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The Deep End
The story starts with the death of a child at an amusement park. Immediately, the situation sparks the classic 'could it be an accident? Of course not...' and it isn't long before newspaperman Sam Evans begins to sense that something is wrong. But when he starts to link this death with other apparent accidents in the town, is his obsession taking him too far?
256 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1952
2 people are currently reading
74 people want to read
About the author
Fredric Brown
808 books354 followersFredric Brown was an American science fiction and mystery writer. He was one of the boldest early writers in genre fiction in his use of narrative experimentation. While never in the front rank of popularity in his lifetime, Brown has developed a considerable cult following in the almost half century since he last wrote. His works have been periodically reprinted and he has a worldwide fan base, most notably in the U.S. and Europe, and especially in France, where there have been several recent movie adaptations of his work. He also remains popular in Japan.
Never financially secure, Brown - like many other pulp writers - often wrote at a furious pace in order to pay bills. This accounts, at least in part, for the uneven quality of his work. A newspaperman by profession, Brown was only able to devote 14 years of his life as a full-time fiction writer. Brown was also a heavy drinker, and this at times doubtless affected his productivity. A cultured man and omnivorous reader whose interests ranged far beyond those of most pulp writers, Brown had a lifelong interest in the flute, chess, poker, and the works of Lewis Carroll. Brown married twice and was the father of two sons.
Never financially secure, Brown - like many other pulp writers - often wrote at a furious pace in order to pay bills. This accounts, at least in part, for the uneven quality of his work. A newspaperman by profession, Brown was only able to devote 14 years of his life as a full-time fiction writer. Brown was also a heavy drinker, and this at times doubtless affected his productivity. A cultured man and omnivorous reader whose interests ranged far beyond those of most pulp writers, Brown had a lifelong interest in the flute, chess, poker, and the works of Lewis Carroll. Brown married twice and was the father of two sons.
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Want to read
December 18, 2018This hardcover edition of “The Deep End" is volume 4 in the Garland Publishing, Inc. series of books printed as “50 Classics of Crime Fiction 1950 – 1975” chosen by Jacques Barzun & Wendell Hertig Taylor and is a re-print, originally published in 1952 as a hardcover by Dutton.
Small print run. No dust wrapper.
The list of 50 Classics of Crime Fiction 1950–1975 can be found here although I just noticed that the order of the books in this list is not correct:
https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/8...
Small print run. No dust wrapper.
The list of 50 Classics of Crime Fiction 1950–1975 can be found here although I just noticed that the order of the books in this list is not correct:
https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/8...
December 23, 2025
This is not even close to Brown’s best novel, but it is still highly readable and enjoyable. In this story, a newspaper reporter sets eyes on a high school student who could be a serial killer. He sets out to prove his case, putting himself in immediate danger.
July 26, 2024
The Deep End (1952) is a standalone mystery by Fredric Brown, featuring as its lead character a small-town reporter, Sam Evans. The setting is fictional Whitewater Beach, which appears to be a sort of stand-in for Myrtle Beach with the opening scenes taking place in an amusement park near the beach. A teenager, who had been running through the ride area, had been fatally hit by one of the amusement park cars and Evans is asked to do a puff piece on how these well-to-do football hero kid met his end and what a promising future he had. However, when it turns out that the teenager who met his demise was someone else who had apparently swiped the wallet of the first kid (Henry O. Westphal aka “Obie”), Evans is told not to bother writing the piece. Who, after all, wants to hear about a never-to-good kid (Jimmy Chojnacki) from the wrong side of the tracks getting killed.
Evans is scheduled to take separate vacations from his wife Millie the following week, him fishing with his buddies and her visiting her sister. There are no children between them and apparently the marriage is on shaky ground. Evans, though, gets to thinking too much -something he often does in this novel- and gets a bus ride back to Whitewater Beach where he spends his vacation week, doing two things that end up being interconnected. Investigating the death of the kid who really got killed on his own time and starting up a torrid affair with his high-school sweetheart, the one he did not marry, Nina Carberry.
Nina is a social worker part time and part of her caseload is the Chojnacki family so when Evans shows up at their door, there is Nina answering the door. But he tells us in his narration that six years had done a lot for Nina and now she was beautiful. Of course, with them, one drink leads to another and suddenly they are spending one night, two nights, and more together, calling each other honey and darling, and looking like they want to spend the rest of their lives together. The books’ chapters are not numbered, but are marked by the days of the week as this story plays out – and the affair too- during the long week Millie is out of town and none the wiser to Evans’ extracurricular activities.
Evans is intrigued by a series of weird accidents that seem to have followed Obie around and suspects him of being some kind of killer in plain sight causing a high school teacher’s drowning and another kid’s fall from a high tower. There are just his suspicions and little hard evidence to back him up. Nevertheless, we are treated at some points to inner dialogue between Evans and his Suspicions which sounds to all the world as if he is either talking to a real person or has completely lost his mind and given into pscyhosis and a split personality.
It is an enjoyable read, although if you are looking for action, you won’t find much until almost the end when Evans confronts someone. It is, however, an interesting study of Evans’ character and his failings and you may wonder at the end, realizing that this is all being told from Evans’ point of view what exactly really transpired and whether Evans is not so innocent as he appears to be. Does he get away with anything besides adultery? Hmmm.
Evans is scheduled to take separate vacations from his wife Millie the following week, him fishing with his buddies and her visiting her sister. There are no children between them and apparently the marriage is on shaky ground. Evans, though, gets to thinking too much -something he often does in this novel- and gets a bus ride back to Whitewater Beach where he spends his vacation week, doing two things that end up being interconnected. Investigating the death of the kid who really got killed on his own time and starting up a torrid affair with his high-school sweetheart, the one he did not marry, Nina Carberry.
Nina is a social worker part time and part of her caseload is the Chojnacki family so when Evans shows up at their door, there is Nina answering the door. But he tells us in his narration that six years had done a lot for Nina and now she was beautiful. Of course, with them, one drink leads to another and suddenly they are spending one night, two nights, and more together, calling each other honey and darling, and looking like they want to spend the rest of their lives together. The books’ chapters are not numbered, but are marked by the days of the week as this story plays out – and the affair too- during the long week Millie is out of town and none the wiser to Evans’ extracurricular activities.
Evans is intrigued by a series of weird accidents that seem to have followed Obie around and suspects him of being some kind of killer in plain sight causing a high school teacher’s drowning and another kid’s fall from a high tower. There are just his suspicions and little hard evidence to back him up. Nevertheless, we are treated at some points to inner dialogue between Evans and his Suspicions which sounds to all the world as if he is either talking to a real person or has completely lost his mind and given into pscyhosis and a split personality.
It is an enjoyable read, although if you are looking for action, you won’t find much until almost the end when Evans confronts someone. It is, however, an interesting study of Evans’ character and his failings and you may wonder at the end, realizing that this is all being told from Evans’ point of view what exactly really transpired and whether Evans is not so innocent as he appears to be. Does he get away with anything besides adultery? Hmmm.
March 6, 2021
In The Deep End, one of Fredric Brown's many pulp mysteries, a minor character tells a story about a relative of his who fell to his death because his wooden leg splintered after being hollowed out by termites. This is one of the only real quirks of the book.
Otherwise, it's a pretty standard story of a reporter who sets out to investigate the allegedly accidental death of a local teen after he gets a hunch that there may have been foul play involved. He even splits from his week long vacation of fishing and hunting with the guys to do some snooping around, posing the typical questions, and looking into the shadier aspects of the town's history. All the while, he entertains an old high school flame of his in a seedy relationship that feels icky because of the rapey vibes he sends out and the girl's unending neediness.
Where the book really excels is in Brown's ability to show his protagonist's mental process as he works his way through the details of the crime. Brown finds a nice balance between making his internal dialogue believable, in that he takes several wrong detours on his way to figuring out the truth, and using some decent logic and psychoanalysis (at least for a pulp novel from the 1950s) to discover some of the characters' possible motivations.
But, then, it all leads to an admittedly lame ending. If only it all would have come back around to the man with the termite-infested wooded leg, I think it would have been far more interesting.
Otherwise, it's a pretty standard story of a reporter who sets out to investigate the allegedly accidental death of a local teen after he gets a hunch that there may have been foul play involved. He even splits from his week long vacation of fishing and hunting with the guys to do some snooping around, posing the typical questions, and looking into the shadier aspects of the town's history. All the while, he entertains an old high school flame of his in a seedy relationship that feels icky because of the rapey vibes he sends out and the girl's unending neediness.
