Лучше бы я остался бедным

by James Hadley Chase

За полвека писательской деятельности британский автор детективов Рене Брабазон Реймонд (1906–1985) опубликовал около девяноста криминальных романов и сменил несколько творческих псевдонимов. Самый прославленный из них – Джеймс Хедли Чейз.
"Я, как ищейка, беру след и чую, чего хочет читатель. И что он купит", – так мэтр объяснял успех своих романов, охотно раскрывая золотоносный секрет: читателей привлекают "действие и ритм". В XX веке не осталось места неспешным старомодным историям, в которых эксцентричный сыщик расследует загадочное убийство аристократа в декорациях уютного загородного особняка; по законам нового времени детектив пускает в ход револьвер едва &

Genres: Fiction, Crime, Mystery, Thriller, Novels, Russia, Noir

231 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1962

About the author

René Lodge Brabazon Raymond was born on 24th December 1906 in London, England, the son of Colonel Francis Raymond of the colonial Indian Army, a veterinary surgeon. His father intended his son to have a scientific career, was initially educated at King's School, Rochester, Kent. He left home at the age of 18 and became at different times a children's encyclopedia salesman, a salesman in a bookshop, and executive for a book wholesaler before turning to a writing career that produced more than 90 mystery books. His interests included photography (he was up to professional standard), reading and listening to classical music, being a particularly enthusiastic opera lover. Also as a form of relaxation between novels, he put together highly complicated and sophisticated Meccano models.

In 1932, Raymond married Sylvia Ray, who gave him a son. They were together until his death fifty three years later. Prohibition and the ensuing US Great Depression (1929–1939), had given rise to the Chicago gangster culture just prior to World War II. This, combined with her book trade experience, made him realise that there was a big demand for gangster stories. He wrote as R. Raymond, James Hadley Chase, James L. Docherty, Ambrose Grant and Raymond Marshall.

During World War II he served in the Royal Air Force, achieving the rank of Squadron Leader. Chase edited the RAF Journal with David Langdon and had several stories from it published after the war in the book Slipstream: A Royal Air Force Anthology.

Raymond moved to France in 1956 and then to Switzerland in 1969, living a secluded life in Corseaux-sur-Vevey, on Lake Geneva, from 1974. He eventually died there peacefully on 6 February 1985.

Reviews

[Dave · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dave Calvin might just be the most pathetic bank robber ever featured in a novel. Calvin is a broke from alimony, debt-ridden, middle aged bank manager assigned to nowheresville: Pittsville. His only robbery partner is his alcohol-addicted landlady, Kit Loring, whose nineteen year old daughter is engaged to the crack sheriff’s deputy, Ken Tavares.

There are only two employees at the bank so Calvin plans to the lay the blame for the theft of the $300,000 factory payroll on the other employee, mild-mannered Alice who who would never hurt a fly or have a boyfriend. So Calvin makes up a fake boyfriend for Alice that is really Calvin in a disguise and fools the two elderly boarders they share the rooking house with. Calvin nonchalantly kills Alice in the vault and has drunken stumbling Kit pretend to be Alice leaving the bank. Kit doesn’t want any murder and doesn’t want to marry and run away to Florida with Calvin and not spend a dime of the loot for two to three years.

Nothing about this is well thought out, clever, or professional and drunken Kit barely manages to get home in one piece. Calvin is never anything but a snake-like conniving bastard who turns mother against daughter and vice versa. Dear daughter Iris, either carry the loot out of town for her or I’ll expose your mother, drunken Kit Loring, and she’ll fade the gas chamber.

Nevertheless, Chase turns this crazy episode into quite a compelling read.

[Lupna Avery · Rating 3 out of 5]

Yes, Dave Calvin, small time bank manager, is a cruel man, ready to do anything to make big money, including taking murder in his stride. And we know the author is quite adept at depicting ruthless, cold people. Here is a swift unnerving description of Calvin when he thinks his partner in crime would no longer be helping him:

"When he heard the lock turn, his fleshy face became hideous. He looked like a savage, his face convulsed with rage. Suddenly he spat on the carpet and clenching his fists, he began to pound them on his knees..."

For such a man, murder is of course par for the course, despite his cosmetic superficial charm. He has no qualms in taking human life; as he again admits along the line:

"... I am no stranger to murder. I murdered a number of people during the war ... not only soldiers, but also civilians who got in my way. I have waited years for the chance to get my hands on big money..."

Hence Dave has no remorse at all in not only brutally killing a harmless, innocent, shy young woman (Alice) but also setting her up as culpable for the robbery that would shock this particular society, and beyond. Will ruthless Calvin get away with it ... ?

[Duncan McCurdie · Rating 4 out of 5]

A classic noir plot from one of the most prolific and influential golden age writers that modern times has forgotten about. Published in the 60s so the violence has been turned up a notch but the twists, turns and characters are still there. A book that fits neatly in between James M Cain and Jim Thompson.

