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The Captain Must Die
For twelve long years they remembered. For twelve long years they plotted. And now Captain Driscoll was going to pay for what he had done to them during the war. They weren't going to kill him right away. First there would be only little things, irritating things, that would build and grow and tighten until Captain Driscoll became afraid. Then they'd begin their reign of terror. That would be the best part. The three revenge-hungry men would savor those moments like a good wine. And when Captain Driscoll was a broken, sobbing man, when his sanity was almost gone, they would murder him.
- GenresCrime
190 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1959
2 people are currently reading
85 people want to read
About the author
Robert Colby
72 books2 followersAmerican novelist and crime thriller paperback genre and short story writer. Colby wrote novels for a number of the paperback houses including Gold Medal, which published his most praised novel, The Captain Must Die. He was also a prolific contributor of short stories to Alfred Hitchcock and Mike Shayne's mystery magazines. Many of these have gathered into two published collections of his stories. Colby also wrote a non-fiction true crime book, The California Crime Book, and co-authored a 'Nick Carter' book, The Death's Head Conspiracy, with Gary Brandner. Author Ed Gorman believed "Robert Colby was one of the best of the paperback original writers".
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
March 20, 2024
Colby’s “The Captain Must Die” is a top-notch crime paperback. What he does so absolutely well is he has you as the reader pitching for the three soldiers who were released from Leavenworth against the captain who put them there, Gregory Driscoll. But, slowly, Colby turns things around and make you wonder if you are pitching for the good guys or not.
He sets this one up as a caper novel with three hard-edged men getting in position to pull out the ultimate revenge against the man who set them up and left them to die in prison. That man (the captain) has become quite successful financially and has a beautiful wife to boot: Madge. He is also rumoured to have a fortune in cash hidden in a secret room in the house. The three men are going to break him, humiliate him, and then kill him for kicks.
Colby does an excellent job of setting this up. The three conspirators are Cal Morgan, Brick, and Barney. Brick is the bitterest of the three and the most humorless. But the way they play this out is brilliant starting with the practical jokes on Driscoll like pulling his oil plug out and adjusting his brakes and dropping tarantulas into his car. Like when Cal gets back together with Driscoll’s wife Madge and awakens the fires in her before having her drop off to sleep and Cal puttering about the house with Driscoll about to return any second.
The full palette of revenge makes perfect sense once the reader gets the full background of what went on and how unfair it seemed and how long the bitterness had to take hold of these men.
But no adventure novel would be complete without a whole full-born bang-bang shoot-em-up take-no-prisoners all-out-battle and Colby gives this to the readers perfectly.
He sets this one up as a caper novel with three hard-edged men getting in position to pull out the ultimate revenge against the man who set them up and left them to die in prison. That man (the captain) has become quite successful financially and has a beautiful wife to boot: Madge. He is also rumoured to have a fortune in cash hidden in a secret room in the house. The three men are going to break him, humiliate him, and then kill him for kicks.
Colby does an excellent job of setting this up. The three conspirators are Cal Morgan, Brick, and Barney. Brick is the bitterest of the three and the most humorless. But the way they play this out is brilliant starting with the practical jokes on Driscoll like pulling his oil plug out and adjusting his brakes and dropping tarantulas into his car. Like when Cal gets back together with Driscoll’s wife Madge and awakens the fires in her before having her drop off to sleep and Cal puttering about the house with Driscoll about to return any second.
The full palette of revenge makes perfect sense once the reader gets the full background of what went on and how unfair it seemed and how long the bitterness had to take hold of these men.
But no adventure novel would be complete without a whole full-born bang-bang shoot-em-up take-no-prisoners all-out-battle and Colby gives this to the readers perfectly.
May 12, 2012
Robert Colby was from the Gold Medal Books stable of writers who didn't rack up the impressive sales of his colleagues like Gil Brewer, Charles Williams, and Peter Rabe. Still, Colby had a remarkable career and was a very fine writer. This hardboiled revenge yarn (1959) held my attention all the way until the somewhat surprising ending.
Basically, a captain caught three WW II vets trying to desert, and had them arrested and court martialed. Twelve years later, the three vets are freed from prison and go after the captain and his wife. To complicate matters, one of the vets also had an affair with the wife.
Colby devotes a lot of prose giving us his characters' thoughts as well as liberal amounts of dialogue. The combination works, for the most part. I liked the novel's WW II themes, Army attitudes, and settings. One of the three vets, Brick, is wickedly portrayed. THE CAPTAIN MUST DIE gave me two evenings of entertaining reading.
Basically, a captain caught three WW II vets trying to desert, and had them arrested and court martialed. Twelve years later, the three vets are freed from prison and go after the captain and his wife. To complicate matters, one of the vets also had an affair with the wife.
Colby devotes a lot of prose giving us his characters' thoughts as well as liberal amounts of dialogue. The combination works, for the most part. I liked the novel's WW II themes, Army attitudes, and settings. One of the three vets, Brick, is wickedly portrayed. THE CAPTAIN MUST DIE gave me two evenings of entertaining reading.