Where the book really excels is in Brown's ability to show his protagonist's mental process as he works his way through the details of the crime. Brown finds a nice balance between making his internal dialogue believable, in that he takes several wrong detours on his way to figuring out the truth, and using some decent logic and psychoanalysis (at least for a pulp novel from the 1950s) to discover some of the characters' possible motivations.
But, then, it all leads to an admittedly lame ending. If only it all would have come back around to the man with the termite-infested wooded leg, I think it would have been far more interesting.
October 28, 2014
Fredric Brown nails it. As with most hard-boiled novels, the crime/mystery is secondary to what is happening to the narrator. In today's world, this book would be 600 pages. God bless the pulps.
October 23, 2015
Probably the weakest of Brown's crime novels so far. But even a weak Brown is still miles ahead of most other books of its ilk.
Main issue with this book is that there really ain't much of a mystery. There really is only one single suspect and apart from some speculation as to whether there was a murder at all taking place one pretty much knows who done it.
But Brown's books live through their characters. It may not have such a wonderfully over-the-top plot as, let's say, Night of the Jabberwock but it still has a range of well defined folks. It came as a surprise to me to see such blatant references to sexual activities in a novel of the time. There is nothing explicit in here but it's pretty obvious that characters are having unmarried sex and enjoying it. It's only in the last few pages of the book that the hero turns into a douchebag, i.e. displays attitudes that were probably pretty much the norm and expected in the early 1950s but these days feel somewhat hypocritical.
Main issue with this book is that there really ain't much of a mystery. There really is only one single suspect and apart from some speculation as to whether there was a murder at all taking place one pretty much knows who done it.
But Brown's books live through their characters. It may not have such a wonderfully over-the-top plot as, let's say, Night of the Jabberwock but it still has a range of well defined folks. It came as a surprise to me to see such blatant references to sexual activities in a novel of the time. There is nothing explicit in here but it's pretty obvious that characters are having unmarried sex and enjoying it. It's only in the last few pages of the book that the hero turns into a douchebag, i.e. displays attitudes that were probably pretty much the norm and expected in the early 1950s but these days feel somewhat hypocritical.
Want to read
April 17, 2019Synopsis: a child dies at an amusement park. Could it be an accident? Newspaperman Sam Evans begins to sense that something is wrong.
December 12, 2021
Es un libro relativamente corto, con una temática interesante, hubieron situaciones que me parecieron aburridas y poco necesarias para el libro, no logro impresionarme siendo de mi género favorito.
August 8, 2020
A boy is killed in an accident involving a roller coaster. He wasn't riding on the roller coaster; he was on the track and was hit by an empty car, which had been sent on a test run at the beginning of the day. Newspaper reporter Sam Evans is assigned to cover the story, the last thing he needs to do at work before he leaves on vacation.
The wallet in the boy's pocket has identification for Henry Obadiah Westphal, a high school student known as "Obie." But the real Obie Westphal shows up, asking if anyone has found his missing wallet. The dead guy is really another boy, identified by his fingerprints; the prints are on file because the boy has a criminal record, including charges for picking pockets. That should pretty much resolve everything. Except...
Westphal's parents were out of town when the death occurred. They were notified that their son was dead, and they returned immediately, going straight to the funeral home. Evans goes to the funeral home as well, looking for more to the story. He sees the family leaving the funeral home. The mother looks elated, but the father "was walking stiffly, strangely, and his face hadn't changed at all; it still might have been carved out of ice." Evans finds out that the father has arranged to pay for the dead boy's funeral. Evans thinks that the way Obie's father looked is odd and that his offer to pay is as well. And Evans begins to wonder if the boy who died was really killed in an accident or if he was murdered.
Evans devotes a lot of time during his vacation week to investigating this possible murder, and begins to suspect that the same person who he thinks killed the boy might have killed other people as well. Evans and his wife have not been getting along and she is scheduled to be out of town for the week. This gives him lots of time to look into the matter - and to begin an affair with a woman he knew years earlier whom he encountered while he investigated.
The only problem that I have with this book is that the initial premise is weak. A father does not look pleased that his son, thought dead, is still alive, and he offers to pay for a stranger's funeral. There seems to be no reason why the dead boy would have been on the roller coaster track; the roller coaster is very loud, and it is impossible that the boy would not have heard it coming. Basing a suspicion of murder on those things alone seems tenuous at best.