[Ionuț Anastasiu · Rating 3 out of 5]

James Hadley Chase revine la tema jafului unei sume mari de bani în care este inclusă și crima, după ce o abordase, mult mai convingător de altfel, în romanul publicat cu trei ani înainte, în 1959, Am lumea în buzunar. Întâmplarea a făcut să le citesc imediat unul după celălalt.
Din punctul meu de vedere, Mai bine sărac este o copie palidă a celuilalt și este interesant de observat că, în afara temei principale, ce este în linii mari aceeași, există inclusiv o replică ce apare în ambele romane. Astfel, la propunerea lui Ed Bleck de a forma împreună un cuplu, tânăra Ginny Gordon îi răspunde cu indiferență: "Nu m-ar interesa nici dacă ai fi ultimul om de pe lume". Pe de altă parte, la insistențele lui Dave Calvin, personajul principal din romanul de față, de a face echipă împreună, Kit Loring se declară într-o primă fază complet împotrivă - "Nu m-aş căsători cu tine nici dacă ai fi ultimul bărbat de pe glob. Şterge-o de-aici! Nu glumesc. Nu te mai vreau sub acoperişul meu" -, după care cedează ușor ispitei de a se îmbogăți peste noapte, fără ca ea în mod direct să omoare pe cineva.
Ca și în Am lumea în buzunar, eroul romanului este un ratat; în ciuda faptului că lucrează de mult timp la o bancă, niciodată nu a reușit să promoveze, are 38 de ani și o înclinație spre agresivitate care le face pe femei să fugă de el, după ce inițial se simțiseră atrase. Mult aștepta ocazie apare atunci când Dave Calvin este trimis să-l înlocuiască pe directorul sucursalei băncii din micul oraș Pittsville, iar aici sunt aduși banii pentru salariile muncitorilor de la patru uzine. Calvin se gândește ce bine i-ar prinde ca acești bani să fie ai lui. Și pentru asta pune la cale un plan criminal. Oare ce șanse de reușită poate să aibă în condițiile în care el este personajul unei cărți ce are un asemenea titlu? Lectură plăcută!

[Aniruddha Sastikar · Rating 5 out of 5]

Started reading this awesome JHC classic,last year and then wasn't able to continue, but re-started it again and found it so grasping that I finished in 4 days flat.
Amazing plots,amazing characters, awesome ending.
This one not only gave me an idea of how to write, but gave me insight on how to be creative with words.
A must read.

[Paul Cornelius · Rating 4 out of 5]

Going into a nearby town, Kit, Dave Calvin's accomplice in a bank heist, mentions that she has watched an Alfred Hitchcock movie. As James Hadley Chase published I Would Rather Stay Poor in 1962, that means the writing and publication of the novel would have taken place sometime before Hitchcock's The Birds (1963) but immediately after Pycho (1960). So Psycho would likely have been on the mind of Chase and any reader during the time of I Would Rather Stay Poor's appearance. And a psycho is what we have with the story's protagonist, Calvin. It's not so much that the novel is filled with murders and grisly descriptions of them. It's not. There is only one direct murder. The rest of the deaths come as a result of suicide and essentially happen "out of sight" of the reader. This is in contrast to Chase's early works which were lingering and graphic as killers would build up a body count. Here, Chase is doing something a little different.

What occurs in I Would Rather Stay Poor is sketching out the psychology of the two key characters, Calvin and his accomplice/fiance, Kit. The alcoholic Kit, who has been on the wagon, begins a quick process of disintegration that Chase documents throughout. But it is the psychotic Calvin who is most interesting. For what Chase does is tie his killer's psychotic and sociopathic tendencies to his experience of killing Japanese soldiers during World War II. Calvin kills lightly because the war taught him how to do so while severing him from the normal connections that being part of a community are all about. Thus this is a work that, albeit briefly, deals with the murderous after effects of combat fatigue--or, as it would soon become known after Vietnam, PTSD. Yes, Calvin is sort of an early version of a criminal Rambo.

Otherwise, only a few problems. I realize Chase is writing for an audience expecting Britishisms. But, really, when he creates mental or actual dialog, it is a jolt to see things such as Americans referring to "sideboards," when absolutely no one would use that term, instead using the proper word, "sideburns." Too, as someone who took up tennis at age eight, just a year after this novel was published, I cannot imagine an American tennis facility, country club or otherwise, that offers up a tea pavilion. You might get tea, but it would only be iced tea, not the British variety. I think the reliance on these Britishisms is the reason Chase failed in America. It's just too awkward for most American readers to come across these passages. Imagine, on the other hand, for example, if Miss Marple were suddenly to start talking like Mae West, "come up and see me, sometime, big boy." That's the effect Chase has on American readers.

[Chandni · Rating 5 out of 5]

My mental goal was to hit 10,000 pages this year.
I made it! I’m at 10,094 pages right now.

[Sourav Ganguly · Rating 3 out of 5]

This one was yet again a trademark JHC stuff…once you start it, only thing you want to do is to arrive at the last page. And again as usual (in most of JHC’s) the protagonist is anti-hero. There are several other characters…but the most of the plot is dedicated for the lead.
The story is of a bank robbery…and again, as expected the bank (payroll) is which the protagonist works. Bank burglary, I guess is one of the most gripping and spellbinding plot and so it had to be and noticeably JHC writing style was a certain bonus.
Although, there could have been lessening in few pages, which would have indeed (I opine) made the thing more gripping. As for most of JHC’s novel is takes only a couple of pages for that gravitational grasp, but for this one it took nearly about a dozen of pages, but that was never an issue.
Go for it.

