Felony Tank

by Malcolm Braly

Doug is only seventeen when he hits town. He’s been on the run for awhile, and thinks he’s got it all figured out. But when he’s caught robbing a store, he finds that nothing has prepared him for the felony tank. Lying about his age, he is jailed with the adults, and here he meets Carl, the aging lifer with a steady supply of candy bars; Armando, who cuts first and talks later; Pesco, the big wheel from California; and Billy and his friend Agnes, two small-time hoods with big plans for escape…

Genres: Crime

Paperback

First published July 1, 1976

About the author

Abandoned by his parents, Braly lived between foster homes and institutions for delinquent children, and by the time he was forty had spent nearly seventeen years in prison for burglary, serving time at Nevada State Prison, San Quentin, and Folsom State Prison. He wrote three novels behind bars, Felony Tank (1961), Shake Him Till He Rattles (1963), and It’s Cold Out There (1966), and upon his release in 1965 began to work on On the Yard. When prison authorities learned of the book they threatened to revoke his parole, and he was forced to complete it in secret. Published in 1967, after Braly’s parole had expired, On the Yard received wide acclaim. It was followed by his autobiography, False Starts: A Memoir of San Quentin and Other Prisons (1976), and a final work of fiction, The Protector (1979). Malcolm Braly enjoyed fifteen years of freedom before his death in a car accident at age fifty-four.

Reviews

[Patrick O'Neil · Rating 3 out of 5]

Excellent title. Decent story. Typical pulp fiction from Malcolm Braly. Paperback was so old it crumbled as I read it.

[AC · Rating 4 out of 5]

Malcolm Braly spent 20 years in prison before finally getting out and cleaning himself up as a serious writer. Not quite the caliber of Edward Bunker, perhaps, but close.

https://crimereads.com/writing-behind...

Felony Tank (1961) was his first book, written while in San Quentin, with the help of Knox Burger at Fawcett’s Gold Medal, and published before the authorities realized that he hadn’t submitted his manuscript to the censors. Part One reads like a pretty solid noir ‘pulp’ novel. But Part Two reads like a very good and serious ‘noir’ novel.

His second book was apparently caught by the censors. But his third (It’s Cold Out There) and In the Yard (rpt. NYRB) were published when he was free. He died in 1980, at the age of 54, in a car wreck. He was survived by his wife, an infant daughter, and two children from previous marriages (plural).

[Rori.Cantall · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short read. Quick and punchy, like any good noir/pulp novel.

[Lostaccount · Rating 3 out of 5]

Decent pulp crime novel of its era, with a moralistic ending