But the development of the story is excellent. Once there is some ground for suspicion, more constantly accumulates. The novel builds continuously.
As usual, Brown includes humor:
[Evans is in the newspaper office, looking up at a buzzing horsefly]
Someone was standing by my desk and said, "What the hell are you doing?"
It was Harry Rowland. I grinned at him. I said, "I was communing with a horsefly. Any objections?"
"Thank God," he said. "I thought you were praying."
(And one piece of unintended humor: Brown, who is usually described as being rather small himself, writes that one of the characters in the book is "a young giant," "at least six feet tall." Evidently giants were shorter in the 1950's.)
There is more mention of sex than is usual for Brown, but none of it is particularly graphic.
The colorful and dramatic cover of the Quill Mysterious Classic paperback edition was designed by Irving Freeman and painted by Steve Macanga.
The Deep End is a revised and expanded version of an earlier novelette by Brown titled "Obit for Obie" (Mystery Book Magazine, October, 1946). That story is reprinted in the fine anthology Pure Pulp, edited by Ed Gorman, Martin H. Greenberg, and Bill Pronzini. The introduction to the story says of Brown, "Page for page, he gives as much enjoyment as anyone who ever used the mystery form."
In Jack Seabrook's book Martians and Misplaced Clues: The Life and Work of Fredric Brown, Seabrook quotes another author, Newton Baird, who wrote that The Deep End is "Brown's masterpiece of psychological detection, as well as his best novel." I don't think it is the very best, but it is quite good and is one of my favorite works by Brown.
The wallet in the boy's pocket has identification for Henry Obadiah Westphal, a high school student known as "Obie." But the real Obie Westphal shows up, asking if anyone has found his missing wallet. The dead guy is really another boy, identified by his fingerprints; the prints are on file because the boy has a criminal record, including charges for picking pockets. That should pretty much resolve everything. Except...
Westphal's parents were out of town when the death occurred. They were notified that their son was dead, and they returned immediately, going straight to the funeral home. Evans goes to the funeral home as well, looking for more to the story. He sees the family leaving the funeral home. The mother looks elated, but the father "was walking stiffly, strangely, and his face hadn't changed at all; it still might have been carved out of ice." Evans finds out that the father has arranged to pay for the dead boy's funeral. Evans thinks that the way Obie's father looked is odd and that his offer to pay is as well. And Evans begins to wonder if the boy who died was really killed in an accident or if he was murdered.
Evans devotes a lot of time during his vacation week to investigating this possible murder, and begins to suspect that the same person who he thinks killed the boy might have killed other people as well. Evans and his wife have not been getting along and she is scheduled to be out of town for the week. This gives him lots of time to look into the matter - and to begin an affair with a woman he knew years earlier whom he encountered while he investigated.
The only problem that I have with this book is that the initial premise is weak. A father does not look pleased that his son, thought dead, is still alive, and he offers to pay for a stranger's funeral. There seems to be no reason why the dead boy would have been on the roller coaster track; the roller coaster is very loud, and it is impossible that the boy would not have heard it coming. Basing a suspicion of murder on those things alone seems tenuous at best.
But the development of the story is excellent. Once there is some ground for suspicion, more constantly accumulates. The novel builds continuously.
As usual, Brown includes humor:
[Evans is in the newspaper office, looking up at a buzzing horsefly]
Someone was standing by my desk and said, "What the hell are you doing?"
It was Harry Rowland. I grinned at him. I said, "I was communing with a horsefly. Any objections?"
"Thank God," he said. "I thought you were praying."
(And one piece of unintended humor: Brown, who is usually described as being rather small himself, writes that one of the characters in the book is "a young giant," "at least six feet tall." Evidently giants were shorter in the 1950's.)
There is more mention of sex than is usual for Brown, but none of it is particularly graphic.
The colorful and dramatic cover of the Quill Mysterious Classic paperback edition was designed by Irving Freeman and painted by Steve Macanga.
The Deep End is a revised and expanded version of an earlier novelette by Brown titled "Obit for Obie" (Mystery Book Magazine, October, 1946). That story is reprinted in the fine anthology Pure Pulp, edited by Ed Gorman, Martin H. Greenberg, and Bill Pronzini. The introduction to the story says of Brown, "Page for page, he gives as much enjoyment as anyone who ever used the mystery form."
