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Knock Three-One-Two

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"He had a name, but it doesn't matter; call him THE PSYCHO.That's what the newspapers and everyone who read them called him now, since his second murder two months ago. At first he'd been called by various …homicidal maniac, sexual psychopath, and others. For convenience, for shorthand, it had boiled down to the psycho. The police called him that too, although they had been moving heaven and earth to find a better name for him, a name like Peter Jones or Robert Smith, a name that would let them find and apprehend him before he killed again. And again."Ray Fleck is a small man with big problems. To what lengths will this indebted gambler go to appease the bookie threatening to destroy him? As Ray searches for a solution, his life becomes intertwined with a killer terrorizing the city while evading the police. First published in 1959, Knock Three-One-Two was adapted for the short-lived NBC series Boris Karloff's Thriller and has remained one of Brown's most suspenseful works. Brown makes good use of the psychological processes that compel his characters to commits acts of both decency and violence, which culminate in one of the author's best twist approximately 56000 words

176 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1959

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About the author

Fredric Brown

805 books353 followers
Fredric Brown was an American science fiction and mystery writer. He was one of the boldest early writers in genre fiction in his use of narrative experimentation. While never in the front rank of popularity in his lifetime, Brown has developed a considerable cult following in the almost half century since he last wrote. His works have been periodically reprinted and he has a worldwide fan base, most notably in the U.S. and Europe, and especially in France, where there have been several recent movie adaptations of his work. He also remains popular in Japan.

Never financially secure, Brown - like many other pulp writers - often wrote at a furious pace in order to pay bills. This accounts, at least in part, for the uneven quality of his work. A newspaperman by profession, Brown was only able to devote 14 years of his life as a full-time fiction writer. Brown was also a heavy drinker, and this at times doubtless affected his productivity. A cultured man and omnivorous reader whose interests ranged far beyond those of most pulp writers, Brown had a lifelong interest in the flute, chess, poker, and the works of Lewis Carroll. Brown married twice and was the father of two sons.

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5 stars
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Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews
Profile Image for Dave.
3,643 reviews442 followers
August 3, 2021
Originally published in 1959, Knock-Three-One-Two is a dated crime novel that, on one hand, offers the pitiable story of Ray Fleck, a liquor salesman with a taste for the ponies that step by step washes his life down the drain. You feel sorry for this poor sap, but you know he's a miserable bastard that kind of deserves what he gets. When he's up to his eyeballs in his gambling debts, he fantasizes about having dear wife Ruth run over for her life insurance policy payoff. He cheats everyone he meets. He two-times her and then steals his mistress' jewelry when her head is turned. In short, Ray is a creep and that makes it kind of hard to sympathize with his plight. It's also a novel about a psychopathic serial killer and that's always in the background. In the end, though, Brown has a wry sense of humor and that comes into play, particularly at the end.
Profile Image for Ayz.
151 reviews51 followers
May 19, 2023
fun little thriller with a clever twist ending.

worth a quick read.
Profile Image for Steven.
Author 1 book113 followers
August 3, 2021
Some devilish twists at the end so I won't say too much about what happens. The setup is that a psychopath is on the loose, having strangled two women already, and early on we get a couple of scenes from the killer's perspective as he tries for a third victim, but is thwarted both times. Although the omniscient narrative jumps around to a lot of different characters, the protagonist, however, is Ray Fleck. Ray is a gambler and he has racked up big losses that he can't pay back to his bookie. Ray is also a chiseler and a liar and a thief and worse. We see him at his worst trying to raise the money he owes. Ray and the psychopath will meet. Enough said. Brown dials up some neat plotting, but I was disappointed in this one because a lot of the narrative was exposition rather than scenes. That complaint is just my personal preference to scene based narratives and might not bother other readers. He also used a couple of other clunky narrative devices. For example, a character writes a letter to a psychologist friend to explain his theory about the psychopath. So deduction for clunky narrative techniques that detract from an otherwise good story. Add a star for the cover art.
Profile Image for Karl.
3,258 reviews371 followers
Want to read
January 31, 2017
This book is copy numb3er 40 of 200 copies printed.

The book is signed by Jack Seabrook who wrote the introduction, Ron Lessor who did the artwork and there is a facsimile signature of Fredric Brown.

The book also contains 5 additional short stories.

007 - Introduction by Jack Seabrook
015 - "Knock 3-1-2"
199 - "Knock"
213 - "The Little Lamb"
217 - "The New One"
249 - "The Last Train"
255 - "A Voice Behind Him"

Profile Image for Dan.
739 reviews10 followers
June 10, 2022
Dear Perry:

This has been the damnedest night. If you'll forgive the cliché, hell has been popping right and left.


