What do you think?
Rate this book
Thieves Fall Out
On the eve of revolution, Egypt is a tinderbox. Will one American light the spark that sets it ablaze?
Gore Vidal was one of America's greatest and most controversial writers. The author of twenty-three novels, five plays, three memoirs, numerous screenplays and short stories, and well over two hundred essays, he received the National Book Award in 1993.
In 1953, Gore Vidal had already begun writing the works that would launch him to the top ranks of American authors and intellectuals. But in the wake of criticism for the scandalous content of his third novel, Vidal turned to writing crime fiction under pseudonyms: three books as "Edgar Box" and one as "Cameron Kay." The Edgar Box novels were subsequently republished under his real name. The Cameron Kay never was.
Lost for more than 60 years and overflowing with political and sexual intrigue, Thieves Fall Out provides a delicious glimpse into the mind of Gore Vidal in his formative years. By turns mischievous and deadly serious, Vidal tells the story of a man caught up in events bigger than he is, a down-on-his-luck American hired to smuggle an ancient relic out of Cairo at a time when revolution is brewing and heads are about to roll.
One part Casablanca and one part torn-from-the-headlines tabloid reportage, this novel also offers a startling glimpse of Egypt in turmoil—written over half a century ago, but as current as the news streaming from that region today.
Cover painting by Glen Orbik.
Gore Vidal was one of America's greatest and most controversial writers. The author of twenty-three novels, five plays, three memoirs, numerous screenplays and short stories, and well over two hundred essays, he received the National Book Award in 1993.
In 1953, Gore Vidal had already begun writing the works that would launch him to the top ranks of American authors and intellectuals. But in the wake of criticism for the scandalous content of his third novel, Vidal turned to writing crime fiction under pseudonyms: three books as "Edgar Box" and one as "Cameron Kay." The Edgar Box novels were subsequently republished under his real name. The Cameron Kay never was.
Lost for more than 60 years and overflowing with political and sexual intrigue, Thieves Fall Out provides a delicious glimpse into the mind of Gore Vidal in his formative years. By turns mischievous and deadly serious, Vidal tells the story of a man caught up in events bigger than he is, a down-on-his-luck American hired to smuggle an ancient relic out of Cairo at a time when revolution is brewing and heads are about to roll.
One part Casablanca and one part torn-from-the-headlines tabloid reportage, this novel also offers a startling glimpse of Egypt in turmoil—written over half a century ago, but as current as the news streaming from that region today.
Cover painting by Glen Orbik.
237 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1953
32 people are currently reading
567 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 96 reviews
May 4, 2015
The little man shook his great head. “I have been to many countries. I’ve done many things. Now I play piano at Le Couteau Rouge.”
“What do you know about a woman named Hélène de Rastignac, a French countess?”
Le Mouche sighed. “Many things. I know, for instance, that she is not French, but Alexandrian, and I know that she is not a countess.”
“But is she rich?”
“I shouldn’t be surprised.”
“Was she a spy in the war?”
“Everyone in Cairo was a spy. It was the thing to be.”
From the moment Pete Wells stepped off the boat in Cairo, he was in over his head. His first night in town he ambles out of his hotel to explore the city and wakes up the next morning in a cheap room with ”moldering yellow plaster”. The room was at its best during the dark of night under the guise of muted lighting, preferably with the distraction of a pretty prostitute.
His head hurt.
His wallet was gone.
He’d been rolled.
The US consul proved unhelpful, but an Englishman by the name of Hastings was exceedingly friendly, even going so far as to introduce him to the lovely enigmatic Hélène de Rastignac. It soon becomes readily apparent that Pete’s desperate financial situation is just exactly the circumstances that de Rastignac wants him to be in.
She dangles herself before him as she asks him for a favor that will not only be lucrative for him, but will also make her feel very warm and amiable towards him. Ahh, how many men have done the most incredibly stupid things with just the hope of bedding a woman?
As it turns out, she miscalculated her own allure because in Luxor, where he is to pick up the contraband that Hélène wants him to take out of the country, he meets Anna Mueller. Miss Mueller does a lot more than dangle herself to Pete.
Now things aren’t going all that well for Pete. People are trying to kill him. He meets a piano player who seems friendly enough, but he certainly isn’t, as it turns out, of the Hoagy Carmichael variety of ivory ticklers. Everywhere he goes he sees the obsequious face of the unscrupulous cop Mohammed Ali, who has designs on the contraband and also on Pete’s...ahhh...willy. There are homosexual overtones throughout the book which are certainly a reflection of the predilections of the author. At one point Pete finds himself at the mercy of a search that reminded me of a story I once read about Lawrence of Arabia.
”A surprisingly soft pair of hands moved over his hard bare chest and arms; then, to his embarrassment, his shorts were pulled off and he was subjected to an examination even more thorough than the Army’s. When he struggled, a knife’s cold blade was held to this throat.”
The book jacket compares this book to Casablanca, and certainly there are “glittering eyes” from the shadows and people in desperate straits willing to do whatever it takes to survive. Gore Vidal wrote this book under the name Cameron Kay. He needed some quick cash after he purchased his Edgewater Estate, so for $3000 and the help of a few martinis (I’m speculating.) he orated this book into a dictaphone. In a matter of weeks, it was transcribed and off to the publisher. He produced four other pulp novels using this system. Three were under the name Edgar Box, and the fourth was under Katherine Everard. The other four were eventually published under his real name, but not Thieves Fall Out. The fact that this novel has now been resurrected probably has Vidal spinning in his grave. He hated the book, and he wanted it to disappear forever, but fans, like myself, who are intrigued by the thought of Gore Vidal writing a pulp novel, find it fascinating that the book even exists in the first place.
You can find more of my writing at http://www.jeffreykeeten.com.
“What do you know about a woman named Hélène de Rastignac, a French countess?”
Le Mouche sighed. “Many things. I know, for instance, that she is not French, but Alexandrian, and I know that she is not a countess.”
“But is she rich?”
“I shouldn’t be surprised.”
“Was she a spy in the war?”
“Everyone in Cairo was a spy. It was the thing to be.”
From the moment Pete Wells stepped off the boat in Cairo, he was in over his head. His first night in town he ambles out of his hotel to explore the city and wakes up the next morning in a cheap room with ”moldering yellow plaster”. The room was at its best during the dark of night under the guise of muted lighting, preferably with the distraction of a pretty prostitute.
His head hurt.
His wallet was gone.
He’d been rolled.
The US consul proved unhelpful, but an Englishman by the name of Hastings was exceedingly friendly, even going so far as to introduce him to the lovely enigmatic Hélène de Rastignac. It soon becomes readily apparent that Pete’s desperate financial situation is just exactly the circumstances that de Rastignac wants him to be in.
