Brain Guy

by Benjamin Appel

Hard-boiled novel about "an intelligent, educated rent-collector who more by chance than by design drifts into the underworld. But once there, he climbs plans robberies that others commit, gathers a gang around him, gains in power, and slowly succumbs to the psychology of the criminal."

Genres: Crime, Fiction

First published January 1, 1934

About the author

An American novelist who specialized in detective and crime fiction, Appel grew up in the Hell's Kitchen area of NYC, and his experiences strongly influenced his work. Appel worked as a bank clerk, farmer, lumberjack, factory hand, and housing inspector for New York City, until he finally published his fist book, Brain Guy in 1934.

Reviews

[Liquidlasagna · Rating 3 out of 5]

sounds like the theme was much polished up in later decades

like with David Niven and Eli Wallach and Jean-Paul Belmondo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-xqHV...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9zcIz...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OlyV6...

Let us credit the people who inspired brainy criminals!

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

When the oxymoronic title character of Brain Guy loses his job as a "rent" collector, he responds by clawing his way higher on the hoodlum food chain. The story of Bill Trent's rise may be as compelling as that of Rico in W. R. Burnett's Little Caesar, but Benjamin Appel's writing is not in the same class, hedging its bets between hardboiled colloquial and overwrought purple while mixing in a healthy dose of sloppy metaphors. A near miss that needed a good editor.