These cheesecake thrillers from the 1950s, where men sport fedoras, purchase racing-pony sheets from corner kiosks, are on first name-basis with local bartenders, and have marital problems with "the wife." Ray is an addicted gambler deep in debt with Joe Amico. He needs $480. He needs it fast. For some odd reason, in the course of one evening, his luck starts below par and gets worse with each swing. Meanwhile, a psychopath is on the loose who has raped and murdered two women and has been spotted attempting his third victim after a two month hiatus. Fredrick Brown weaves these seeming disparate storylines together. It's not a smooth dove-tailed joint, but it holds.

What separates this thriller from the other pulp novels of the same time period is Brown's penchant for fantasy and science fiction. He introduces divine entities interested in the outcome of this one night's conflicts--and their introduction in the middle of the novel is a sudden sucker punch while one is strolling through a park. Suddenly, in the midst of all the tropes of a pulp thriller, we read these opening sentences at the start of the next chapter:

This is the transcript of a conversation that might possibly have happened. If you believe in such things you'll come to see that it could have happened. If you do not believe, it doesn't matter.

And that's what I enjoyed about this thriller: Brown playing with the function of fiction. His insertions of literary allusions and meta-critical questions tamper with the flow, reminding the reader this is a work of fiction and hinting that alternative takes are possible. These elements beg the question: Is Brown even capable of a straight-forward pulp thriller? Probably not--and that, for me, is a good thing.

Brown writes a good story. Like much of the 50s, there's more than a hint of misogyny and cheap titillation--the original cover is awkward in it's promise of "opening the door to rape and murder." I selected this book because of the author despite the cover's lurid promises. The "rape and murder" elements are existent, but they are second fiddle to Brown's orchestration of plotting a single night for one desperate addict. And that's why I'm in the audience. I want the eccentricity, the odd choices, of Fredric Brown in my pulp thriller.

Profile Image for Vicent.
493 reviews24 followers
January 7, 2025
Novel·la amb una trama impecable, que funciona molt bé. Un altre punt a favor és que no és una d'aquestes novel·les negres amb dotzenes de personatges, que no hi ha forma de recordar qui és qui. Amb tot i això, hi ha trossos que es fan repetitius i passats, i el final és bastant forçat. Es pot llegir però amb una volta n'hi ha prou.

La traducció de na Núria Ribera podria haver sét excel·lent. Usa el pretèrit perfet simple i la preposició composta per a davant infinitiu, dos trets que avui en dia no fan servir els partidaris del català light.

Podria haver sét una traducció excel·lent, però no ho és. Li fa falta una bona correcció. Té errors massa bàsics: present continu innecessari, castellanismes morfològics i sintàctics, ús de massa en comptes de gaire, adjectius avantposats, ultracorreccions amb el verb ser, pleonasmes, possessius innecessaris, i errors lèxics bastant sorprenents: un pal de beisbol; una de les fotografies era un primer plànol. I no usa mai articles personals. És una traducció del 1990, però pareix de trenta anys abans.
Profile Image for Pau.
14 reviews2 followers
October 30, 2025
és una mica com la versió en llibre de Uncut Gems dels Safdie. Perfecte com a llibre entretingut curt i sense pretencions.
Profile Image for Dartharagorn .
192 reviews3 followers
September 5, 2023
I thought the book was going to be about a serial killer. Turned out to be something else. It was a quick read. and it was Eh alright... I'm not sorry I read it and the ending had a nice twist.
825 reviews22 followers
November 28, 2018
Ray Fleck is a liquor salesman, an untrustworthy husband, and a compulsive gambler, bordering on crooked. During the course of this book, Fleck steps over that border. Fleck is careening toward disaster with every stumbling step he takes.

Fleck is in debt to his bookie, owing more than he can repay. Fleck's wife Ruth has an insurance policy on her life; she could take money out of that, but she refuses to. So Fleck tries other ways to get money, each taking him more deeply into desperation.

The book takes place over one evening and part of the night, lasting from 5:00 P.M. to 2:45 A.M. During the same period in which Fleck is frantically trying to raise money, two other local men have different goals. One is a serial rapist/murderer, in search of another victim in a city in which women are now very much on alert; the other is a mentally challenged newspaper vendor who has convinced himself that he is the killer, and wants to convince the police as well.