She dangles herself before him as she asks him for a favor that will not only be lucrative for him, but will also make her feel very warm and amiable towards him. Ahh, how many men have done the most incredibly stupid things with just the hope of bedding a woman?
As it turns out, she miscalculated her own allure because in Luxor, where he is to pick up the contraband that Hélène wants him to take out of the country, he meets Anna Mueller. Miss Mueller does a lot more than dangle herself to Pete.
Now things aren’t going all that well for Pete. People are trying to kill him. He meets a piano player who seems friendly enough, but he certainly isn’t, as it turns out, of the Hoagy Carmichael variety of ivory ticklers. Everywhere he goes he sees the obsequious face of the unscrupulous cop Mohammed Ali, who has designs on the contraband and also on Pete’s...ahhh...willy. There are homosexual overtones throughout the book which are certainly a reflection of the predilections of the author. At one point Pete finds himself at the mercy of a search that reminded me of a story I once read about Lawrence of Arabia.
”A surprisingly soft pair of hands moved over his hard bare chest and arms; then, to his embarrassment, his shorts were pulled off and he was subjected to an examination even more thorough than the Army’s. When he struggled, a knife’s cold blade was held to this throat.”
The book jacket compares this book to Casablanca, and certainly there are “glittering eyes” from the shadows and people in desperate straits willing to do whatever it takes to survive. Gore Vidal wrote this book under the name Cameron Kay. He needed some quick cash after he purchased his Edgewater Estate, so for $3000 and the help of a few martinis (I’m speculating.) he orated this book into a dictaphone. In a matter of weeks, it was transcribed and off to the publisher. He produced four other pulp novels using this system. Three were under the name Edgar Box, and the fourth was under Katherine Everard. The other four were eventually published under his real name, but not Thieves Fall Out. The fact that this novel has now been resurrected probably has Vidal spinning in his grave. He hated the book, and he wanted it to disappear forever, but fans, like myself, who are intrigued by the thought of Gore Vidal writing a pulp novel, find it fascinating that the book even exists in the first place.
You can find more of my writing at http://www.jeffreykeeten.com.
January 11, 2019
"Thieves Fall Out" is a fun, fast read that transports the reader to post WWII Egypt, which, when this was written in the fifties, was still considered an exotic and fascinating locale. Egypt, in this book, is a hotbed of intrigue and spies left over from the war. There is corruption and deceit everywhere you look and a fortune in ancient treasure just waiting to be plucked. And, there's revolution brewing in the air. Not exactly the safest place for an American.
Peter Wells is a kind of jack of all trades with military training and boxing know-how. When he gets pushed out of an oil scheme in the States, he catches a freighter to Egypt, thinking there would be opportunities in oil there, but he gets rolled following a good drinking evening and, with not a penny left to his name, resorts to seeking out a bar/hotel where schemes are plotted and, in the process gets more than he bargained for.
What follows is a story of an innocent guy getting roped into intrigue he doesn't understand and a land where he can't fathom who to trust. Why are they sending him into the desert? What are they after? Who is on his side and who isn't?
It's release is somewhat controversial as it was originally published under a pen name Kay Cameron and promptly assigned to dusty paperback racks in used bookstores. Allegedly, Vidal never planned to re-release this one. But, it has been re-released and it is a smoothly written, action packed, entertaining read. It's basically more of a spy or adventure novel than a Hardboiled novel. Plotwise, it is one of those books where the reader is left in the dark as much as the protagonist as to what is really going on.
It may not be overly literary in scope and it is certainly not one of Hard Case Crime's best selections. Don't open this with overly high expectations and you will enjoy it as a quick fun read. It is an early novel from a writer who went on to hone and develop his craft. It's simply one of those quick reading novels that you can sit back and enjoy.
Peter Wells is a kind of jack of all trades with military training and boxing know-how. When he gets pushed out of an oil scheme in the States, he catches a freighter to Egypt, thinking there would be opportunities in oil there, but he gets rolled following a good drinking evening and, with not a penny left to his name, resorts to seeking out a bar/hotel where schemes are plotted and, in the process gets more than he bargained for.
What follows is a story of an innocent guy getting roped into intrigue he doesn't understand and a land where he can't fathom who to trust. Why are they sending him into the desert? What are they after? Who is on his side and who isn't?
It's release is somewhat controversial as it was originally published under a pen name Kay Cameron and promptly assigned to dusty paperback racks in used bookstores. Allegedly, Vidal never planned to re-release this one. But, it has been re-released and it is a smoothly written, action packed, entertaining read. It's basically more of a spy or adventure novel than a Hardboiled novel. Plotwise, it is one of those books where the reader is left in the dark as much as the protagonist as to what is really going on.
It may not be overly literary in scope and it is certainly not one of Hard Case Crime's best selections. Don't open this with overly high expectations and you will enjoy it as a quick fun read. It is an early novel from a writer who went on to hone and develop his craft. It's simply one of those quick reading novels that you can sit back and enjoy.
March 12, 2018
Think adventure, grifters, and pulp amid a backdrop of post WWII era Egypt where chivalry and romance abound influenced by thievery and black-market prosperity and you'll get a somewhat cracked and faded picture of the atmospheric piece of fiction author Gore Vidal has craftily created.
THIEVES FALL OUT follows Peter, a former army lieutenant who tried his hand at oil prospecting in America before heading to Egypt where he's approached by a duo to smuggle goods out of the country. Always on the take and out for easy money, Peter quickly agrees and in no time finds himself thrust into a peculiar and highly mysterious arrangement between an odd couple, an entertainer, and a country in turmoil.
I had a great time reading THIEVES FALL OUT. Not only did the book cater to my pulpier reading tastes but the story was in constant motion; the character circle's typecast ever changing with each turn of chapter and proceeding event. Not knowing who the good guys are from the bad (though they're all bad to some extent) makes for interesting reading.
THIEVES FALL OUT is another quality read from Hardcase Crime.
http://justaguywholikes2read.blogspot...
THIEVES FALL OUT follows Peter, a former army lieutenant who tried his hand at oil prospecting in America before heading to Egypt where he's approached by a duo to smuggle goods out of the country. Always on the take and out for easy money, Peter quickly agrees and in no time finds himself thrust into a peculiar and highly mysterious arrangement between an odd couple, an entertainer, and a country in turmoil.
I had a great time reading THIEVES FALL OUT. Not only did the book cater to my pulpier reading tastes but the story was in constant motion; the character circle's typecast ever changing with each turn of chapter and proceeding event. Not knowing who the good guys are from the bad (though they're all bad to some extent) makes for interesting reading.