[Crime Addict Sifat · Rating 4 out of 5]

Like most bank chiefs, Dave Calvin had procured a compelling appeal that he could switch on at whatever point he felt the need. Underneath it he was frosty, computing, severe - a flawless killer.

For quite a long time he had held up - viewing a perpetual stream of cash go through his hands - realizing that a hazard was just worth taking if the reward was defended. Furthermore, a $300,000 finance was avocation enough - notwithstanding for murder ...

[Costea Constantin · Rating 5 out of 5]

„Eşti un cretin; n-ar fi trebuit să-ţi faci de lucru cu ea niciodată”, îşi spuse el. „Dar poate că avea dreptate. Mai bine rămâneam sărac”.
Contemplă geanta. „Trei sute de mii de dolari! Nu-i va cheltui, s-a sfârşit, nu va cheltui niciunul!”
Se gândi la Alice. „Poate-i mai bine c-a murit.” Nu simţea nicio remuşcare pentru că o ucisese. „Ce viaţă mizerabilă ar fi dus, oricum?!”
Mai bine sărac este al 52-lea roman al acestui autor, caracterizat de revista londoneză de critică STAR drept „cel mai remarcabil dintre autorii englezi și americani de romane polițiste”.
Este povestea unui furt executat cu abilitate și ingeniozitate de către un director de bancă sătul de o carieră lipsită de strălucire.
Ca în toate romanele lui Chase, suspansul este continuu. Femeile sunt mai reale decât în viață, iar cititorul este captivat de la prima până la ultima pagină.

[Κώστας · Rating 5 out of 5]

ΒΙΠΕΡ αρ. 251 " Καλύτερα φτωχός παρά νεκρός ".

Φανταστικό, τραγανό και όπως όλα τα βιβλία του JHC, αρκετά παθιασμένο!
Οι στροφές κάθε κεφαλαίου είναι μαγευτικές.
Αυτό ήταν και πάλι ένα σήμα κατατεθέν JHC… ένα Must Read που εκκολάπτει φανατικούς οπαδούς.
Κι αυτή η μυρωδιά του...πόσο noir μυρωδιά!

Είναι η τρίτη φορά που το διαβάζω.

" ...υπήρχε κάτι το αιθέριο στη νεανική της ματιά που τον μαγνήτιζε".

[Mark Vickers · Rating 4 out of 5]

This one's a MUST READ for all the maestro's fanatics, A down and out Bank Manager to a New Town who comes up with a plot to Steal a Weekly Fortune from his own Bank and put the Blame on his Spinster Secretary and her Imagined Boyfriend, add to that an Alcoholic Landlady and the Twists and Turns of each Chapter is Spellbinding.....

[Kakha · Rating 5 out of 5]

James Hadley Chase (1906–1985) is my favorite writer – master of the coolest crime fiction literature, with a simple but ingenious mastery of the literary word. For almost half a century of writing, he published about ninety crime novels and changed several creative pseudonyms. His almost irreproachable, unsurpassed, rather short novels, in addition to a dynamic plot, are distinguished by convincing psychological motivations, the presence of vivid, memorable images.
The heroes of the novella "I Would Rather Stay Poor" manage to steal a significant amount of money from the bank at the cost of murder, but, of course, all of them are paid off... This is one of the most interesting, exciting works from the genre of a crime novel that a reader may encounter.

[Installshield Wizard · Rating 5 out of 5]

A typical James Hadley Chase story. I'd say one of his best.
Once again this proves JHC 's mastery of storytelling , it's impossible to put the book aside until you finish it.

A bank manager in a small town in need of a big money decides to do an inside job and rob his own bank. But he has to find a scapegoat... and then the storyline takes dramatic twists and turns. The only bad thing is it ends on a pessimistic note. but this fact is not even a spoiler cause it's a very usual thing about JHC stories.

[Gfec · Rating 3 out of 5]

3,5 complicated bank robbery, but realistic in moments of errors of "average men" which want and plan to mug with long-term bad habits ( alcohol, greed )

[Ahmedur Sabuj · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good thriller.

[Shyam Iyer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic, crisp and like all JHC books, quite pacy!

[Farhad Mammadov · Rating 5 out of 5]

Çemysdən oxuduğum ilk pikaresk romandır. Həmişəki kimi sujet xətti möhtəşəmdir.

[Vanessa]

Very clever and the rise to the climax is tremendous.

[Virginie Dolléans · Rating 3 out of 5]

Un bon vieux polar à l’ancienne.

[Samuel · Rating 4 out of 5]

being poor is still a very far way from being dead

[Farhagh · Rating 2 out of 5]

I guess I read it a couple years late :)

[Rabeea · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not his best work.

[Ashish Ghimire · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good read. Was able to finish it in one sitting. It's not a great read but good enough.