Strictly for Cash

by James Hadley Chase

Tout le monde me l'avait bien dit. Miami, c'est un bon coin pour un millionnaire, mais pas pour les fauchés dont je fais partie. D'après eux, j'avais une chance de gagner correctement mon boeuf en remontant sur le ring. Pour moi, c'était bien fini, mais le fric en revanche, ça me tentait toujours. J'en ai en effet palpé et comme je m'étais toujours juré de le dépenser à la pelle, j'ai balancé une fortune sur une foule de badauds, en me baladant sur la corniche d'un immeuble, au 22ᵉ étage. Mais d'autres m'attendaient à une fenêtre d'angle.

Genres: Thriller, Fiction, Mystery, Crime, Noir, British Literature, Novels

Hardcover

First published January 1, 1951

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 5 out of 5]

Chase's 1951 crime thriller, set in and around Miami, is a top-notch ride. In it, Chase starts off by utilizing two popular themes in fifties crime fiction, the boxer forced to take a dive by gangster-types and the amnesia that leaves the main protagonist in a mystery about who he is and what he's done. Chase plays out both of these homes excellently.

Even if you've read a hundred boxing stories, this one still feels fresh and new. And the amnesia story has you guessing what's real and what's not because none of it makes a whole lot of sense. But, these two themes are not the meat of the novel. They are just the introduction. The meat of the story is straight out of central casting with a quarter of a million dollars in cold hard cash and a trail of bodies miles long. Chase hits all the right notes in this crime fiction symphony.

The lead character, Farrar, is basically one of the good guys except that he constantly gets cornered and is forced to take action. Told from his point of view, it feels as if he has no choice but to proceed as he does with someone be it Petillo or Della holds something over him - like a double murder rap. From his viewpoint, he simply has no choice in the matter. He feels like a prize chump and never much more than a rat in a maze.

Della is another matter entirely. She's a stone cold gold-digging bitch without a conscience which Farrar finds to his regret. She starts out as the ultimate bewitching femme fatale, but by the end she's not fooling anyone.

From the start, you know Farrar is going to end up in a jam, particularly when he gets talked into spending weeks masquerading as a guy who might decide to drop by one day. In the end though even that giant suitcase of money isn't going to make Farrar feel whole.

[W · Rating 2 out of 5]

Johnny Ferrar is a struggling boxer.The book starts off well,as he is involved in boxing matches in a new town.But someone doesn't want him to fight to the best of his ability.He would rather not comply.

Some very good descriptions of boxing at the start.After that,however,suddenly becomes totally different as he gets rescued by a wonan,gets in a car crash and wakes up with amnesia.And then he makes a fortune,not through legal means.

This part of the story didn't quite hold my attention.There's a nice little twist at the end,however.

Still,not among my favourite Chase books.

[Ionuț Anastasiu · Rating 4 out of 5]

4,5 stele.
James Hadley Chase este în mare formă în acest roman publicat în anul 1951, a cărui intrigă nu încetează să-l ia pe cititor prin surprindere. Iar în ceea ce privește scena finală, ce surprinde extraordinar un moment de isterie colectivă, ce se mai poate spune altceva decât faptul că scriitorul britanic a fost un bun observator al instinctelor de turmă specifice naturii umane.
Eroul romanului este Johnny Farrar, fost boxer, ce dorește să se țină departe de lumea boxului. Din păcate pentru el, nu va reuși acest lucru, înclinația sa păcătoasă de a nu putea să stea deoparte și de a privi cu indiferență cum oamenii cinstiți sunt călcați în picioare de cei bogați aducându-i numai necazuri. John nu este un om rău, dar dorința care îl macină nu are cum să-i asigure o viață fericită: "Totdeauna am vrut să am lovele: nu câțiva amărâți de dolari...Trebuie să câștig lovele, e o idee fixă. Și când îi voi avea, voi cumpăra o bombă cu care să sparg totul"; "Marea mea ambiție este să am o dată în viață o sumă mare pe care s-o fac praf așa cum vreau". Visul distructiv al lui John va prinde contur pas cu pas, nici măcar episodul de amnezie prin care trece nereușind să schimbe deznodământul așteptat. Lectură plăcută!

[Paul Lothane · Rating 4 out of 5]

As interesting as the story itself is the way the narrative unfolds dramatically…the second section in particular grips like a tourniquet as we wonder whether it is the protagonist (Johnny Ferrar) or we the readers (!) going bonkers. The flashbacks are brilliant and illuminating, as we come to understand and follow Johnny’s lust for big money that lands him in big trouble, and prods him into becoming a multiple killer. Yet ironically we can hardly dub him a cold-blooded killer as he hardly really intended to kill anyone. Yet the body count grimly mounts up…

[Jim · Rating 4 out of 5]

Noir is now an international genre. After being invented here in America, it crossed over into France, where Boris Vian and Jean-Patrick Manchette proved themselves equal to the genre, and into Britain, where James Hadley Chase did likewise. Strictly for Cash was written in 1966, and like many of his earlier works, was set in the U.S.