THIEVES FALL OUT is another quality read from Hardcase Crime.
http://justaguywholikes2read.blogspot...
March 2, 2016
4 stars
"Thieves Fall Out" is a fast read that places the reader in post-WWII Egypt, which was still considered an exotic and fascinating locale. In this book, Egypt is a hotbed of intrigue left over from the war. There is corruption everywhere, along with a fortune in ancient treasure just waiting to be plundered. There's revolution brewing in the air, as well. Not exactly a safe place for a foreigner.
The main character, Peter Wells, is a jack-of-all-trades with some military background. When his oil scheme in the States fails, he catches a freighter to Egypt to try to take advantage of other opportunities, but he gets rolled following an evening that included several shots of absinthe. Without a penny left to his name, he begins to seek out locations where schemes are hatched and gets more than he bargained for.
What follows is a story of a guy getting roped into intrigue he doesn't understand in a land where he can trust no one. In proper noir fashion, no one is on the up-and-up: the police are crooked, the women are definitely of the femme-fatale variety, and he is threatened at every twist and turn.
Gore Vidal originally published this under the pen name Cameron Kay, and it was promptly shelved in old used bookstores. Allegedly, Vidal never planned to re-release this one.
Thanks to Hard Case Crime, it has been re-released. Plot-wise, it is one of those books where the reader is left in the dark as much as the protagonist as to what is really going on. It is obviously not deep literature. Don't open this with high expectations and you will enjoy it as a quick fun read. It is an early novel from a writer who went on to successfully hone his writing skills and develop his craft. It's simply one of those quick-reading novels that you can sit back and enjoy in a few moments of escapism and excitement.
"Thieves Fall Out" is a fast read that places the reader in post-WWII Egypt, which was still considered an exotic and fascinating locale. In this book, Egypt is a hotbed of intrigue left over from the war. There is corruption everywhere, along with a fortune in ancient treasure just waiting to be plundered. There's revolution brewing in the air, as well. Not exactly a safe place for a foreigner.
The main character, Peter Wells, is a jack-of-all-trades with some military background. When his oil scheme in the States fails, he catches a freighter to Egypt to try to take advantage of other opportunities, but he gets rolled following an evening that included several shots of absinthe. Without a penny left to his name, he begins to seek out locations where schemes are hatched and gets more than he bargained for.
What follows is a story of a guy getting roped into intrigue he doesn't understand in a land where he can trust no one. In proper noir fashion, no one is on the up-and-up: the police are crooked, the women are definitely of the femme-fatale variety, and he is threatened at every twist and turn.
Gore Vidal originally published this under the pen name Cameron Kay, and it was promptly shelved in old used bookstores. Allegedly, Vidal never planned to re-release this one.
Thanks to Hard Case Crime, it has been re-released. Plot-wise, it is one of those books where the reader is left in the dark as much as the protagonist as to what is really going on. It is obviously not deep literature. Don't open this with high expectations and you will enjoy it as a quick fun read. It is an early novel from a writer who went on to successfully hone his writing skills and develop his craft. It's simply one of those quick-reading novels that you can sit back and enjoy in a few moments of escapism and excitement.
August 9, 2021
Pulp fiction from the 1950s originally published under a pen name. Set in Egypt, featuring the mandatory fit clever American, and an assortment of leftovers from the war and other criminal types. There's even a gay character named Mohammed Ali.
A fast read, this book was probably never actually "lost" but was not considered worth republishing until after Gore Vidal died. The reviews at the front of this volume are misleading — since they are about Gore Vidal's other work, not this book, which he tossed off as a lark.
A fast read, this book was probably never actually "lost" but was not considered worth republishing until after Gore Vidal died. The reviews at the front of this volume are misleading — since they are about Gore Vidal's other work, not this book, which he tossed off as a lark.
March 10, 2015
Let me start out by saying I've never read any Gore Vidal. So I can't say how it compares with the rest of his work. Written in his younger days under the name Cameron Kay, it's been forgotten for sixty years and never reprinted until this Hard Case Crime edition coming next month.
Definitely a pulp style, comparisons with Casablanca are not without merit. The Middle East, bars, political intrigue, beautiful women, crooked police, all there.
Pete Wells, a former Merchant marine among other things, is knocking around Cairo when he wakes up in a hotel room, robbed and unaware of how he got there. Broke he finds his way to a bar, meets an Englishman, and gets offered a job. A beautiful woman wants him to smuggle a valuable relic out of the country, Warned it will be dangerous, he doesn't have much choice, needing money.
Things are not always as they seem though. A crooked Cairo policeman keeps popping in and warning him away from another beauty he's met, a young German singer, Anna Mueller, he's growing quite fond of. He's not the only one who wants him away from the girl.
Revolution is brewing which make the streets dangerous for any Non-Muslims. Pete and Anna are desperate to get out of the country and everyone seems to know about the relic and want it.
Lot of fun.
Definitely a pulp style, comparisons with Casablanca are not without merit. The Middle East, bars, political intrigue, beautiful women, crooked police, all there.
Pete Wells, a former Merchant marine among other things, is knocking around Cairo when he wakes up in a hotel room, robbed and unaware of how he got there. Broke he finds his way to a bar, meets an Englishman, and gets offered a job. A beautiful woman wants him to smuggle a valuable relic out of the country, Warned it will be dangerous, he doesn't have much choice, needing money.
Things are not always as they seem though. A crooked Cairo policeman keeps popping in and warning him away from another beauty he's met, a young German singer, Anna Mueller, he's growing quite fond of. He's not the only one who wants him away from the girl.
Revolution is brewing which make the streets dangerous for any Non-Muslims. Pete and Anna are desperate to get out of the country and everyone seems to know about the relic and want it.
Lot of fun.
February 15, 2021
An American man stranded in Cairo and looking to make some quick money gets involved with some shady operators who hire him for a smuggling racket. Intrigue, pursuits, deceptions and dangerous women abound. This is an exotic adventure set against the backdrop of an Egypt on the brink of revolution. Recommended.
October 25, 2021
The cover on this book has the standard semi naked woman common in early pulp. The author is not someone I associate with paperback crime books. Although it is true that his historical fiction books have their share of pulp novel prose.
I simply did not find this book up to the Gore Vidal level of quality that I expect. This seemed like one of those books that was initially a failure but then was re-published as the author became more successful and better known. It might be good enough for another author but not really for this one! You could skip this book and not think you had missed anything significant about Vidal. At least it was relatively short!
I simply did not find this book up to the Gore Vidal level of quality that I expect. This seemed like one of those books that was initially a failure but then was re-published as the author became more successful and better known. It might be good enough for another author but not really for this one! You could skip this book and not think you had missed anything significant about Vidal. At least it was relatively short!
June 9, 2019
COUNTDOWN: Mid-20th Century North American Crime
BOOK 236 (of 250)
I didn't expect to find a Gore Vidal book within the "Hard Case" crime publications, but then again I didn't expect to find Robert Silverberg (BOOK TWELVE) either. And within this genre, no book made it onto the NYTimes bestseller list until...well, more about that later.
HOOK-1 star: By now, 1953, a man waking up in a strange room has been done and done. Vidal doesn't up this overused opener.
PACE-1: Vidal takes his time (50 pages) getting to the central plot: an ancient neckless once worn by an Egyptian Queen is to be smuggled out of Egypt.
PLOT-3: Once action kicks in, the plot takes off (who is good/bad, who has the real necklace, how are they going to get it out of Egypt, gunfire, scorpions, a midnight chase through the Valley of the Kings and more). Vidal uses only 69,300 words (the standard length for a crime thriller is 70K to 120K) so Vidal does finish this one off, fast and furious. Thankfully.
PEOPLE-1: Once I closed the book, I couldn't remember a single name.
PLACE-1: You have Cairo as your central setting and the best you can do is make xenophobic comments? (I've been to Cairo, it's on the fantastic side of tourism, but Vidal shows no evidence he had visited this city.) And no wonder Vidal eventually had no career in politics with his ongoing xenophobic comments here.
Summary: My average rating is 1.4, or 1 stars per the goodreads rating system. I recommend this only to anyone interested in the many American authors who tried their hand at crime/noir thrillers early in their careers, just to get published.
BOOK 236 (of 250)
I didn't expect to find a Gore Vidal book within the "Hard Case" crime publications, but then again I didn't expect to find Robert Silverberg (BOOK TWELVE) either. And within this genre, no book made it onto the NYTimes bestseller list until...well, more about that later.
HOOK-1 star: By now, 1953, a man waking up in a strange room has been done and done. Vidal doesn't up this overused opener.
PACE-1: Vidal takes his time (50 pages) getting to the central plot: an ancient neckless once worn by an Egyptian Queen is to be smuggled out of Egypt.
PLOT-3: Once action kicks in, the plot takes off (who is good/bad, who has the real necklace, how are they going to get it out of Egypt, gunfire, scorpions, a midnight chase through the Valley of the Kings and more). Vidal uses only 69,300 words (the standard length for a crime thriller is 70K to 120K) so Vidal does finish this one off, fast and furious. Thankfully.
PEOPLE-1: Once I closed the book, I couldn't remember a single name.
PLACE-1: You have Cairo as your central setting and the best you can do is make xenophobic comments? (I've been to Cairo, it's on the fantastic side of tourism, but Vidal shows no evidence he had visited this city.) And no wonder Vidal eventually had no career in politics with his ongoing xenophobic comments here.
Summary: My average rating is 1.4, or 1 stars per the goodreads rating system. I recommend this only to anyone interested in the many American authors who tried their hand at crime/noir thrillers early in their careers, just to get published.
April 3, 2016
I was thrilled to death that this was recently published under Gore Vidal...I loved it! Apparently Mr. Vidal was not fond of the work; I, however, will read anything this man has written and enjoy it too. Prolific writer that he is, I'm hoping the estate has a few other works that were never published during his lifetime.
This was wonderful, evocative of the period... I can see this a Bob Mitchum/Jane Russell collaboration...not so much a Bogie/Bacall but I'd take that too. Loved it, wonderful read!
This was wonderful, evocative of the period... I can see this a Bob Mitchum/Jane Russell collaboration...not so much a Bogie/Bacall but I'd take that too. Loved it, wonderful read!
May 12, 2024
Gore Vidal does Casablanca; and though he can’t make it any gayer than it already is (‘Renault’s getting broad-minded’) it’s interesting to see the pleasant overlap of the genre’s pithy noirish dialogue with Vidal’s pithy waspish erudition. The whole thing, as a result, feels camp, and truly so, because I do not believe that Vidal is *going* for camp. One of the best Hard Case Crime novels I’ve read - perhaps simply because it’s very existence seems odd.
Read
November 16, 2021I sit at Gore Vidal's feet. I have read most of his books and I print out essays I found Theivies Fall Out this at the library and had never heard of it, so I had to pick it up. Though certainly not my favorite Vidal work, it was fun and quick. I thought some of the dialogue was a bit clunky, but he was writing genre after the fall-out from the City and the Pillar. Ya gotta make a living. The last chapter was almost Bondian. I loved the whole feel of post-war Cairo. I'm giving it 4 stars though it's probably closer to 3 1/2. Gore Vidal fans should read it.I wish he were still with us!
February 3, 2019
A pulp adventure that ticks all the boxes. A brawling all-American hero. Femme fatales. Exotic location (Egypt). One-eyed villains. Spills and thrills, twists and turns.
What a pity this was Vidal's one and only excursion into the pulp genre as he seems to have nailed it.
What a pity this was Vidal's one and only excursion into the pulp genre as he seems to have nailed it.
December 24, 2020
Campy but not bad. Not one of Gore's better novels, but again, if you love campy pulp, Thieves Fall Out is a good read.
March 25, 2015
I like the Hard Case Crime imprint and what they do with bringing classic works back in print and new works from some major authors. Publishing a lost Gore Vidal pulp novel must have seemed like a slam dunk. With Gore Vidal being considered an important writer this should have been a can't miss. Unfortunately it is just an average connect the dots pulp adventure.
It takes place in Egypt with an American of dubious background waking up after having been rolled. Pete is his name though he isn't often referred to by it. The American Consulate can't help him out so he heads to the most affluent hotel in Cairo because that's where the players hang out. The first person he sees, and Englishman offers him a job and introduces him to his partner a French femme fatale. Bang, bang, bang. No wasted time, no extraneous characters or scenery this is moving along. He is of course attracted to her and she seems to return it.
The middle section requires him to go to Luxor to pick up an item to smuggle where he is dogged by an Egyptian policeman who is both on the take with Pete's employers and out for himself. He spends 2 or 3 days in Luxor though it feels like an eternity to the reader and meets a German femme fatale who will become a love interest. Some minor hijinks occur in Luxor, which is very hot by the way, it is mentioned often and Pete returns to Cairo for the final act.
I don't really expect great characterization in a pulp book, especially a shortish length like this one so I'm not surprised there wasn't much. However the action failed to interest me and particularly in the middle section became a struggle to get through. I have a feeling it took Gore Vidal less time to write this than it took for me to read it.