November 29, 2019
A Fawcett Gold medal revenge caper classic telling the story of three court-martialed Army deserters, recently released after twelve years in Leavenworth, who decide to seek vengeance on their former captain who they blame for their imprisonment. Gregg, the captain, is now a businessman who hoards money in a secret room while trying to keep his distressingly ruined marriage with the lovely Madge intact. The three felons, led by psychopath Brick, devise a plan to torment and rob the captain with disturbing and surprising results. A tightly plotted gem, grim and dark with a fascinating cast of damaged characters. I’ve been reading a lot of Colby’s work recently. He’s a fine writer and this the best book that I’ve read by him thus far.
April 5, 2020
Like the movie, Endless Love, which stretches the limits of credulity as to how much a person is willing to forgive the person he or she loves, the titular captain seems willing to forgive his wife anything. Not that the captain is without his character flaws; he has them in spades. The fact that he made the punishment he meted out to three soldiers under his command personal, was the reason they came looking for him after the war.
The Captain Must Die is a gripping tale of avarice, adultery and revenge. It's one of the great Gold Medal originals of the 1950s.
The Captain Must Die is a gripping tale of avarice, adultery and revenge. It's one of the great Gold Medal originals of the 1950s.
January 3, 2015
Great read from the era of the Gold Medal paperbacks of the '50s. If you can find a copy, it is worth the read.
February 9, 2016
Greg Driscoll is a wealthy and respected businessman in the suburbs of Louisville, Kentucky. He has two cars, an upscale suburban home, a ten-year-old son off at summer camp, and a cold, distant, but beautiful wife Madge. And somebody is trying to kill him: three ex-G.I.s recently released from Leavenworth with a score to settle. They know Driscoll’s been stockpiling money in a vault built into his house’s basement. They aim to take that money and his wife, make Driscoll suffer for what he’s done to them, break him down through harassment and terror… and then end his life. And step by step, their careful plans begin to fray at Driscoll’s nerves; they may even be successful, if they can trust each other long enough to pull it off…
The story unveils itself through a series of flashbacks; at first, you’re left guessing why these three killers are gunning for Driscoll, but as their complex relationship comes out the reader starts to fit the pieces together…
During the war, Brick, Cal, and Barney were stateside to use their battlefield experience to help train new recruits. After a promised thirty-day furlough was revoked and the three G.I.s ordered back to the front, a disgusted Brick incites a desertion. When caught and brought before their commanding officer, Driscoll, the captain had the opportunity to drop the charge and shuffle them aboard a troopship heading back into the Pacific Theater. Instead, he had them tried as deserters—justifying to himself that the court would decide their guilt; in reality, it’s vengeance against Cal Morgan for having an affair with Madge. The following twelve years in Leavenworth destroy the lives of the three privates—careers evaporate, girlfriends disappear—leaving them with bitterness and resentment directed at Driscoll.
These are all failed characters—eroded to the core by the loss and rejection each has felt since the war. Despite his wealth and success, Driscoll lives in fear of poverty and another banking collapse. He’s bitter about his wife drifting away from him ever since he locked away her lover, and struggles along knowing someone is gunning for him, refusing to seek aid for fear of being seen as less than a man. The ex-cons have lost everything—each thinks back to an idyllic pre-war life with a career heading upward and a loving girlfriend—and all that’s left is a devilish desire for vengeance. The attempted desertion was just the catalyst; the war is the cause for the crushing weight that keeps them down, their many burdensome disappointments.
The Captain Must Die is a forgotten masterpiece. It has a few flaws—the fragmented nature makes for choppy reading, the flashbacks impeding the pace of the present narrative. (There’s also a few OCR errors in the e-copy, none bad enough to disrupt the reading experience.) But at its best, the prose shines, the dialogue is curt and sharp, the characters are rich in woe and motivation, and the plot arc is impressive. Robert Colby produced a well-executed novel of vengeance and lust with a distinct psychological element, and anyone with a serious interest in 1950s crime/noir should keep an eye out for this one. It’s an almost-perfect novel, and one of the most unique Gold Medals I’ve read.
(Full review found here.)
The story unveils itself through a series of flashbacks; at first, you’re left guessing why these three killers are gunning for Driscoll, but as their complex relationship comes out the reader starts to fit the pieces together…
During the war, Brick, Cal, and Barney were stateside to use their battlefield experience to help train new recruits. After a promised thirty-day furlough was revoked and the three G.I.s ordered back to the front, a disgusted Brick incites a desertion. When caught and brought before their commanding officer, Driscoll, the captain had the opportunity to drop the charge and shuffle them aboard a troopship heading back into the Pacific Theater. Instead, he had them tried as deserters—justifying to himself that the court would decide their guilt; in reality, it’s vengeance against Cal Morgan for having an affair with Madge. The following twelve years in Leavenworth destroy the lives of the three privates—careers evaporate, girlfriends disappear—leaving them with bitterness and resentment directed at Driscoll.
These are all failed characters—eroded to the core by the loss and rejection each has felt since the war. Despite his wealth and success, Driscoll lives in fear of poverty and another banking collapse. He’s bitter about his wife drifting away from him ever since he locked away her lover, and struggles along knowing someone is gunning for him, refusing to seek aid for fear of being seen as less than a man. The ex-cons have lost everything—each thinks back to an idyllic pre-war life with a career heading upward and a loving girlfriend—and all that’s left is a devilish desire for vengeance. The attempted desertion was just the catalyst; the war is the cause for the crushing weight that keeps them down, their many burdensome disappointments.
The Captain Must Die is a forgotten masterpiece. It has a few flaws—the fragmented nature makes for choppy reading, the flashbacks impeding the pace of the present narrative. (There’s also a few OCR errors in the e-copy, none bad enough to disrupt the reading experience.) But at its best, the prose shines, the dialogue is curt and sharp, the characters are rich in woe and motivation, and the plot arc is impressive. Robert Colby produced a well-executed novel of vengeance and lust with a distinct psychological element, and anyone with a serious interest in 1950s crime/noir should keep an eye out for this one. It’s an almost-perfect novel, and one of the most unique Gold Medals I’ve read.
(Full review found here.)
April 5, 2020
Well plotted, well-drawn characters, a fast read. In the mid 50s some prisoners are released, and are intent on robbing from and killing their former captain, who was instrumental in sending them to prison for desertion.
May 11, 2025
The Captain Must Die is unique among the Gold Medal pbos I’ve read for several reasons. The cover makes it seem like a war novel—but it is in fact a crime novel with all the lurid elements you would expect from Gold Medal.
The author Clifton Adams does well at subverting expectations, as another reviewer has mentioned, slowly revealing the guy we’re supposed to hate is sympathetic and the guys were supposed to root for are not.
He does this primarily through a series of flashbacks that give insight into the five main characters: the captain, his unfaithful wife, and the three soldiers who feel wronged by the captain. I would estimate that a third of the book is flashbacks about their shared history. Rather than blunt the momentum, these flashbacks are vital to the character switcheroo.
Brief plot overview: three men reunite to get revenge on the officer who could’ve kept them from going to Leavenworth after they were caught trying to desert during WW2. But he didn’t—partly because one of the men was having an affair with his wife. The men are released after 12 years and head to Louisville, where their former captain—still married—has done quite well for himself financially. A few other interesting elements added to this stew are a couple of tarantulas (you’ll see) and the secret room where the safe is hidden in the captain’s house.
One negative is that for a heist novel, the actual heist is given short shrift. I would call it an afterthought—but it happens in one chapter toward the middle and involves only one of the three wronged soldiers. Additionally, the mechanics of the heist were a bit too neat and easily figured out.
Still, this is an enjoyable pageturner that I finished in a single afternoon. Recommended.
The author Clifton Adams does well at subverting expectations, as another reviewer has mentioned, slowly revealing the guy we’re supposed to hate is sympathetic and the guys were supposed to root for are not.
He does this primarily through a series of flashbacks that give insight into the five main characters: the captain, his unfaithful wife, and the three soldiers who feel wronged by the captain. I would estimate that a third of the book is flashbacks about their shared history. Rather than blunt the momentum, these flashbacks are vital to the character switcheroo.
Brief plot overview: three men reunite to get revenge on the officer who could’ve kept them from going to Leavenworth after they were caught trying to desert during WW2. But he didn’t—partly because one of the men was having an affair with his wife. The men are released after 12 years and head to Louisville, where their former captain—still married—has done quite well for himself financially. A few other interesting elements added to this stew are a couple of tarantulas (you’ll see) and the secret room where the safe is hidden in the captain’s house.
One negative is that for a heist novel, the actual heist is given short shrift. I would call it an afterthought—but it happens in one chapter toward the middle and involves only one of the three wronged soldiers. Additionally, the mechanics of the heist were a bit too neat and easily figured out.
Still, this is an enjoyable pageturner that I finished in a single afternoon. Recommended.
January 3, 2023
Robert Colby was an excellent writer whose books could be hit and miss. This 1959 effort was arguably his best. Reading it will fill you with a sense of doom, like you're speeding toward a cliff in a car with no brakes. Then, lo and behold, the ending surprises.
June 13, 2025
A good revenge tale.
Want to read
December 20, 2025144 pages
June 5, 2012
I enjoyed the story, though it's obvious how it's going to end by how the author fleshes out the characters as the novel draws to a close. And Driscoll, the Captain of the title is not particularly likeable.
I was rooting for the bad guys for most of the story.
It's a goood short read that is spoiled by the huge amount of typo's and sentences that make no sense in the kindle version. I hope this is not the same story for other Prologue e-books as they have a lot of similar hard boiled fiction from the 50's. The book deserves a better treatment than it received from Prologue.
I was rooting for the bad guys for most of the story.
It's a goood short read that is spoiled by the huge amount of typo's and sentences that make no sense in the kindle version. I hope this is not the same story for other Prologue e-books as they have a lot of similar hard boiled fiction from the 50's. The book deserves a better treatment than it received from Prologue.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews