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The Blackbirder
A classic World War II-era noir with a page-turning plot, a cast of colorfully sinister characters and a protagonist who is thrust into the heart of political intrigue, this captivating 1943 novel parallels the spy novels of Grahame Greene, Eric Ambler, and the films of Hitchcock and Lang. But in -signature Hughes fashion, The Blackbirder has a genre-bending twist: its hardboiled protagonist is a woman.
Born of American expatriate parents, Julie Guilles was a pretty, sheltered rich girl growing up in Paris, a favorite of the “Ritz Bar” set. But everything changed when the Nazis rolled into the City of Lights. After three years of life underground, Julie is hiding out in New York; but she knows trouble is coming when the corpse of an acquaintance appears on her doorstep. With a host of possible dangers on her tail—the Gestapo, the FBI and the New York cops—she embarks on a desperate journey to Santa Fe in search of her last, best hope. “The Blackbirder”is a legend among refugees, a trafficker in human souls who flies under the radar to bring people to safety across the Mexican border—for a price.
With no resources at her disposal but a smuggled diamond necklace and her own razor-sharp wits, Julie must navigate a tangle of dangers—and take a stand in the worldwide struggle that has shattered the lives of millions. In contrast to the typical representations of wartime women as “Mrs. Minivers” guarding home and hearth, Dorothy B. Hughes gives her intrepid heroine a place at the heart of the action
Dorothy B. Hughes (1904–1993) is the author of numerous hardboiled mystery novels. Three of her books became successful films: The Fallen Sparrow (1943), Ride the Pink Horse (1947), and In a Lonely Place (1950), reprinted by the Feminist Press in 2003. In 1978 she was named a Grand Master by the Mystery Writers of America.
Femmes Fatales restores to print the best of women’s writing in the classic pulp genres of the mid-20th century. From mystery to hard-boiled noir to taboo lesbian romance, these rediscovered queens of pulp offer subversive perspectives on a turbulent era. Enjoy the series: Bedelia; The Blackbirder; Bunny Lake Is Missing; By Cecile; The G-String Murders; The Girls in 3-B; In a Lonely Place; Laura; Mother Finds a Body; Now, Voyager; Skyscraper; Stranger on Lesbos; Women's Barracks.
Born of American expatriate parents, Julie Guilles was a pretty, sheltered rich girl growing up in Paris, a favorite of the “Ritz Bar” set. But everything changed when the Nazis rolled into the City of Lights. After three years of life underground, Julie is hiding out in New York; but she knows trouble is coming when the corpse of an acquaintance appears on her doorstep. With a host of possible dangers on her tail—the Gestapo, the FBI and the New York cops—she embarks on a desperate journey to Santa Fe in search of her last, best hope. “The Blackbirder”is a legend among refugees, a trafficker in human souls who flies under the radar to bring people to safety across the Mexican border—for a price.
With no resources at her disposal but a smuggled diamond necklace and her own razor-sharp wits, Julie must navigate a tangle of dangers—and take a stand in the worldwide struggle that has shattered the lives of millions. In contrast to the typical representations of wartime women as “Mrs. Minivers” guarding home and hearth, Dorothy B. Hughes gives her intrepid heroine a place at the heart of the action
Dorothy B. Hughes (1904–1993) is the author of numerous hardboiled mystery novels. Three of her books became successful films: The Fallen Sparrow (1943), Ride the Pink Horse (1947), and In a Lonely Place (1950), reprinted by the Feminist Press in 2003. In 1978 she was named a Grand Master by the Mystery Writers of America.
Femmes Fatales restores to print the best of women’s writing in the classic pulp genres of the mid-20th century. From mystery to hard-boiled noir to taboo lesbian romance, these rediscovered queens of pulp offer subversive perspectives on a turbulent era. Enjoy the series: Bedelia; The Blackbirder; Bunny Lake Is Missing; By Cecile; The G-String Murders; The Girls in 3-B; In a Lonely Place; Laura; Mother Finds a Body; Now, Voyager; Skyscraper; Stranger on Lesbos; Women's Barracks.
288 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1943
140 people are currently reading
761 people want to read
About the author
Dorothy B. Hughes
66 books299 followersDorothy B. Hughes (1904–1993) was a mystery author and literary critic. Born in Kansas City, she studied at Columbia University, and won an award from the Yale Series of Younger Poets for her first book, the poetry collection Dark Certainty (1931). After writing several unsuccessful manuscripts, she published The So Blue Marble in 1940. A New York–based mystery, it won praise for its hardboiled prose, which was due, in part, to Hughes’s editor, who demanded she cut 25,000 words from the book.
Hughes published thirteen more novels, the best known of which are In a Lonely Place (1947) and Ride the Pink Horse (1946). Both were made into successful films. In the early fifties, Hughes largely stopped writing fiction, preferring to focus on criticism, for which she would go on to win an Edgar Award. In 1978, the Mystery Writers of America presented Hughes with the Grand Master Award for literary achievement.
Hughes published thirteen more novels, the best known of which are In a Lonely Place (1947) and Ride the Pink Horse (1946). Both were made into successful films. In the early fifties, Hughes largely stopped writing fiction, preferring to focus on criticism, for which she would go on to win an Edgar Award. In 1978, the Mystery Writers of America presented Hughes with the Grand Master Award for literary achievement.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 74 reviews
December 10, 2023
This is noir, but noir by a female author and having a female protagonist. Very unusual for the time having been written in 1943. The Blackbirder starts with the heroine in NYC hiding out from precisely who, she doesn’t know. Julie/Juliette left occupied France before this book begins and had to enter the United States illegally. After a man she casually knew in France is murdered in front of her apartment, she begins a cross country trip to New Mexico seeking “the blackbirder” who for a price should fly her to Mexico. The setting is all very interesting, dark and threatening beginning with her desperate escape from New York, war time travel on The Twentieth Century and ultimately to Santa Fe, New Mexico. There she waits for the chance to meet up with her blackbirder. She is essentially alone in the world, trusts no one and is sure she is being followed. Nazi’s may have been sent by her collaborator uncle in France, the FBI may have been alerted to her illegal status and surely the police are interested in her too.
My only complaint is that at about the 80% mark Hughes begins slipping in overt wartime propaganda, not at all unusual for books and movies of the time, but not at all subtle now. Too bad she was unaware of what was happening at Los Alamos, NM at the time. That was just 25 miles away from Tesuque and the climactic scene in this novel. Of course any revelations about that location would never have made print and would have landed Hughes in deep trouble.
My only complaint is that at about the 80% mark Hughes begins slipping in overt wartime propaganda, not at all unusual for books and movies of the time, but not at all subtle now. Too bad she was unaware of what was happening at Los Alamos, NM at the time. That was just 25 miles away from Tesuque and the climactic scene in this novel. Of course any revelations about that location would never have made print and would have landed Hughes in deep trouble.
October 18, 2012
A quite brilliant update of The 39 Steps style of espionage thrillers to a WWII setting with a strong female lead and an overwhelming sense of fear, paranoia and dread.
Read whilst hiding from the English rain, waiting to return to Australia.
I think this might be one more of those forgotten classics. Three quarters of this book verges on storytelling perfection, only to be let down by a messy ending.
Julie is a refugee from Nazi occuppied Paris, living in American illegally. The opening chapter sets up a chance meeting with an old friend, an unexpected death and an impromtu flight across America to escape persecution. What follows is a thrilling, page turning noir.
Dorothy Hughes reads like the prototype for Megan Abbott with the ability to create an all enveloping sense of dread that Patricia Highsmith wouldn't be ashamed of writing and in doing so foreshadows the effects of Communist paranoia on the American psyche as Julie's mind becomes more and more fragmented with the overwhelming fear it creates.
The good news is that Ms Hughes is currently being republished by both Penguin and The Feminist Press, in their brilliant Femmes Fatales series, so you can discover the talented mid 20th Century pulp/noir writer for yourself.
Read whilst hiding from the English rain, waiting to return to Australia.
I think this might be one more of those forgotten classics. Three quarters of this book verges on storytelling perfection, only to be let down by a messy ending.
Julie is a refugee from Nazi occuppied Paris, living in American illegally. The opening chapter sets up a chance meeting with an old friend, an unexpected death and an impromtu flight across America to escape persecution. What follows is a thrilling, page turning noir.
Dorothy Hughes reads like the prototype for Megan Abbott with the ability to create an all enveloping sense of dread that Patricia Highsmith wouldn't be ashamed of writing and in doing so foreshadows the effects of Communist paranoia on the American psyche as Julie's mind becomes more and more fragmented with the overwhelming fear it creates.
The good news is that Ms Hughes is currently being republished by both Penguin and The Feminist Press, in their brilliant Femmes Fatales series, so you can discover the talented mid 20th Century pulp/noir writer for yourself.
May 5, 2020
I’ve written before of my fondness for the novels of Dorothy B. Hughes – most notably, her noir classic In a Lonely Place (published in 1947) and her ‘wrong place, wrong time’ thriller The Expendable Man (1963). If anything, The Blackbirder (1943) falls somewhere between the two with its noirish atmosphere and breakneck pace. It’s also very good indeed, a gripping thriller set in the midst of WW2 as a young woman tries to figure out who she can trust in a shadowy, uncertain world.
The novel opens in New York, where Julie Grille (aka Juliet Marlebone) is currently residing following her flight from occupied Paris and her Nazi-sympathiser uncle some three years earlier. In essence, Julie is an illegal immigrant; her entry into the country by way of Cuba, making her status precarious to say the least. Consequently, she has been trying to keep a low profile, possibly until the war is over or the situation settles down.
One night, after a concert, Julie spots an old acquaintance, a man names Maxl whom she knew a little in Paris. Unfortunately for Julie, her attempts to hide from Maxl prove fruitless, and she is drawn into a conversation with him in the lobby of Carnegie Hall. Right from the start, there is a strong sense of tension to the narrative as Maxl coerces Julie into joining him for a drink. Can Julie trust him? It’s hard for her to tell…
To read the rest of my review, please visit:
https://jacquiwine.wordpress.com/2020...
The novel opens in New York, where Julie Grille (aka Juliet Marlebone) is currently residing following her flight from occupied Paris and her Nazi-sympathiser uncle some three years earlier. In essence, Julie is an illegal immigrant; her entry into the country by way of Cuba, making her status precarious to say the least. Consequently, she has been trying to keep a low profile, possibly until the war is over or the situation settles down.
One night, after a concert, Julie spots an old acquaintance, a man names Maxl whom she knew a little in Paris. Unfortunately for Julie, her attempts to hide from Maxl prove fruitless, and she is drawn into a conversation with him in the lobby of Carnegie Hall. Right from the start, there is a strong sense of tension to the narrative as Maxl coerces Julie into joining him for a drink. Can Julie trust him? It’s hard for her to tell…
To read the rest of my review, please visit:
https://jacquiwine.wordpress.com/2020...
June 20, 2015
It's the middle of WWII. Julie Guille, aka Juliet Marlebone, has been on the run for three years since fleeing occupied Paris and her vile pro-Nazi uncle; she's managed to reach New York by way of Portugal and Cuba. After a concert at Carnegie Hall she runs into an old if slight acquaintance from Paris, Maxi; they have a meal and he drops her off home. The next she knows he's been murdered, shot dead in the street outside her apartment block. She realizes she could be a suspect and, besides, as an illegal immigrant she can't afford to be questioned by the cops. So she changes her appearance and heads by train to Santa Fe, where she believes she can contact the Blackbirder -- a pilot who flies people illegally to and fro across the Mexican border. There, too, she might be able to find Fran, the step-cousin whom she loves and who likewise fled France.
Almost at once she realizes she's being followed by a limping stranger who introduces himself to her as Blaike. Who can he be? Is he a Gestapo agent using her as a means to track down other Free French supporters? Could he be from the FBI, hoping to lay hands on the Blackbirder? Is he a cop, chasing her as a suspect in the killing of Maxi? Sometimes inclined to trust him, sometimes not, Julie knows she must play the safe card and try to lose him. When she finds that he's acting in partnership with Schein, whom she encountered on the evening of Maxi's death and whom she's certain is a Nazi and likely Maxi's killer, she knows she was right . . .
This is a hugely enjoyable thriller, although the ending's a bit too neat -- it's unusual for me to find myself wishing a book could have been a dozen pages longer. Hughes has a kind of breathless style, and it perfectly matches the subject matter here.
She also has an unusual way with words, which can be quite disconcerting until you get used to it. She has the occasional habit of using a well known turn of phrase yet substituting one of its words with a less common one, as for example in "her bedroom was far and away at the opposite pole of the house." And she's not at all averse to taking risks with her imagery, which gives her narrative a lot of life but, as with all risk-taking, can sometimes be disastrous. The very opening page of The Blackbirder has a couple of these teeth-grating moments, and I'm sure will have deterred some readers from venturing further:
All through this novel, which was first published in 1943, there's a sense that Hughes anticipated the war wasn't going to last very much longer. Such a tragedy that she was wrong.
With a marvelously likeable, resourceful and admirable central character and a constant tumble of events that makes sure Julie can never retain control of her situation for long, this is a novel that reads at breakneck speed. By the end of it, I was as breathless as Hughes's prose.
Almost at once she realizes she's being followed by a limping stranger who introduces himself to her as Blaike. Who can he be? Is he a Gestapo agent using her as a means to track down other Free French supporters? Could he be from the FBI, hoping to lay hands on the Blackbirder? Is he a cop, chasing her as a suspect in the killing of Maxi? Sometimes inclined to trust him, sometimes not, Julie knows she must play the safe card and try to lose him. When she finds that he's acting in partnership with Schein, whom she encountered on the evening of Maxi's death and whom she's certain is a Nazi and likely Maxi's killer, she knows she was right . . .
This is a hugely enjoyable thriller, although the ending's a bit too neat -- it's unusual for me to find myself wishing a book could have been a dozen pages longer. Hughes has a kind of breathless style, and it perfectly matches the subject matter here.
She also has an unusual way with words, which can be quite disconcerting until you get used to it. She has the occasional habit of using a well known turn of phrase yet substituting one of its words with a less common one, as for example in "her bedroom was far and away at the opposite pole of the house." And she's not at all averse to taking risks with her imagery, which gives her narrative a lot of life but, as with all risk-taking, can sometimes be disastrous. The very opening page of The Blackbirder has a couple of these teeth-grating moments, and I'm sure will have deterred some readers from venturing further:
Under black caterpillar eyebrows, his cold little black eyes were crawling on her face. . . . She smiled now across the red-checkered tablecloth, across the stone mugs of beer, at the boy opposite her. He had black eyes too, but not like the waiter's horny ones.
All through this novel, which was first published in 1943, there's a sense that Hughes anticipated the war wasn't going to last very much longer. Such a tragedy that she was wrong.
With a marvelously likeable, resourceful and admirable central character and a constant tumble of events that makes sure Julie can never retain control of her situation for long, this is a novel that reads at breakneck speed. By the end of it, I was as breathless as Hughes's prose.
September 14, 2015
Well The Blackbirder proved to be just the very thing I needed as I came to the end of my first full week back at work. A piece of brilliant, literary escapism, The Blackbirder is forties noir, by an author often acknowledged as a master of the genre. My only other experience of Dorothy B Hughes is The Expendable Man which I read a few years ago – re-issued by Persephone books if you haven’t come across it, I urge you to do so it is absolutely brilliant. Back to the Blackbirder then, a book I loved so much I immediately ordered a Penguin Classics edition of In a Lonely Place – it seems many of her books are now available only as ebooks.
“The waiter was looking at her. Not just looking. He was watching. Under black caterpillar eyebrows, his cold little black eyes were crawling on her face
She whispered, ‘the waiter is looking at me.’ For a moment she thought she had said it out loud, that Maxl had heard her. Her lips had moved but she hadn’t spoken, only to herself. She mustn’t let Maxl guess that she had noticed the waiter. Maxl might have ordered the man to watch.”
Julie Guille is in New York, having escaped from occupied Paris, she is on the run from the gestapo and the FBI – her entry into the US illegal. She has been lying low in a rented apartment, biding her time, trying to forget the girl she used to be. In Paris she had been glamorous, groomed, before she felt the need to flee from the Nazis and her malevolent guardian Uncle Paul; Duc de Guille. One night at Carnegie she runs into a young man she knew slightly in Paris, Maxl – Julie can’t be sure – was their meeting accident or design. Not everyone is who they seem, but Julie can never let her suspicions show, she agrees to a drink with Maxl, where she is convinced she is being watched by the waiter. Maxl insists on showing Julie home in a taxi, moments after Julie enters her apartment, Maxl lies dead on the pavement outside. So starts Julie’s flight from New York, aboard a train via Chicago, headed for Santa Fe, in search ultimately for the elusive Blackbirder. The Blackbirder aids refugees across the border to New Mexico, and with Maxl dead outside her apartment, and the gestapo, FBI and her guardian all looking for her, he is, Julie is convinced her best chance of escape from the US.
Full review: https://heavenali.wordpress.com/2015/...
“The waiter was looking at her. Not just looking. He was watching. Under black caterpillar eyebrows, his cold little black eyes were crawling on her face
She whispered, ‘the waiter is looking at me.’ For a moment she thought she had said it out loud, that Maxl had heard her. Her lips had moved but she hadn’t spoken, only to herself. She mustn’t let Maxl guess that she had noticed the waiter. Maxl might have ordered the man to watch.”
Julie Guille is in New York, having escaped from occupied Paris, she is on the run from the gestapo and the FBI – her entry into the US illegal. She has been lying low in a rented apartment, biding her time, trying to forget the girl she used to be. In Paris she had been glamorous, groomed, before she felt the need to flee from the Nazis and her malevolent guardian Uncle Paul; Duc de Guille. One night at Carnegie she runs into a young man she knew slightly in Paris, Maxl – Julie can’t be sure – was their meeting accident or design. Not everyone is who they seem, but Julie can never let her suspicions show, she agrees to a drink with Maxl, where she is convinced she is being watched by the waiter. Maxl insists on showing Julie home in a taxi, moments after Julie enters her apartment, Maxl lies dead on the pavement outside. So starts Julie’s flight from New York, aboard a train via Chicago, headed for Santa Fe, in search ultimately for the elusive Blackbirder. The Blackbirder aids refugees across the border to New Mexico, and with Maxl dead outside her apartment, and the gestapo, FBI and her guardian all looking for her, he is, Julie is convinced her best chance of escape from the US.
Full review: https://heavenali.wordpress.com/2015/...
October 25, 2016
Mid century noir!
Julie Guille is in trouble and must flee New York.
On the run from the Gestapo , the FBI and her Uncle.
Her options are running out.
The Blackbirder for the right price can promise a safe passage to New Mexico but who is the Blackbirder?
An engrossing read.
Julie Guille is in trouble and must flee New York.
On the run from the Gestapo , the FBI and her Uncle.
Her options are running out.
The Blackbirder for the right price can promise a safe passage to New Mexico but who is the Blackbirder?
An engrossing read.
February 10, 2022
This is the 4th novel by Ms. Hughes that I've read. What I enjoy most about her work (from what I sense so far) is the way she creates a completely different world with each novel. Like an actor who doesn't want to be typecast but, instead, wants to be known for versatility, Hughes seems to loathe the idea of repeating herself, even as she remains in the realms of mystery and suspense.
Each novel seems to have its own distinct voice. The reader isn't likely to notice evidence of 'the Hughes touch' to get comfortable with in recognition.
On the one hand, this particular novel has 'standard WWII thriller' written all over it. But, on the other, that categorization is merely the surface of the blueprint. As a 'young girl on the run' tale (yes, à la Hitchcock), many elements would appear de rigueur, chief among them being false / confused / mistaken identities. In the alternate existence of dodging in plain sight, paranoia also more or less reigns supreme (mainly for our gutsy female protagonist). Nevertheless, Hughes outwits our expectations at just about every turn.
I did feel a bit of frustration early on. There's a rather long exposition which mostly consists of our heroine - Julie - doing her utmost to stay 'hidden' while escaping among the general American public. (There's not a moment when she's not trying to anticipate every move made or set up by her Nazi collaborator uncle.) Things began feeling a bit too insular to me... but that passed as Julie made more effective progress.
Also... I did sometimes have the nagging awareness that this story had been over-manipulated in its manufacturing. Things occasionally felt perfunctory instead of either organic or lived-in. I wish I'd been reminded less that the story had an author. But then... this is real pulp stuff and it's mostly designed to keep you turning pages (which it certainly succeeds at). If there's a lack of depth (and there is, a bit), there's no lack of tension.
The first Hughes book I read - 'In a Lonely Place' - is still my favorite. But the subsequent reads - for one reason or another - have never been less than intriguing.
Each novel seems to have its own distinct voice. The reader isn't likely to notice evidence of 'the Hughes touch' to get comfortable with in recognition.
On the one hand, this particular novel has 'standard WWII thriller' written all over it. But, on the other, that categorization is merely the surface of the blueprint. As a 'young girl on the run' tale (yes, à la Hitchcock), many elements would appear de rigueur, chief among them being false / confused / mistaken identities. In the alternate existence of dodging in plain sight, paranoia also more or less reigns supreme (mainly for our gutsy female protagonist). Nevertheless, Hughes outwits our expectations at just about every turn.
I did feel a bit of frustration early on. There's a rather long exposition which mostly consists of our heroine - Julie - doing her utmost to stay 'hidden' while escaping among the general American public. (There's not a moment when she's not trying to anticipate every move made or set up by her Nazi collaborator uncle.) Things began feeling a bit too insular to me... but that passed as Julie made more effective progress.
Also... I did sometimes have the nagging awareness that this story had been over-manipulated in its manufacturing. Things occasionally felt perfunctory instead of either organic or lived-in. I wish I'd been reminded less that the story had an author. But then... this is real pulp stuff and it's mostly designed to keep you turning pages (which it certainly succeeds at). If there's a lack of depth (and there is, a bit), there's no lack of tension.
The first Hughes book I read - 'In a Lonely Place' - is still my favorite. But the subsequent reads - for one reason or another - have never been less than intriguing.
November 12, 2020
A European refugee enters the country illegally and flees across America.
Mystery Review: The Blackbirder is as much a spy-thriller as a mystery, and exhibits much of what Dorothy B. Hughes (1904-93) did so well in her crime stories. Slowly but constantly building suspense, creating tension till the reader wants to put the book in the icebox. A cinematic style that is watched as much as read. Written during and about the Second World War, the war years milieu is essential and inescapable. The Blackbirder gives a vivid sense of what life was like on the home front in America. The fear and abhorrence of the Nazis is visceral (an odd commentary on current events): "There was hatred to feed her mind. Hatred of the evil that had been loosed by a beast in an iniquitous land. Hatred of war." The story is in almost constant motion as our fearful protagonist travels from New York to Santa Fe with flashbacks to Havana and Paris. She's tough as nails though she doesn't know it, she's never sure she can make it through but is never afraid to try (similar to Hughes' slightly less-able heroine in The So Blue Marble). She perseveres. She persists. Somewhat hardboiled, a little noir, plenty of paranoia -- menace is anywhere and everywhere and no one can be trusted. The Blackbirder is not my favorite nor her best, but then again she's set the bar unfairly high in writing several of my favorites. It's good entertainment and a worthy testament to Hughes' talents. Unfortunately, the book is so full of typos (due to format copying?) that occasionally the reader doesn't know if a line contains an adventuresome turn of phrase or it's merely that some letters are missing. [3½★]
Mystery Review: The Blackbirder is as much a spy-thriller as a mystery, and exhibits much of what Dorothy B. Hughes (1904-93) did so well in her crime stories. Slowly but constantly building suspense, creating tension till the reader wants to put the book in the icebox. A cinematic style that is watched as much as read. Written during and about the Second World War, the war years milieu is essential and inescapable. The Blackbirder gives a vivid sense of what life was like on the home front in America. The fear and abhorrence of the Nazis is visceral (an odd commentary on current events): "There was hatred to feed her mind. Hatred of the evil that had been loosed by a beast in an iniquitous land. Hatred of war." The story is in almost constant motion as our fearful protagonist travels from New York to Santa Fe with flashbacks to Havana and Paris. She's tough as nails though she doesn't know it, she's never sure she can make it through but is never afraid to try (similar to Hughes' slightly less-able heroine in The So Blue Marble). She perseveres. She persists. Somewhat hardboiled, a little noir, plenty of paranoia -- menace is anywhere and everywhere and no one can be trusted. The Blackbirder is not my favorite nor her best, but then again she's set the bar unfairly high in writing several of my favorites. It's good entertainment and a worthy testament to Hughes' talents. Unfortunately, the book is so full of typos (due to format copying?) that occasionally the reader doesn't know if a line contains an adventuresome turn of phrase or it's merely that some letters are missing. [3½★]
April 4, 2018
This one took a while to get going for me. To begin with, I didn't get on with the writing style. Too many sentences commenced with the word "She". However, as the story progressed it improved and then the incredible plotting kept me entranced. Rapidly my rating increased from three to four to five stars. My opinions about the cast of characters also shifted as the various double crossings, subterfuges etc were revealed. Julie/Juliet's naivete, bravery and cunning all shone through. And I loved the ending. Clearly Ms Hughes was very, very clever.
I think it is possibly significant that this was written and published while the war was still raging. The story was thus intensified as there was no knowledge of how things would end in that respect. I have no idea if this novel has ever been filmed, but it felt very movie-like and I would love to see it on the big screen. Particularly if they were to film it all in black and white - I think it would need the atmosphere that that would create. All in all I loved this book and will be seeking out more of this author's work.
I think it is possibly significant that this was written and published while the war was still raging. The story was thus intensified as there was no knowledge of how things would end in that respect. I have no idea if this novel has ever been filmed, but it felt very movie-like and I would love to see it on the big screen. Particularly if they were to film it all in black and white - I think it would need the atmosphere that that would create. All in all I loved this book and will be seeking out more of this author's work.
June 29, 2023
Ms. Hughes is regarded as the queen of Pulp. Many of her Mysteries have been made into successful films.
"The Blackbirder" was published in 1943. Julie Guille/Juliet Marlebone is the main protagonist. She is American but was raised in France. Her parents died when she was a child; and she was raised by her aunt and uncle. Her uncle, it turns out, is a Nazi collaborator. Julie fears for her life. She wants to escape France and find a way to America.
When she arrives in New York, Julie meets a man who claims he knew her in France. But Julie suspects he is with The Gestapo. Ultimately this man is killed near Julie's apartment. Now Julie is more frightened than ever.
The "Blackbirder" is a typical noir story filled with suspicion, murder and paranoia.
"The Blackbirder" was published in 1943. Julie Guille/Juliet Marlebone is the main protagonist. She is American but was raised in France. Her parents died when she was a child; and she was raised by her aunt and uncle. Her uncle, it turns out, is a Nazi collaborator. Julie fears for her life. She wants to escape France and find a way to America.
When she arrives in New York, Julie meets a man who claims he knew her in France. But Julie suspects he is with The Gestapo. Ultimately this man is killed near Julie's apartment. Now Julie is more frightened than ever.
The "Blackbirder" is a typical noir story filled with suspicion, murder and paranoia.
January 2, 2020
Very well written. Interesting setting and plot. The message that, no matter how tough a young woman is, she is better off protected by the right man is frustrating.
July 25, 2021
Julie flees from New York to Chicago on her way to New Mexico, trying to escape what she fears will be the assumption that she killed Maxl. The Chicago train station, at least that time, reminds me of the San Jose train station, to this day.
"She paid her check, went into the soiled, cavernous lobby. It might not be necessary but it might be wise. It was what an innocent person would do without thinking. She bought two postcards, two for five, and two one-cent stamps. She would take a few minutes to write them. The women's waiting room was like the station, old and tired, soiled despite constant scrubbings. It might once have been grandeur; now it sat in decayed, obsolescent doom."
Julie's whole point in coming to the United states, is try to locate her cousin Fran, and help him escape from confinement. She hears about someone called the blackbirder, who helps people who have entered the country illegally, escape to mexico. The blackbirder supposedly is in New mexico, Santa Fe. But what she finds in New mexico, breaks her heart and shows that who she thought was her dear loved one, is a traitor.
"She started down quickly. Halfway she saw into the lighted living room. Yes, fran. Fran and a girl. An exquisite girl, copper hair ruffled about her small face, a beautifully curved leg, a silken leg, pointed to the gray whipcord leg of Fran's.
The girl's voice was precise. 'I see nothing ridiculous about it.'
'But darling.' He said darling. His thin brown hand was under her hair.
Julie didn't move, didn't take breath.
'It is so ridiculous.' He spoke with an accent; he had no accent.
'Ridiculous? That you take this girl with you to Mexico and refuse to take me?'
'listen, my sweet. I take her to mexico. It is the least I can do. She is in trouble. She is so distant a cousin but she is that. I cannot refuse to aid her. She is young, helpless.'
'Why can't I go along?'
'coral, please. Have not I told you? There is so much Freight I must bring back for your father. there will be room only for myself on the return. Why must you be so unreasonable? I have told you this girl means nothing whatever to me. I take her to mexico. That is that. I pick up the freight. I return here. Two day's time. Can you not give me two day's time?'
Julie stood rigid. The sickness was all through her, in her lungs, in her knees, in her mind and heart. She watched his hand turn the face of the lovely girl to his, watched him bend to her. Julie didn't close her eyes. She watched the kiss."
The "man in Gray", blaik, who Julie has been afraid of in her escape across the country, tells her that he's FBI. She doesn't believe him at first but it turns out to be true. All this time she was afraid of him, and he was trying to protect her from the Blackbirder. This speech from his character is disgusting. This author is so the opposite of a feminist. the only reason I like her is because she has many of her books set in New Mexico, which is where my heart lives.
"... She look at him with a spark of unspent passion. 'There's more of us than of them. Many of us have died. Many more will. But someday we'll exterminate them, all of them, One by one. I want my share.'
He said, 'we have men trained for that, to fight, even to die. But not without weapons, not without a chance. We'll conquer them. When that's done, you may share. The woman's way. Feeding and clothing, and helping the children to forget that once there was a world like today's. It won't be spectacular. No one will weep over your holy grave. It will be merely work, drab, everyday work. But it will be of more value than snuffing your life out to satisfy personal revenge.' "
🙄
This book was so full of twists and turns. The landscape around Albuquerque and Santa Fe is so familiar to me, having lived there for years, and returning, year after year; it's beloved to me.
This book is also full of robust patriotism. Reading it in the atmosphere of today, when the Imperial power is turning to fascism, is triggering, to say the least. At the time that this book takes place, world war II, Nazi Germany was in full rage. Now, 2021, Germany takes good care of their people. Meanwhile, the Imperial power is heading towards what Germany was at that time.
"She paid her check, went into the soiled, cavernous lobby. It might not be necessary but it might be wise. It was what an innocent person would do without thinking. She bought two postcards, two for five, and two one-cent stamps. She would take a few minutes to write them. The women's waiting room was like the station, old and tired, soiled despite constant scrubbings. It might once have been grandeur; now it sat in decayed, obsolescent doom."
Julie's whole point in coming to the United states, is try to locate her cousin Fran, and help him escape from confinement. She hears about someone called the blackbirder, who helps people who have entered the country illegally, escape to mexico. The blackbirder supposedly is in New mexico, Santa Fe. But what she finds in New mexico, breaks her heart and shows that who she thought was her dear loved one, is a traitor.
"She started down quickly. Halfway she saw into the lighted living room. Yes, fran. Fran and a girl. An exquisite girl, copper hair ruffled about her small face, a beautifully curved leg, a silken leg, pointed to the gray whipcord leg of Fran's.
The girl's voice was precise. 'I see nothing ridiculous about it.'
'But darling.' He said darling. His thin brown hand was under her hair.
Julie didn't move, didn't take breath.
'It is so ridiculous.' He spoke with an accent; he had no accent.
'Ridiculous? That you take this girl with you to Mexico and refuse to take me?'
'listen, my sweet. I take her to mexico. It is the least I can do. She is in trouble. She is so distant a cousin but she is that. I cannot refuse to aid her. She is young, helpless.'
'Why can't I go along?'
'coral, please. Have not I told you? There is so much Freight I must bring back for your father. there will be room only for myself on the return. Why must you be so unreasonable? I have told you this girl means nothing whatever to me. I take her to mexico. That is that. I pick up the freight. I return here. Two day's time. Can you not give me two day's time?'
Julie stood rigid. The sickness was all through her, in her lungs, in her knees, in her mind and heart. She watched his hand turn the face of the lovely girl to his, watched him bend to her. Julie didn't close her eyes. She watched the kiss."
The "man in Gray", blaik, who Julie has been afraid of in her escape across the country, tells her that he's FBI. She doesn't believe him at first but it turns out to be true. All this time she was afraid of him, and he was trying to protect her from the Blackbirder. This speech from his character is disgusting. This author is so the opposite of a feminist. the only reason I like her is because she has many of her books set in New Mexico, which is where my heart lives.
"... She look at him with a spark of unspent passion. 'There's more of us than of them. Many of us have died. Many more will. But someday we'll exterminate them, all of them, One by one. I want my share.'
He said, 'we have men trained for that, to fight, even to die. But not without weapons, not without a chance. We'll conquer them. When that's done, you may share. The woman's way. Feeding and clothing, and helping the children to forget that once there was a world like today's. It won't be spectacular. No one will weep over your holy grave. It will be merely work, drab, everyday work. But it will be of more value than snuffing your life out to satisfy personal revenge.' "
🙄
This book was so full of twists and turns. The landscape around Albuquerque and Santa Fe is so familiar to me, having lived there for years, and returning, year after year; it's beloved to me.
This book is also full of robust patriotism. Reading it in the atmosphere of today, when the Imperial power is turning to fascism, is triggering, to say the least. At the time that this book takes place, world war II, Nazi Germany was in full rage. Now, 2021, Germany takes good care of their people. Meanwhile, the Imperial power is heading towards what Germany was at that time.
January 24, 2013
Crisp little World War II European refugee heroine fleeing through New York and New Mexico searching for cousin not knowing who to trust. Hughes is consummate narrator with some lovely turns of phrase and super visual (yes movie-esque) pacing and narrative form. I kept visualizing it as an RKO B picture from 1946 directed by John Farrow starring Jane Greer as Julie, Richard Widmark as Blaike, and Claud Rains as Paul. Well, I can dream, can't I?
January 19, 2023
A refugee from WW2-era France flees the law and the Nazis in search of the mysterious Blackbirder who can fly her into Mexico.
Great. Hughes is great at moving things along very briskly when she needs to (an airplane flight toward the end is like...one page?) but she can also ratchet up the tension in mundane scenes to almost unbearable levels. She has a fine degree of control over POV -- it's very tight third person, almost claustrophobic. In fact the somewhat stilted, old-fashioned dialogue is a striking contrast to the terse, clipped free indirect reporting of emotion. There will be these long, sometimes hokey speeches and then a salvo of three or four word sentences that punch up the feeling. Something like "No lights following." or "Danger now." is really effective at transmitting the feeling of anxiety that you see in this and other books (thinking of Expendable Man or RTPH).
The storyline is a bit convoluted, which is fine, but the welter of different names and aliases can feel a bit cluttered at the beginning. We're thrown in media res as Julie flees NYC and she's mentally reviewing all the characters from her past life. The description of action is very clean and brisk but sometimes there's too much mental activity. Overall though I wouldn't complain too much, because once her situation becomes a bit clearer, around a third of the way through the book, this problem eases. Another weakness is the somewhat bland characters. Most of them simply aren't that interesting apart from Julie.
Hughes' social concerns are on display here as in Expendable Man. At one point Julie has to dress up as an Indian woman to evade her pursuers and passing drivers hurl racial slurs at her. Also there's some Casablanca-style inspirational speechmaking (very retrograde gender views) toward the end. There's a good contrast between her vicious uncle/aunt/cousin the Guilles (guile, lol) and the honest, plain folk of New Mexico, be they pueblo-dwelling Indians or mild-mannered professors. You can kind of see this in some of the other books as well: the protagonist of Expendable Man just wants a normal decent life, in contrast with the crooks.
The fact of WW2 is completely central to the book. I think the book is a good artifact of how militarized even the most prosaic aspects of American society became during the war. Things like rationing, airspace controls, etc. all play a role, in addition to the main plot.
Great. Hughes is great at moving things along very briskly when she needs to (an airplane flight toward the end is like...one page?) but she can also ratchet up the tension in mundane scenes to almost unbearable levels. She has a fine degree of control over POV -- it's very tight third person, almost claustrophobic. In fact the somewhat stilted, old-fashioned dialogue is a striking contrast to the terse, clipped free indirect reporting of emotion. There will be these long, sometimes hokey speeches and then a salvo of three or four word sentences that punch up the feeling. Something like "No lights following." or "Danger now." is really effective at transmitting the feeling of anxiety that you see in this and other books (thinking of Expendable Man or RTPH).
