Want to Stay Alive?

Tom Lepski #7

by James Hadley Chase

Poke Tohola, a Seminole Indian, is on to a smart racket. His formula is that fear is the key that unlocks the wallets and handbags of the rich. But Chuck, a cop-killer at 18, and Meg, beddable but dumb, don't work to formula. The three of them turn Paradise City into Panic City. Then Detective Tom Lepski lumbers in . . .

'An old master on top form'Sunday Telegraph

Genres: Fiction, Thriller, Crime, Noir, Action, Novels, Classics

160 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1972

About the author

René Lodge Brabazon Raymond was born on 24th December 1906 in London, England, the son of Colonel Francis Raymond of the colonial Indian Army, a veterinary surgeon. His father intended his son to have a scientific career, was initially educated at King's School, Rochester, Kent. He left home at the age of 18 and became at different times a children's encyclopedia salesman, a salesman in a bookshop, and executive for a book wholesaler before turning to a writing career that produced more than 90 mystery books. His interests included photography (he was up to professional standard), reading and listening to classical music, being a particularly enthusiastic opera lover. Also as a form of relaxation between novels, he put together highly complicated and sophisticated Meccano models.

In 1932, Raymond married Sylvia Ray, who gave him a son. They were together until his death fifty three years later. Prohibition and the ensuing US Great Depression (1929–1939), had given rise to the Chicago gangster culture just prior to World War II. This, combined with her book trade experience, made him realise that there was a big demand for gangster stories. He wrote as R. Raymond, James Hadley Chase, James L. Docherty, Ambrose Grant and Raymond Marshall.

During World War II he served in the Royal Air Force, achieving the rank of Squadron Leader. Chase edited the RAF Journal with David Langdon and had several stories from it published after the war in the book Slipstream: A Royal Air Force Anthology.

Raymond moved to France in 1956 and then to Switzerland in 1969, living a secluded life in Corseaux-sur-Vevey, on Lake Geneva, from 1974. He eventually died there peacefully on 6 February 1985.

Reviews

[W · Rating 4 out of 5]

Poke Toholo has thought up a scheme to make money. He comes to Paradise City,the playground of the rich.The plan is to kill some of the rich and spread fear and panic in the city.

(I was reminded of this book,while watching Clint Eastwood's Dirty Harry movie.It starts similarly).

After that,he plans to extort money from the rest,threatening them with death if they don't pay up.It works,and the money begins to add up.

He also has two accomplices,a man and a girl.But sensing how dangerous and sick he is,they plan to get away with the money.

Once again,there is a lot of violence,plenty of murders and non-stop action as captain of police,Frank Terrell and detective Tom Lepski get on the killer's trail.

Another cracking thriller by a master storyteller.

[Paul Lothane · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of Chase's most popular works, in Africa - over the decades as senior citizens here tell us! What a trio of young crooks we have here- the evil unconscionable Poke Toholo who goes on a killing spree, Chuck, amoral and cruel but not in the Toholo class, and Meg, essentially hapless but who has to go along with the two other men. Toholo not only has a grievance against the rich, but has a scheme to make money, capitalising on their fears - at least it was a lot of money when this book was published decades ago. Toholo the Indian with his slight figure with rippling muscles spreads incredible panic as he is not coy to kill with ruthless frenzy. Apparently the police can not even protect potential witnesses as Toholo wipes humans out without any sense of remorse. Tom Lepski the tough cop is on his trail, helped a bit by a woman 'seer', not that Lepski is anything but sceptical and single minded himself. At last Toholo and Chuck meet their end, though Meg's travails seem to go on...

[Laura L. Van Dam · Rating 4 out of 5]

Estoy muy congestionada (bienvenida, primavera) y quería una lectura ligera para leer en la cama, así que volví a mis habituales novelas de segunda mano. Chase es una apuesta segura, y no decepcionó.

El libro es corto, menos de 200 páginas, y muy ameno, con acción casi constante.

El final me puso un poco nerviosa, Poke Toholo es un antihéroe que al final me hizo quererlo.

Una buena lectura rápida!