Johnny Farrar wins a boxing match he was told to lose and is chased by gunmen with vengeance on their mind. He is accompanied by a beautiful young woman and her husband. The Bentley the three are driving and ... suddenly several months have passed and Farrar wakes with a concussion in a Miami hospital, having no memory of the intervening time.

Chase then goes into what happened during that lost time. Johnny has changed clothes with Della's dead husband, who was a powerful casino owner in Lincoln Beach, Florida. He and Della take over the casino, but the husbands associates become suspicious. I will not divulge what happens in the end, except to say that Chase is extremely slick and not predictable in his plotting and characterizations.

As to the style, it is short and brutal:

He got his hands on my throat and began to squueze. He had a grip like a monkey-wrench, and the air was cut off from my lungs. I clubbed him on the bridge of his nose and flattened it, crashing the back of his head on the floor. For a second or so he was dazed and the strength went out of his hands. I tore his fingers from my throat, twisted clear, crawled up on hands and knees. He was up on his feet a shade after I had straightened up. His face was a snarling mask of blood which poured from his broken nose.

Not exactly poetry, but quintessential noir writing.

[Shawn · Rating 3 out of 5]

This could easily have been one of Chase's best. It starts off ho hum then adds a fresh element and even has a kind of darkly skewed dream like wobbliness to it. If it stuck to that kind of mystery hazy angle it could have been really something. But then too many elements get added to needlessly complicate matters and the whole thing shakes out with a pretty boring standard ending. I don't know why I thought the ending was "dynamite" last time. Maybe I was punch drunk myself.

-Old review-
Chase throws a wrench into his usually linear manner of storytelling with this one and it's pretty disorienting. It however drops this mystery angle as quickly as it can and gets down to the usual lurid femme fatale and hard luck man hatch an ill fated plan against dangerous people. The stakes are high, but the characters are mostly bland and even a pretty dynamite ending doesn't make this one stand out.

[Mark Vickers · Rating 5 out of 5]

This one is just another crackerjack novel from the maestro himself, has a great storyline, the regular hard hitting, gun toting thugs, the beautiful irresistible women and a whole heap of casino money there for the taking, which is just what hard ex boxer Johnny Farrah sets out to do, a real 5 star classic for all JHC fanatics......

[Paul Cornelius · Rating 5 out of 5]

Johnny Farrar commits murder the way some people crunch on potato chips ("Betcha can't eat just one!"). But somehow JHC gets you to sympathize with him through this extraordinary novel. With a long establishing chapter, the book then shifts to a long and developed flashback. A little formal experimentation to go with JHC's usual thrills and mysteries. This is a relatively early JHC novel, and I'm finding the early ones are among the best. Also I'm noting that so far the novels set in Florida have a complexity and depth exceeding those set on the West Coast or elsewhere. They are addictive.

[Jade Reads · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is one of those random reads you wanna try and captures you all in. It's unputdownable. I loved Jonny farrar from the very first episode in the pub where he plays badass and knocks good fellows that broke some decent code. That tells us that he's value and it's what dictate for him.

But again, as it usual the case, some of these fellow ready to kick ass often have a bait when their good nature to fall easily into the lures of sleazy women and pay it with their life.

Generally, loved every minute of this book but scenes I couldn't link to each other. Like, if Farrar was found in an unconscious state alongside Delia and he was on the driver's seat,how did it happen that he continued on and had a long chase with the police and ended up by giving all the money away and what appears that he surrendered to the authorities after all?

[Monika · Rating 3 out of 5]

remarkable!!

[Premalatha L]

JAMES HADLEY CHASE

- A Tribute by a Die Hard Fan





Strictly For Cash



     

     Johnny Farrar is a third-grade boxer, thumbing a ride to Miami, where he figures he can hit a jackpot. As fate would have it, he has a brush with gangsters in Pelotta, a small town on the way, only to be persuaded to fight a fixed boxing match and earn some money, a suit of clothes and a beat-up car, so he can arrive in Miami in style. But a woman's looks and challenge make him forget the fixed match, and soon he is running out of town, with the woman, Della, who is the wife of casino boss,  Paul Wertham. The getaway car is involved in a crash and Wertham dies. Della's idea is simple but dangerous: Johnny has to  impersonate Jack Ricca, manager of the Los Angeles casino and arrive at the Lincoln Beach casino, managed by Reisner, who has never seen Ricca. Della and Farrar would collect half a million from the Lincoln Beach casino, ostensibly on the instructions of the owner, Wertham, who is already dead...   But Della is not just after the cash reserves of the Lincoln Beach casino;  she wants to take over the entire casino herself, and she wants Johnny as a partner - provided he remains faithful to her.  But Johnny falls in love with a local girl, Virginia,  and the real Ricca of Los Angeles  arrives in Lincoln Beach.... 

     By some clever scripting, which brings the action back and forth, from the present to the past and again present, Chase manages to create a plot, which has nail-biting suspense -  truly a masterpiece, and one of Chase's best.

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[Payal Pasha · Rating 3 out of 5]

A few things are common in almost every book written by Chase. A sleazy, greedy woman, loads of money, casinos, mobsters and gangsters on a killing spree, a good man with a weak conscience falling for that woman and making a mess of his life. This book is no different. But I must say one thing. Once you start reading you will not want to stop. Save for a few books I have enjoyed almost all the books by this author. Go for this one.

[আহসানুল শোভন · Rating 4 out of 5]

জনি ফেরার, খুব ভালো একজন বক্সার। তবে একটি ম্যাচে প্রভাবশালী কেউ একজন চাইছিলো না যে জনি জিতুক। তারপরও জনি জেতে এবং একজন মহিলার সাহায্য নিয়ে সেখান থেকে গাড়িতে চড়ে পালায়। পথিমধ্যে গাড়িটি দুর্ঘটনার সম্মুখীন হয় এবং জনি নিজেকে হাসপাতালে আবিষ্কার করে। যেখানে দেখা যায়, আগের অনেক কিছুই তার আর মনে নেই। অথচ যেসব ঘটনার কথা মনে আছে, সেসব ঘটনার সঙ্গে বর্তমান সিচুয়েশনের কিছুই মিলছে না। জেমস হ্যাডলি চেজের আরও একটি মাস্টার পিস।

[Kakha · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love books. I like to read books. I love the author and master of the literary word, James Hadley Chase and I love sports – I love boxing. In this novel, one former boxer has to fight in which he must lose. And if this condition is not met, he will get a bullet... An excellent, incredibly interesting, and cool novel.

[Keith Chapman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very much noir, and not written in 1966, as learned reviewer Jim informs us, as it was first published in 1951. Chase's career in the genre began in 1939 with the classic No Orchids for Miss Blandish.

[Martins · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thought I had this book figured out having read the first chapter until the accident then I found myself feeling trapped like Jonny... Jonny Farrar.

[Harry Abe]

Another gripping novel by JHC; one of the best crime fiction writers of his time

[Salisu Rabiu · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very entertaining though captivating

[George Nyariki · Rating 5 out of 5]

It is good book

[Joey Samuel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really good

[Ram · Rating 5 out of 5]

https://medium.com/@vram45/strictly-f...

[Huguelet Michou · Rating 3 out of 5]

Toujours la même trame et le même genre de personnage et la mort immanquable du héros à la fin. Autrement dit, un auteur qui a pris la poussière...

[Ibrahim Chanbi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing page turner book

[Aaditya · Rating 4 out of 5]

A 50’s crime thriller with the classic pulp-fiction trope of a boxer, a man with pride, forced to take a dive in the fifth round by the gangsters and the mafia. Things go haywire for Johnny Farrar, when his opponent ends up on the canvas and is counted out to 10!
Mayhem is doubled when Johnny wakes up with amnesia after a terrible accident and finds himself in possession of a bag with a quarter of a million dollars. Johnny is forced to retrace his steps and find out what the fuck actually happened after the night of the fight?!

I can never get enough of JHC novels! His magic with words and wit is legendary! How can one be so creative and unique, without breaking a sweat!
He plays with his characters and with the reader as well, and makes them go bonkers as to what is happening? How did we end up here? And what’s the truth?!
His noir writing is quintessential. His stories are a non-stop hair-trigger thrillers! A true maestro of action and suspense, Mr. James Hadley Chase!

[Jonaki Datta · Rating 2 out of 5]

This James Hadley Chase book is similar to every other James Hadley Chase book you must have read. A male protagonist who is huge, smokes, drinks and keeps falling in love with every other woman he sees. Nothing new there. The unwillingly done murder, blackmail and not being able to touch the money for which he has gone through a lot of pain is the backdrop of every James Hadley Chase book. Nothing new there as well.The only beauty is in the pace of the story and the ugliness of all the characters especially Della.

[Mark Vickers · Rating 5 out of 5]

This one is just another crackerjack masterpiece from the maestro, himself, has a great story line, the regular hard hitting, gun toting thugs, the beautiful women and a whole heap of casino money there for the taking, which is just what hard, tough ex-boxer, Johnny Farrah sets out to do, a real 5 star classic for all Sir " James Hadley Chase " fanatics.....

[Salihu · Rating 2 out of 5]

is the worse i read,is kind of boring

[AhammadaliPK · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's Good novel to Read for anyone..it is a thriller and a motivational at the same time.

[Edem Yao]

I want to read the book

[Keshan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great thriller book ....!!!