.
The bulk of this book was the gay hero worrying about which girl loves him for real and which girl he loves for real. Throughout the book, I couldn't help picturing the cartoon of Pepe Le Pew plucking petals -- "She loves me, she loves me not." I can put up with just about any amount of "Grrrr ... grrr" interior monologue, but I'll tolerate no amount of "Hmmm... hmmm" pondering.
Crime novel? My ass.
(This is the first book I read by this "genius". It's gonna take some doing to get me to burn myself twice.)
February 5, 2017
This is my third Goodis novel and definitely my favourite so far. Quite brief at 52,000 words, this is a sharp noir tale set in Philly and Atlantic City in the 50s. All the main characters are well drawn, the protagonist's manias are convincing and there aren't too many dumb things in the plot (in sharp contrast to The Wounded and the Slain). I enjoyed the hell out of this, basically.
February 10, 2013
This is perhaps Goodis' greatest piece of writing. Tightly wound from beginning to end, THE BURGLAR has the added quality of being a seminal work, which would engender the wonderful burglar fiction of Donald Westlake, Garry Disher, Richard Stark and Timothy Hallinan.
July 22, 2014
AWESOME for 2/3 of the book, but unbelievable for the last 1/3. So, to save themselves, they swim OUT to sea? HUH? When everything is so smart early on, then to see everything go so stupid at the end hurts.
January 28, 2015
This book was recommended to me as an excellent example of the crime novel, and it didn't disappoint. It's lean prose shoots you along to a memorable ending that will stay with you long after you close the book's cover.
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