In Jack Seabrook's book Martians and Misplaced Clues: The Life and Work of Fredric Brown, Seabrook quotes another author, Newton Baird, who wrote that The Deep End is "Brown's masterpiece of psychological detection, as well as his best novel." I don't think it is the very best, but it is quite good and is one of my favorite works by Brown.
July 12, 2024
This 1952 novel (I read the one printed by Bantam in 1954) has reporter Sam Evans and his wife taking a bread from one another for a week. She leaves town, as does he, until he learns of the death of a teen at an amusement park. The boy was killed by a rollercoaster slamming into him. He's told to write a sob piece on the kid, but the story is soon cancelled when its learned the boy is someone else, a juvenile delinquent who isn't worthy of focus in the papers. This death sticks with Sam and instead of going on vacation, he investigates this dead teen and those around him. The story soon balloons to there being other deaths in the past that have a common thread.
Giving relief to the tension is Sam's affair with a girl from high school he was once intimate with. Both are adults and know their relationship is not going to last, but it too has a strand that relates to the case.
This a slow burner of a book that doesn't have Sam meeting the "killer" face-to-face until the final pages. I enjoyed this except for several spots that focuses on Sam hashing out who did what and why. It was tedious to read those passages, and the story would not suffer if they were omitted.
Even with those unnecessary passages I would recommend this book.
Giving relief to the tension is Sam's affair with a girl from high school he was once intimate with. Both are adults and know their relationship is not going to last, but it too has a strand that relates to the case.
This a slow burner of a book that doesn't have Sam meeting the "killer" face-to-face until the final pages. I enjoyed this except for several spots that focuses on Sam hashing out who did what and why. It was tedious to read those passages, and the story would not suffer if they were omitted.
Even with those unnecessary passages I would recommend this book.
March 10, 2023
Written in the 1950s, when teenagers drove jalopies and people felt safe leaving their windows open at night, THE DEEP END is a nice period piece about a reporter who gradually constructs a disturbing theory about what seems at first to be an unconnected series of tragic accidents. The process of discovering and understanding the criminal is fascinating, told strictly from a first person perspective; we learn things only as the narrator learns them and watch the inner workings of his mind as he tries to build a case without giving into his own prejudices. The ending has a couple of nice ironic twists. Though not strictly a noir novel, the outlook is very dark, as one might expect from Fredric Brown, and what seems to be a romance proves to be only a distraction, though important to the plot.
September 24, 2025
The mystery itself is kind of interesting but the book overall is disappointing. Even at its short length, it feels padded. There are two long parts where the hero goes over various characters' motives that drag the book down. Plus, there are lots of descriptions meals and drinks. And the mystery itself is pretty obvious all along. The prose is readable but overall this is not a particularly compelling novel.
July 18, 2020
One of the 50 Classics of Crime Fiction Series.
May 28, 2021
Esta ha sido una lectura interesante, aunque una parte de mí esperaba más. Siento que faltó un tanto de desarrollo y que aún quedan algunas dudas en este misterio.
March 5, 2022
Muy buena la trama. Lo recomiendo.
February 24, 2024
Fredrick Brown wrote some of the best pulp stories. This was one about a reporter following a series of accidents, and the story gets deeper. Great mystery with twists and turns.
March 10, 2024
50's Nate Jacobs
May 1, 2025
One of my favorite Brown novels, finished it a couple of days ago. Double novel alongside Night Of The Jabberwock.
July 13, 2015
A bit of a a mess really. Not very believable and also pretty boring to be honest. Written in a first person narration which I usually like but in this one lots of time is spent on hero's inner thoughts (even dreams) and "thinking out loud" kind of rationalizing and deduction. Which is pretty shitty because Sam is not much of an investigator (this asshole even reads his lover's private diary!). Instead of doing his job properly, he spends most of the time fucking Nina and whining about his failing marriage. To be honest, that former part was kind of amusing and probably pretty daring for the 50s. I mean, they are both so horny they don't even mind when she gets a period (she simply dismiss it by "I'm not very sick, darling; it was mostly a false alarm.")
Initially promising with that identity switch trick but unfortunately it just never really takes off.
More here (review includes spoilers!):
http://a60books.blogspot.ie/2015/05/t...
Initially promising with that identity switch trick but unfortunately it just never really takes off.
More here (review includes spoilers!):
http://a60books.blogspot.ie/2015/05/t...
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews