The Devil Thumbs a Ride

by Robert C. Du Soe

Screenwriter Du Soe's only novel, about an innocuous fellar name of Steve who gets in a car with the simple, corpulent Furgison. The pair pick up a couple of girls, and only after the bodies pile up does Furgison start to wonder who it is he's riding along with.

154 pages

First published January 1, 1938

Reviews

[Jeff · Rating 3 out of 5]

A traveling salesman pick up a hitchhiker and then offers a ride to two more girls. What the salesman doesn't know is that the hitchhiker is fleeing felon and the two girls, prostitutes. Just add alcohol for an explosive mixture.

The only weak point in the novel is the addition of the character of the salesman's wife late in the book.

[David · Rating 2 out of 5]

Perhaps the most superficial pulp-noir of any reputation that I have read. Much liquor is consumed, many sexual advances are made, and many lives are endangered, but never is there so much as a peek into anyone's soul. A quick, empty read.