2.5 stars.
It isn't an awful book, but it isn't great either. It is by Gore Vidal so does have some historical significance for fans/scholars of both the genre and the author. Honestly though, put anyone else's name on the cover and this book doesn't get re-published
It takes place in Egypt with an American of dubious background waking up after having been rolled. Pete is his name though he isn't often referred to by it. The American Consulate can't help him out so he heads to the most affluent hotel in Cairo because that's where the players hang out. The first person he sees, and Englishman offers him a job and introduces him to his partner a French femme fatale. Bang, bang, bang. No wasted time, no extraneous characters or scenery this is moving along. He is of course attracted to her and she seems to return it.
The middle section requires him to go to Luxor to pick up an item to smuggle where he is dogged by an Egyptian policeman who is both on the take with Pete's employers and out for himself. He spends 2 or 3 days in Luxor though it feels like an eternity to the reader and meets a German femme fatale who will become a love interest. Some minor hijinks occur in Luxor, which is very hot by the way, it is mentioned often and Pete returns to Cairo for the final act.
I don't really expect great characterization in a pulp book, especially a shortish length like this one so I'm not surprised there wasn't much. However the action failed to interest me and particularly in the middle section became a struggle to get through. I have a feeling it took Gore Vidal less time to write this than it took for me to read it.
2.5 stars.
It isn't an awful book, but it isn't great either. It is by Gore Vidal so does have some historical significance for fans/scholars of both the genre and the author. Honestly though, put anyone else's name on the cover and this book doesn't get re-published
April 3, 2015
Gore Vidal, renowned for his more literary work, did go through a rough early in his career and supplemented his income by writing several crime novels under the pseudonyms Edgar Box and Cameron Kay. The Edgar Box books have lings since been re-released under his own name but ‘Thieves Fall Out’, the one book he wrote a Cameron Kay, went out of print and has not been re-released, until now.
Aptly given a name reminiscent of the old adage that there is no honor among thieves, ‘Thieves Fall Out’ tells the story of Pete Wells, a former soldier turned drifter, who wakes up in a Cairo whorehouse unaware of how he got there or where his money went. Receiving little assistance from the American consulate he sets out in search of some scheme to pick up some quick cash. Needless to say, he finds more than he bargains for.
What follows is an interesting, although not exceptional, romp up and down the Nile in the days before the overthrow of Egypt’s King Farouk involving smugglers, ex-spies, corrupt cops and sexy femme fatales. It is not without its twists and turns but none that will totally gobsmack the reader. One thing that troubled me was the condescending attitude that Vidal’s character had about anyone Egyptian. Even though Wells himself was no paragon of virtue, he had no problem describing anyone he encountered as dirty, unattractive, scheming and untrustworthy.
While I really applaud the folks at Hard Case Crime for resurrecting so many great pulp classics and providing them with such stimulating retro covers, the bottom line is that many books go out of print for a reason. I this case, if it weren’t for the fact that it was written by someone as famous as Vidal, I probably would have given it a pass.
*The review book was based on an advanced reading copy obtained at no cost from the publisher in exchange for an unbiased review. While this does take any ‘not worth what I paid for it’ statements out of my review, it otherwise has no impact on the content of my review.
Aptly given a name reminiscent of the old adage that there is no honor among thieves, ‘Thieves Fall Out’ tells the story of Pete Wells, a former soldier turned drifter, who wakes up in a Cairo whorehouse unaware of how he got there or where his money went. Receiving little assistance from the American consulate he sets out in search of some scheme to pick up some quick cash. Needless to say, he finds more than he bargains for.
What follows is an interesting, although not exceptional, romp up and down the Nile in the days before the overthrow of Egypt’s King Farouk involving smugglers, ex-spies, corrupt cops and sexy femme fatales. It is not without its twists and turns but none that will totally gobsmack the reader. One thing that troubled me was the condescending attitude that Vidal’s character had about anyone Egyptian. Even though Wells himself was no paragon of virtue, he had no problem describing anyone he encountered as dirty, unattractive, scheming and untrustworthy.
While I really applaud the folks at Hard Case Crime for resurrecting so many great pulp classics and providing them with such stimulating retro covers, the bottom line is that many books go out of print for a reason. I this case, if it weren’t for the fact that it was written by someone as famous as Vidal, I probably would have given it a pass.
*The review book was based on an advanced reading copy obtained at no cost from the publisher in exchange for an unbiased review. While this does take any ‘not worth what I paid for it’ statements out of my review, it otherwise has no impact on the content of my review.
September 8, 2022
Reads very much like a Graham Greene entertainment with a bit more misogyny.
October 18, 2016
Gore Vidal is known mostly for his literary and historical novels. But he also wrote some pseudonymous crime fiction in the 50s, most of which has since been reprinted under his own name – except for this novel (the only one he wrote using the pen name Cameron Kay), which was recently republished by Hard Case Crime. The story involves Peter Wells, a down-on-his-luck American in Cairo who is recruited by a sexy ex-Nazi to smuggle a valuable MacGuffin out of the country – which won’t be easy as revolution brews around them and it seems other parties want the MacGuffin for themselves, to include a corrupt cop. It’s well written enough to be a quick read, but overall it’s not all that original or interesting, and Wells isn’t especially likeable. The main attraction for many may be just seeing Vidal write pulp fiction instead of intellectual American history novels. But even Vidal didn’t like it much, and didn’t want it republished when he was alive. Reading it now, I can see why.
January 19, 2018
It really feels like a shame reading something as bad as “Thieves Fall Out”. Written by Gore Vidal, of all writers!
The story itself was set in Egypt post World War II, during the political turmoil that led to the downfall of King Farouk. The protagonist is a penniless American seaman name Peter Wells, who was robbed of all his riches when he was intoxicated in a shady bar in Cairo. Less than a week after that unfortunate incident, his luck totally changed. He flew out from the desert of Giza, Egypt, to Naples, France, inside a private airplane together with the beautiful formerly King Farouk mistress, Anna Mueller. You should not called this as spoiler because being a pulp fiction, we can easily guess what will happen to the main protagonist who happened to be a white American male in his adventure in a Third World country.
Based on bits of information I found out after some googling, I can really understand why Gore Vidal refused to republish this novel during his lifetime. “Thieves Fall Out” is bad, even for a pulp fiction standard. And I don’t read many of them.
The story itself was set in Egypt post World War II, during the political turmoil that led to the downfall of King Farouk. The protagonist is a penniless American seaman name Peter Wells, who was robbed of all his riches when he was intoxicated in a shady bar in Cairo. Less than a week after that unfortunate incident, his luck totally changed. He flew out from the desert of Giza, Egypt, to Naples, France, inside a private airplane together with the beautiful formerly King Farouk mistress, Anna Mueller. You should not called this as spoiler because being a pulp fiction, we can easily guess what will happen to the main protagonist who happened to be a white American male in his adventure in a Third World country.
Based on bits of information I found out after some googling, I can really understand why Gore Vidal refused to republish this novel during his lifetime. “Thieves Fall Out” is bad, even for a pulp fiction standard. And I don’t read many of them.
October 26, 2016
reading this book is like reading air; it is completely substanceless. it's an easy read, as you turn from page to page documenting and not caring about the various betrayals and double betrayals and the various forms of sight-seeing noir that Vidal indulges in. it plays to the not-so-nuanced racism of stereotyping and leans into misogyny in a way that feels both part of the hard case crime tradition and significantly below that tradition because it fails to inhabit the atmosphere that those tropes create in other, better works of fiction. Vidal is present here though, after all, so on a sentence by sentence case the book is legible and at times enjoyable, but this is a real low point in his career: a low point he recognized by never publishing this novel under his own name during his lifetime.
August 2, 2017
It's understandable why Vidal never copped to this one... it isn't very good. The plot is stale and the writing isn't very convincing. I wasn't expecting much. A few cheap thrills and a racy sex scene would have sufficed (although there is a halfway amusing rectal exam early on). The orientalism here isn't subtle either, though it does lend 1950's Egypt a certain mystique.
October 13, 2025
No wonder Vidal used a pseudonym for this effort and only allowed his real name to be attached posthumously. Poor outing for the spy-in-Cairo-during- the-1940’s genre (how could you go wrong?), not to mention the almost gleeful racism. The Vidal estate wringing a little more out of the great man’s name? Suckered us poor saps that read it.
May 10, 2015
Part of the true crime reprints. You do not like any of the characters. The plot is predictable. The action is poorly developed. Overall one of the worst books in this series.
March 5, 2018
The cover tells you everything you need to know, but with unexpected Nazi sympathizing.
September 4, 2019
Originally published online at BORG.com.
Gore Vidal’s Thieves Fall Out is being re-released by Titan Books after more than 60 years out-of-print, as part of its Hard Case Crimes imprint. During his lifetime Vidal refused to re-publish Thieves Fall Out, his “lost pulp novel,” thinking it not up to the quality of his later, more serious works. The both complex and complicated American author of fiction and non-fiction died in 2012. His estate authorized the release of this novel, which hits bookstores tomorrow, giving readers an opportunity to see a phase in the development of the celebrated writer before he received his fame.
His tenth book and the only novel written under the pseudonym Cameron Kay (after his great uncle), Vidal wrote the crime novel in 1953 while he was in essence blacklisted by a New York Times critic for the then controversial themes in his novel The City and the Pillar. To make a living he was also writing crime novels as Edgar Box and this novel was written while those mysteries were moderately successful. Forget about any controversy surrounding this book’s release–if you like pulp crime novels and you’re someone who shies away from the works mainstream audiences gravitate toward–like Vidal’s numerous celebrated works–then Thieves Fall Out just may be the kind of novel you’re after.
Thieves Fall Out is the post-World War II story of an American who finds himself looking for work in Egypt while young German expatriates were reeling from the wartime acts of their elders and the fall of Nazism. The American becomes a puppet for local Cairo gangster types and has a few romantic encounters as he stumbles into a group of jewel thieves. Like Michael Crichton’s crime novels (that were also written under a pseudonym and reviewed previously at borg.com) and even like Ian Fleming’s James Bond novels (especially with the womanizing leading male), Thieves Fall Out is, on the one hand, another spy-genre novel that you can imagine was just one of hundreds of gobbled up by readers in the 1950s–a quick, easy read. Its plot and style are familiar–a cocky American attempts to make the world his own despite local cultures and politics and in turn finds himself in over his head through his own missteps.
Like other 1950s pulp novels, the lead character meets women he falls for quickly, and encounters betrayal, false promises, and deception at every turn. But Thieves Fall Out is better than the average story and it’s easy to see how Vidal would later succeed as an author. Along with the gritty wartime themes and subtle politics familiar to fans of the classic film Casablanca, Thieves Fall Out also shares elements with Indiana Jones as he confronts the antiquity-seeking Germans in his adventures. Who do you trust? The answer, of course, is the same for Vidal’s protagonist as for Indiana Jones: “Don’t trust anyone.”
Vidal is well-known for his non-fiction, and the setting and real-world characters reflect his early historical interest. One player encountered in the novel is King Farouk. Farouk I of Egypt was the tenth ruler from the Muhammad Ali Dynasty and the last King of Egypt and the Sudan, ceding his power in the summer of 1952. The setting of a country facing rebellion and a King about to lose his power was ripped from the headlines (and in a timely way mirrors unrest in that nation today). Farouk’s wealth cannot be overstated. He owned a collection of Faberge eggs and 8,500 rare coins, including the legendary, ultra-rare 1933 St. Gaudens U.S. $20 gold piece. So a collection of jewels, high-end automobiles, fine restaurants, and flaunted wealth were truly the stuff of his early 1950s Cairo.
Full of well-written imagery, interesting characters, and details of Egypt in the day (Vidal spent time in Egypt in the late 1940s and so he offers some good first-hand perspective), Thieves Fall Out is an engaging and intriguing novel that most authors would be happy to have in their catalog of works.
Gore Vidal’s Thieves Fall Out is being re-released by Titan Books after more than 60 years out-of-print, as part of its Hard Case Crimes imprint. During his lifetime Vidal refused to re-publish Thieves Fall Out, his “lost pulp novel,” thinking it not up to the quality of his later, more serious works. The both complex and complicated American author of fiction and non-fiction died in 2012. His estate authorized the release of this novel, which hits bookstores tomorrow, giving readers an opportunity to see a phase in the development of the celebrated writer before he received his fame.
His tenth book and the only novel written under the pseudonym Cameron Kay (after his great uncle), Vidal wrote the crime novel in 1953 while he was in essence blacklisted by a New York Times critic for the then controversial themes in his novel The City and the Pillar. To make a living he was also writing crime novels as Edgar Box and this novel was written while those mysteries were moderately successful. Forget about any controversy surrounding this book’s release–if you like pulp crime novels and you’re someone who shies away from the works mainstream audiences gravitate toward–like Vidal’s numerous celebrated works–then Thieves Fall Out just may be the kind of novel you’re after.
Thieves Fall Out is the post-World War II story of an American who finds himself looking for work in Egypt while young German expatriates were reeling from the wartime acts of their elders and the fall of Nazism. The American becomes a puppet for local Cairo gangster types and has a few romantic encounters as he stumbles into a group of jewel thieves. Like Michael Crichton’s crime novels (that were also written under a pseudonym and reviewed previously at borg.com) and even like Ian Fleming’s James Bond novels (especially with the womanizing leading male), Thieves Fall Out is, on the one hand, another spy-genre novel that you can imagine was just one of hundreds of gobbled up by readers in the 1950s–a quick, easy read. Its plot and style are familiar–a cocky American attempts to make the world his own despite local cultures and politics and in turn finds himself in over his head through his own missteps.
Like other 1950s pulp novels, the lead character meets women he falls for quickly, and encounters betrayal, false promises, and deception at every turn. But Thieves Fall Out is better than the average story and it’s easy to see how Vidal would later succeed as an author. Along with the gritty wartime themes and subtle politics familiar to fans of the classic film Casablanca, Thieves Fall Out also shares elements with Indiana Jones as he confronts the antiquity-seeking Germans in his adventures. Who do you trust? The answer, of course, is the same for Vidal’s protagonist as for Indiana Jones: “Don’t trust anyone.”
Vidal is well-known for his non-fiction, and the setting and real-world characters reflect his early historical interest. One player encountered in the novel is King Farouk. Farouk I of Egypt was the tenth ruler from the Muhammad Ali Dynasty and the last King of Egypt and the Sudan, ceding his power in the summer of 1952. The setting of a country facing rebellion and a King about to lose his power was ripped from the headlines (and in a timely way mirrors unrest in that nation today). Farouk’s wealth cannot be overstated. He owned a collection of Faberge eggs and 8,500 rare coins, including the legendary, ultra-rare 1933 St. Gaudens U.S. $20 gold piece. So a collection of jewels, high-end automobiles, fine restaurants, and flaunted wealth were truly the stuff of his early 1950s Cairo.
Full of well-written imagery, interesting characters, and details of Egypt in the day (Vidal spent time in Egypt in the late 1940s and so he offers some good first-hand perspective), Thieves Fall Out is an engaging and intriguing novel that most authors would be happy to have in their catalog of works.
March 12, 2017
Pete Wells wakes up one morning in a bordello in Cairo with no wallet and no memory of the night before. He wanders to Shepheard’s Hotel, a den of villainy where one can find any number of ways to make money, such as selling state secrets or hiring out to a smuggler. (Think Rick’s Bar in Casablanca.)
Sure enough, in the space of time it takes to drink a gin and tonic, he is approached by a mysterious British criminal and a sexy former French spy to help smuggle a cursed Egyptian necklace out of the country.
In the space of the next week, he falls in love with a beautiful German blonde who may or may not be a lover of King Farouk, he escapes death several times at the hands of a corrupt police officer, he kills a few assorted “swarthy Arabs”, and he is helped by a hunchback with a penchant for overthrowing fascist governments.
This has all the makings of the sort of pulp fantasy I usually enjoy. It’s a shame this novel is so very, very bad.
All the normal story tropes are present, and the author succeeds in giving post-war Egypt an exotic vibe, but the plot just falls apart. Everyone seems to have a secret, but when the various plots are all eventually revealed they are simplistic and absurd. There were too many coincidences and contradictions to count. The characters are not just cardboard cutouts; they are dreary and uninteresting.
A book this bad might make sense if it was the author’s first, but Gore Vidal had already established himself on the literary scene with six novels under his own name before he sat down to write Thieves Fall Out in 1953. One of those earlier works was the now-famous The City and the Pillar, the first post-World War II novel to treat gay characters sympathetically; it became so controversial the author soon had a hard time getting published.
That is what led to this pulp novel (and a handful of others) being churned out for quick money under a pseudonym.
Vidal eventually re-released all his pseudonymous works under his own name—all but this one. This one he wisely kept hidden, until his estate offered it up to Hard Case Crime years after his death.
Two other small things bothered me about the book. There is a character named Mohammed Ali, which kept jarring me out of the story even though I realize the novel was written many years before Cassius Clay made the name famous.
There were two references for the penchant of Arab men to be homosexuals, presumably because they kept all their females veiled and hidden. This seemed an odd stereotype from an author who was openly gay and who championed gay rights his entire life.
Gore Vidal may have been a preeminent and important author, but this effort should have stayed buried with the Pharaohs.
Sure enough, in the space of time it takes to drink a gin and tonic, he is approached by a mysterious British criminal and a sexy former French spy to help smuggle a cursed Egyptian necklace out of the country.
In the space of the next week, he falls in love with a beautiful German blonde who may or may not be a lover of King Farouk, he escapes death several times at the hands of a corrupt police officer, he kills a few assorted “swarthy Arabs”, and he is helped by a hunchback with a penchant for overthrowing fascist governments.
This has all the makings of the sort of pulp fantasy I usually enjoy. It’s a shame this novel is so very, very bad.
All the normal story tropes are present, and the author succeeds in giving post-war Egypt an exotic vibe, but the plot just falls apart. Everyone seems to have a secret, but when the various plots are all eventually revealed they are simplistic and absurd. There were too many coincidences and contradictions to count. The characters are not just cardboard cutouts; they are dreary and uninteresting.
A book this bad might make sense if it was the author’s first, but Gore Vidal had already established himself on the literary scene with six novels under his own name before he sat down to write Thieves Fall Out in 1953. One of those earlier works was the now-famous The City and the Pillar, the first post-World War II novel to treat gay characters sympathetically; it became so controversial the author soon had a hard time getting published.
That is what led to this pulp novel (and a handful of others) being churned out for quick money under a pseudonym.
Vidal eventually re-released all his pseudonymous works under his own name—all but this one. This one he wisely kept hidden, until his estate offered it up to Hard Case Crime years after his death.
Two other small things bothered me about the book. There is a character named Mohammed Ali, which kept jarring me out of the story even though I realize the novel was written many years before Cassius Clay made the name famous.
There were two references for the penchant of Arab men to be homosexuals, presumably because they kept all their females veiled and hidden. This seemed an odd stereotype from an author who was openly gay and who championed gay rights his entire life.
Gore Vidal may have been a preeminent and important author, but this effort should have stayed buried with the Pharaohs.
August 2, 2021
Thieves Fall Out (1953) by Gore Vidal. Gore Vidal was one of America’s great writers, and this mystery/suspense thriller from the early fifties only adds to his shining star. Along with his Edgar Box novels, this book helps illuminate the vast expanse of his abilities.
The book is set in Egypt some short time after World War Two. Pete Wells, ex-G.I., has come to Cairo looking for adventure and excitement. His first night in town he drinks himself into a stupor and wakes in a working girl’s bed with nothing but his clothes. Desperate but calm, he tries the American Embassy but gets no help. There is what appears to be a decent man, Hastings, a Brit, in the bar at the hotel for the British and business men. Pete gets offered a job.
When he accepts he is immediately drawn into a viscous cauldron of lies and deceit, artifact smuggling, spies and ex-spies, beautiful women and corrupt police. You know, the standard stuff that happens on any given day in North Africa.
The plot is rapid paced with bullets and knives everywhere. Pete never knows who to trust as seemingly every character would gladly stab any other at any given moment, just for the fun of it. The scenes of Pete in the desert among the tombs is very memerable.
The entirety of the book feels very set in the time post war with characters that might have walked out of a Graham Greene or Helen McInnes novel. While reading this almost seventy years after bring first published you might find it derivative, but remember, this book came before them and set a high bar for what followed.
Thieves Fall Out was first published in the 1950s using the pseudonym Cameron Kay.
The book is set in Egypt some short time after World War Two. Pete Wells, ex-G.I., has come to Cairo looking for adventure and excitement. His first night in town he drinks himself into a stupor and wakes in a working girl’s bed with nothing but his clothes. Desperate but calm, he tries the American Embassy but gets no help. There is what appears to be a decent man, Hastings, a Brit, in the bar at the hotel for the British and business men. Pete gets offered a job.
When he accepts he is immediately drawn into a viscous cauldron of lies and deceit, artifact smuggling, spies and ex-spies, beautiful women and corrupt police. You know, the standard stuff that happens on any given day in North Africa.
The plot is rapid paced with bullets and knives everywhere. Pete never knows who to trust as seemingly every character would gladly stab any other at any given moment, just for the fun of it. The scenes of Pete in the desert among the tombs is very memerable.
The entirety of the book feels very set in the time post war with characters that might have walked out of a Graham Greene or Helen McInnes novel. While reading this almost seventy years after bring first published you might find it derivative, but remember, this book came before them and set a high bar for what followed.
Thieves Fall Out was first published in the 1950s using the pseudonym Cameron Kay.
August 24, 2017
I really enjoyed Thieves Fall Out. It was a straight up slam bang adventure story. It is ironic that this "lost pulp novel" is serving as my literary introduction to one of the greater American novelists, Mr. Gore Vidal, author of Lincoln, 1876, and Myra Breckenridge. The action takes place in post WWII Egypt and the book is swimming with plots, counter-plots, and double crosses. The prose carries you right along. Thieves Fall Out was written under a pseudonym and published over six decades ago to little or no acclaim-Vidal specified it not be republished until after his death. Having read it I can think of several possible reasons for this, but I won't speculate-I was not able to find a specific reason online for this prohibition. I do know a lot of reviewers (especially those who seem affectionate towards Vidal and his work) have panned it, saying that it is third rate and unworthy and not up to Vidal's literary standards. Sorry folks Daddy had to pay the bills. The novel is fun, fast paced and atmospheric, evocative of a specific time and place. For a "pulp" book I thought it was quite well written. Worth a look see Constant Reader. Also my edition sports a spiffy Glen Orbik cover. Kudos to Hard Case Crime for re-presenting this to the world.
June 6, 2021
The whole time I was reading this book I kept thinking about the Michael Crichton book Easy Go, you can find my review on that book elsewhere. The plot is similar dealing with smuggling ancient Egyptian artifacts out of Egypt. Crichton is all about procedure, even going into the details of the dig, which eventually goes nowhere. Gore Vidal's focus is on the characters and never loses sight that he is telling story and must keep his audience engaged.
From the very beginning he throws us into a post WWII Egypt in which danger is high on the streets of Cairo and not just because of an impending coup. Our character has already been robbed making him ripe to taken advantage of. From there the break neck speed never stops. Fully rounded characters are thrown at us from corrupt government officials, bandits, and ex-spies. We are taken on a tour of Egypt, geographically and politically, yet Vidal never forgets that this is a smuggling caper thus keeps the tension high.
While reading this book, I kept imagining it being a classic noir of the late 1940s starring Bogart, Greenstreet, Laurie, Bergman, and others who made the genre a Hollywood staple. This book is a fun read. Quickly paced with very little time to rest, I enjoyed every page.
From the very beginning he throws us into a post WWII Egypt in which danger is high on the streets of Cairo and not just because of an impending coup. Our character has already been robbed making him ripe to taken advantage of. From there the break neck speed never stops. Fully rounded characters are thrown at us from corrupt government officials, bandits, and ex-spies. We are taken on a tour of Egypt, geographically and politically, yet Vidal never forgets that this is a smuggling caper thus keeps the tension high.
While reading this book, I kept imagining it being a classic noir of the late 1940s starring Bogart, Greenstreet, Laurie, Bergman, and others who made the genre a Hollywood staple. This book is a fun read. Quickly paced with very little time to rest, I enjoyed every page.
June 4, 2023
When Gore Vidal was a young writer he was, as most do, trying to make a buck or two. Thus, unlike most of his latter works which are true masterpieces of writing, he chose to write a pulp crime novel in 1953 called "Thieves Fall Out". Likely embarrassed by this type of book, he used a nom de guerre of "Cameron Kay".
The story? An American named Peter Wells, who has had an "interesting" life after World War II, is now in post-war Cairo. He gets caught up in a love affair where he becomes the patsy for an international smuggling ring trying to sell an ancient necklace from the Pharaonic era. Some nefarious characters are out to stop him. Threats range from scorpions, Arab thugs, corrupt officials, and utterly untrustworthy women all set in a revolutionary-obsessed Egypt are the setting.
It is not a bad book, but can best be summed up as rather conventional. It is a pulp crime novel, but none of Vidal's customary wit and intelligent prose are truly on display. It reminded me of a Mickey Spillane story. If you are a fan of pulp crime novels then you will probably appreciate this book more than I did.
The story? An American named Peter Wells, who has had an "interesting" life after World War II, is now in post-war Cairo. He gets caught up in a love affair where he becomes the patsy for an international smuggling ring trying to sell an ancient necklace from the Pharaonic era. Some nefarious characters are out to stop him. Threats range from scorpions, Arab thugs, corrupt officials, and utterly untrustworthy women all set in a revolutionary-obsessed Egypt are the setting.
It is not a bad book, but can best be summed up as rather conventional. It is a pulp crime novel, but none of Vidal's customary wit and intelligent prose are truly on display. It reminded me of a Mickey Spillane story. If you are a fan of pulp crime novels then you will probably appreciate this book more than I did.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 96 reviews