In his fine book Martians and Misplaced Clues: The Life and Work of Fredric Brown, Jack Seabrook says that Knock Three-One-Two is "brilliant, one of [Brown's] finest and most terrifying tales of suspense." I don't agree. I think that the book has serious flaws. It relies much too heavily on coincidence. Also, the serial killer would have to be astonishingly stupid (not crazy, stupid), to attempt a crime for which he could so easily be positively identified. However, Seabrook says that the book received general acclaim, and I do think that much of it is quite good. It was filmed as an episode of the television series Thriller in 1960 and as a French comedy(!) titled L'Ibis Rouge in 1975.
Profile Image for Williwaw.
482 reviews30 followers
November 30, 2014
This is fairly good, but not as satisfying as other Fredric Brown novels I've read, such as "His Name Was Death," "What Mad Universe," or "Night of the Jabberwock."

In short, it's a suspense novel concerning a desperate gambler whose livelihood is on the line unless he settles some debts in short order.

He cooks up a scheme to have his wife murdered by a serial killer so he can collect on her life insurance policy. The suspense concerns what happens after he sets the wheels of his plan in motion.

Easy reading and a great time-killer if you enjoy crime/suspense novels. This one is a bit hard to come by and doesn't come cheaply. The only reason I have it is because I've been collecting old paperback editions of Fredric Brown's novels.

Oh well, the vintage cover art is pretty cool!
23 reviews
July 28, 2021
I love this book. This should be optioned into a movie. The twist ending at the end is not only amazing but really put a nice cap on to end the story.

The story is about a serial rapist killer who has killed two women already and makes an attempt on a third. The Protagonist of our story, Ray Fleck actually sees the killer at one of sites where he kills but does not report it fearing the police would not protect him, the police would take up his time, and he just did not want to get involved.

Ray Fleck is a rat, he cheats on is wife with a woman named Dolly, he gambles there money away and expects his wife to cash out her life insurance policy to pay his gambling debts, he is a thief, and has the attitude that the world owes him.

Ray's problem is that he has gone in debt to his bookie and now the bookie is threatening to hurt him and have him lose his job. Ray is desperate to pay off so he tries to borrow the money and fails, he tries to gather more money by stealing jewelry from Dolly to finance a poker game and fails, and when things get tough he decides to give the psycho rapist killer the info he needs to kill his own wife Ruth so he can collect on the life insurance policy.

Now Ruth works as a waitress at a Greek restaurant and the owner of the restaurant, George Mikos is madly in love with Ruth. He dreams of Ruth leaving Ray and marrying him.

There is all a mentally challenged man named Benny Knox who owns the local newsstand who Ray Fleck borrows money from time to time. Benny has been raised by a hellfire breathing preacher that has put such a guild complex on Benny that Benny confesses to crimes he has not committed. Benny confesses to be the rapist psycho killer but the police know he is innocent but put him in jail for a night to calm him down. Benny wants them to know he is the killer but they seem to doubt him.

Ray meets the killer at the bar and gives out the information of where his wife lives and the code of the knock on the door which is knock Three-one-Two so he can kill Ruth with ease and Ray can collect the money on the policy and pay off his debt.

Things seem to be working to perfection until circumstances change in the shock twist ending which will leave you amused and satisfied with this one. Really a great twist and a happy ending for the most part. Really enjoyed the book and would love to make a motion picture of this.


This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
128 reviews
August 6, 2025
Thriller dalle atmosfere pulp (tra i personaggi segnaliamo un protagonista giocatore d'azzardo, un'estetista ninfomane, un detective ricattatore e un serial killer stupratore) che ci appare, a posteriori, con una fantasiosa rilettura di "Delitto perfetto" di Alfred Hitchcock (uscito nelle sale cinque anni prima), sapientemente ambientata nell'arco di poche ore (dalle 17 all'una di notte, postilla esclusa). Il susseguirsi di errori e sfortune del protagonista appare sin troppo lineare e in alcuni frangenti gratuito (l'incontro col detective), ma verso la fine tocca momenti di sopraffina, amara ironia (la partita a carte tanto attesa), fino a un penultimo capitolo che è uno dei colpi di genio che spingono a dare sempre una chance a Brown, anche nei suoi lavori apparentemente minori. L'ultimo capitolo risulta un po' troppo consolatorio, sebbene non assolutorio, e lascia il rimpianto di una possibile chiusa ancora più spietata.