[Paul Cornelius · Rating 4 out of 5]

After several subpar works (the exception being There's a Hippie on the Highway), James Hadley Chase returns to form with Want to Stay Alive? This is a good one. Not only does Chase revisit some of his better set pieces, the labyrinth-like array of waterfront stalls at the end, the solid pace of the story, and the reappearance of the boys in the Paradise City PD, he also goes back to his bloody beginnings, with a series of grisly murders given graphic descriptions. And he uses a Seminole Indian as his mastermind, as someone who engages in extortion, terrorism, racial revenge. The race angle is especially interesting, as Chase expresses some degree of sympathy for the Seminoles, a far cry from his early work in the 40s and 50s, where he didn't even bother to mask his language in his use of racial stereotypes and pejoratives. If nothing else, JHC shows he was always a writer with his finger on the pulse of contemporary trends in society. And he made use of them in his work, the sympathetic revisiting of race in the early 70s being a part of that.

[Mark Vickers]

What another ripper from the maestro I know that I keep repeating myself but there is no other way of describing just how brilliant JHC was, no matter which of his works you're reading he leaves you lusting for more....

[Varun Vasudevan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Top notch thriller packed with action right up to the last line - easily one of Chase's best.

[Ivana · Rating 5 out of 5]

Haven't given 5 stars in a while. I can seriously say I enjoyed the book since page 1. Of course the characters a little annoyed me, but nobody's perfect. The story is great :)

[Atanas Dimitrov · Rating 3 out of 5]

Definitely the best Chase novel I’ve read until now.

For a change, the main protagonist – although arguably you can say there isn’t a main one in this particular novel – is not an insufferable idiot on a self-destructive path. The anti-hero that detective Lepinski is was a breath of fresh air, compared to the moronic assholes that I got used to from Chase.

The crime elements are much more pronounced in this story than in all three other Chase novels that I read, which makes up for an action-filled and much more gripping tale.

The characters are once again alive – both the main and secondary ones – and the shorth length of the book makes it an excellent read, for what it is. When the racial commentary was introduced into the main villain’s backstory it served the purpose of formulating a decent moral conflict within the character, with decent (but far from perfect) hints at justification of his actions. Which is what every villain needs.

Score? The perfect toilet read/10.

[Kakha · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fabulous, great book! I will never forget this novel. It is so spic, gorgeous, interesting, cool... This work belongs to the rich, just brilliant series of novels about the fictional glorious city of Paradise City, in which the Indian guy came up with an original way of blackmail – to kill several rich townspeople, thus scaring others and therefore making it easier to get money from them. But, as you probably already guessed, things will not be so simple.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

Its fantastic

[Joydeep · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the best...

[Salisu Rabiu · Rating 5 out of 5]

Master on the art of deception and resolution

[Gayan Ranasinghe · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent thriller with a roller coaster of a storyline!

[Emmanuel Wallart · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the best Chase's novel. A vicious murderer, Paradise City, Lepski at his best and violence, violence, violence... once you start reading you can't stop until the end.

[Biblioworm · Rating 5 out of 5]

Если сравнивать с некоторыми из книг самого же Хэдли Чейза, эта - не самая сильная.
Но она все равно безусловно великолепна.

Поражает, как Хэдли Чейз смог создать такое невероятное количество книг очень хорошего качества.
Да, конечно, они все в одном жанре. Но мало каким писателям удается работать в разных жанрах. И все книги Хэдли Чейза написаны качественно, с хорошей проработкой характеров и побуждающих мотивов героев, с интересно закрученными сюжетами.

В данной книге тоже начинаешь живо видеть главных героев, с интересом следить за лихими поворотами рассказываемой автором истории.
Конец книги меня тоже не разочаровал.

Не очень понимаю, почему иногда называют книги Хэдли Чейза детективами.
Детектив - это расследование, когда читатель не получает всей информации, до завершения книги.
В данном случае это не детектив, а триллер, экшен. С совершенно неожиданными поворотами сюжета и концовкой. Но неожиданными не потому, что автор что-то не раскрывает читателю, а потому что он последовательно рассказывает историю.

[Mary Molicki]

Book inspired by a mention in Americanah as something both Obinze and Ifemelu loved; their shared reading was part of the spark between them.

[Rural Soul · Rating 5 out of 5]

The best book by James Hadley Chase among those I read of him.
Pure Crime Thriller novel soaked in revenge and organized crime plot.

[Δήμος Καραχάλιος · Rating 4 out of 5]

Κλασικός Chase! Ελληνικός τίτλος Πλήρωσε για να ζήσεις Εκδόσεις ΒΙΠΕΡ

[Jay Ranathunga · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not the best of J.H.Chase.