***

Letto in ed. Mondadori, "I classici del giallo", 1994, titolo "La notte dello psico"
Profile Image for Eeeps :).
226 reviews1 follower
April 2, 2023
Well the protagonist was the definition of a living piece of shit so that made this painful to read at times. I didn't really like any of the other characters - except for Benny, of course. It had good suspense though, and the plotting to get the two unrelated storylines to cross (Ray Fleck, gambling addict, in debt scrambling for money and the serial rapist/killer on the prowl) was well done. I would not recommend this, but it wasn't bad for a 1950s pulp novel.

cw: rape (off screen), attempted rape (off screen), murder, stalking, serial killer, serial rapist, gambling, gambling addiction, violence, misogyny, theft, drinking, infidelity, potentially offensive portrayal of a mentally ill and intellectually disabled character
Profile Image for Temucano.
557 reviews21 followers
July 13, 2023
Fue la primera novela policiaca que leí de Brown, después de haber gozado de parte de su divertida ciencia ficción, y debo reconocer que en un principio no fue lo mismo. Algo forzada la trama, me faltaba el toque cómico extravagante que aligera su lectura fantástica, mas solo había que ser paciente, ya que en el último tercio corrige cualquier desconfianza, confluye personajes y vuelve a demostrar un ingenio fuera de lo común, muy ocurrente.

Después he seguido leyendo otras policiales suyas, y debo reconocer lo prefiero surcando el espacio tiempo de la ciencia ficción, sobre todo en sus viajes de corta duración. Creo es donde mejor aprovecha su inventiva, aunque me quedan varias del género negro por degustar, ojalá me equivoque.
Profile Image for Bryan Davenport.
97 reviews2 followers
January 15, 2024
My first Fredric Brown book and it was one hell of a ride. A serial killer is on the loose killing and raping women and the entire city is paranoid and the killer starts to be unsuccessful. Meanwhile a liquor salesman with a gambling issue is having issues with money and his turn of events lead him down a hell of a path. The story is fantastic and kept me on edge. The characters all had a faboulus story and each one played a crucial part to the ending. The dialogue between characters was fantastic and that 190s jargon was fantastic. I plan on reading more of Frederic Brown. Thanks to Joe R Lansdale for recommending his books in some of his books and on this twitter or X (whatever its caslled now) feed.
Profile Image for Oswald Black.
Author 3 books5 followers
April 8, 2023
I was looking for pulp/noir books to better understand the genre I am told my book is and I think I found a home! I love the shady characters of the genre, the openness in the way the authors shine a light on humanity's less admirable qualities and the twists of fate that always leave me with a bewitched grin for the next few hours--or days if it was really unexpected. This book embodied all of the aforementioned characteristics. It's so on point, it's almost cliché, but as I said, I was in the market for a book that encompassed what noir and pulp are all about. I'm definitely going to look up more from this author.
Profile Image for Robert.
159 reviews1 follower
July 21, 2025
Actually an exciting relatively-lost crime novel, going hour by hour through an evening of frantic gambling, desperation, and obsessive murder. You can fast forward through the opening attack scene, which is not necessary to understanding the novel. Brilliant in its depiction of a man working himself deeper and deeper into a hole, where he really sees no way out. And the author does this WITHOUT using any coincidences so ridiculous that you want to put the book down.

Listen to the audiobook, read by a fine Librivox reader, for free.

Profile Image for Tom Johnson.
56 reviews
January 29, 2024
This was a decent read. Not quite a mystery, more like a hard-boiled pulp. The killer seemed to be more of a secondary character to the main collection of interesting people, so the reader really isn't looking to solve the case. Also, while I hated Ray, and was glad he met his well-deserved demise, I didn't like the who and why. Overall however it kept me entertained.
Profile Image for Boris Cesnik.
291 reviews2 followers
June 13, 2018
Meaty in its shortness.
Ingenious in its plot.

Has it all...yet something is missing...that Fredric Brown's unique touch always present in the grand finale - that's what the last pages lack.

Still bold in its intricacy.
Disarming in its development.
151 reviews7 followers
August 7, 2021
There’s a fantastic short story buried in this bloated mess of a book. The edition I read runs 162 pages and the premise doesn’t kick in until page 126. It’s a diabolically clever plot, though. Brown did for thrillers what Agatha Christie did for mysteries.
Profile Image for Ryan.
327 reviews1 follower
January 9, 2022
4.2 Stars





Milton
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Chris Stephens.
556 reviews3 followers
November 5, 2023
Another amazing piece of crime fiction by a master in his prime!!
Twisted, with a wonderfully thought out plot.
Profile Image for Kathy .
1,178 reviews6 followers
May 20, 2015
I have definitely become a Fredric Brown fan. His tales are grim, complex, with twists, surprises, and characters either likable and slightly revolting. Knock Three-Two-One is especially so in all categories!
Profile Image for Bradley.
2,127 reviews16 followers
April 6, 2011
This is a short story that was mentioned in another book I read. It starts out: The last man on Earth sat alone in a room. There was a knock on the door...”
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