The storyline is a bit convoluted, which is fine, but the welter of different names and aliases can feel a bit cluttered at the beginning. We're thrown in media res as Julie flees NYC and she's mentally reviewing all the characters from her past life. The description of action is very clean and brisk but sometimes there's too much mental activity. Overall though I wouldn't complain too much, because once her situation becomes a bit clearer, around a third of the way through the book, this problem eases. Another weakness is the somewhat bland characters. Most of them simply aren't that interesting apart from Julie.
Hughes' social concerns are on display here as in Expendable Man. At one point Julie has to dress up as an Indian woman to evade her pursuers and passing drivers hurl racial slurs at her. Also there's some Casablanca-style inspirational speechmaking (very retrograde gender views) toward the end. There's a good contrast between her vicious uncle/aunt/cousin the Guilles (guile, lol) and the honest, plain folk of New Mexico, be they pueblo-dwelling Indians or mild-mannered professors. You can kind of see this in some of the other books as well: the protagonist of Expendable Man just wants a normal decent life, in contrast with the crooks.
The fact of WW2 is completely central to the book. I think the book is a good artifact of how militarized even the most prosaic aspects of American society became during the war. Things like rationing, airspace controls, etc. all play a role, in addition to the main plot.
April 4, 2024
An absorbing read. Keeps you on your toes trying to untangle the intricacies of truth, deception and who is really who. My first foray into the books of Dorothy B Hughes but I will definitely read more.
June 5, 2025
Dorothy Hughes is a great writer no doubt, but this 1943 war-time thriller is best suited for straight on screen 1940s film noirish/war action.
January 8, 2024
Drawn in immediately!
December 12, 2021
3 1/2 stars. A good Hitchcockian thriller marred slightly by a melodramatic ending.
September 24, 2023
I have mixed feelings. I didn't feel I got to know Julie all that much, because she doesn't have the time to think about anything except escape. But, it's incredibly tense, and gave me nightmares :/
June 25, 2023
Published in 1943, which was the height of the Second World War, THE BLACKBIRDER is a mixture of things. I would not recommend it to a reader looking for a stylized thriller. Dorothy B. Hughes, whose books IN A LONELY PLACE and RIDE THE PINK HORSE are focused studies of an individual, could turn out books which suffer from being hurried.
She easily wrote ten books in the 1940s. THE BLACKBIRDER is more compelling than her first published novel, THE SO BLUE MARBLE, but the characterizations are much more believable.
The book is of its time, which is a reason to think of it as an artifact. The speeches some of the characters make about the hard-won victory the United States will have are very much like the speeches in CASABLANCA and other movies made during the war. Obviously, such speeches can be very stirring. The ones in here are not bad, but it is impossible to suspend disbelief when these characters verbalize the sentiments of the era. The parts I like are when Hughes describes life among Native Americans. In these passages she drops the hard-boiled tone.
Readers studying the era in which this was written will notice two or three references to gas rationing. I associate rationing with Britain, because it is much more common for a British book or movie from the time to refer to it, and to blackouts. The US was not nearly as vulnerable to attack as Britain was. December 7th, 1941 - the day Pearl Harbor was bombed - is the great exception. It brought America into the Second World War. So when the characters in THE BLACKBIRDER make sure light doesn’t show through their windows at night, or find themselves unable to get from one town to another because they’ve used up their gas coupons, it’s a jolt. It is easy to forget that the biggest war in history is the backdrop to a type of writing we find stylish and snappy. Would you want to have lived then?
She easily wrote ten books in the 1940s. THE BLACKBIRDER is more compelling than her first published novel, THE SO BLUE MARBLE, but the characterizations are much more believable.
The book is of its time, which is a reason to think of it as an artifact. The speeches some of the characters make about the hard-won victory the United States will have are very much like the speeches in CASABLANCA and other movies made during the war. Obviously, such speeches can be very stirring. The ones in here are not bad, but it is impossible to suspend disbelief when these characters verbalize the sentiments of the era. The parts I like are when Hughes describes life among Native Americans. In these passages she drops the hard-boiled tone.
Readers studying the era in which this was written will notice two or three references to gas rationing. I associate rationing with Britain, because it is much more common for a British book or movie from the time to refer to it, and to blackouts. The US was not nearly as vulnerable to attack as Britain was. December 7th, 1941 - the day Pearl Harbor was bombed - is the great exception. It brought America into the Second World War. So when the characters in THE BLACKBIRDER make sure light doesn’t show through their windows at night, or find themselves unable to get from one town to another because they’ve used up their gas coupons, it’s a jolt. It is easy to forget that the biggest war in history is the backdrop to a type of writing we find stylish and snappy. Would you want to have lived then?
June 25, 2016
24 jun 16, 1st from hughes for me...saw it listed in a list of stories also published by that one press i mentioned two reviews back...was it in the last macdonald,john d, story i read i believe so...coming to me...revval press? rvival press? something. anyway...there was a list of stories and who can resist a list, more so when on that list there are names with whom one is familiar. so. hughes.
onward and upward. (i think i picked this one 'cause of the title and a quick look-see at the description. sounds like a winner. we'll see.
25 jun 16, finished, great story! ooga booga! non-stop suspense, non-stop action, not breathless white knuckle action, more low-key suspenseful action. i like how nobody, really, in this story knows what the other is doing, thinking, what their purpose is. everyone has an idea, not often right, and that adds to the suspense.
and yeah, this is another "book revivals press" and it must be listed amongst the groupings to do with wimmen. wimmen and literature. saw it listed as such. but in this one, they spelled "revivals" right. or did they spell it wrong here? heh! this one, too, has some oddball things about it, that i attribute to the editing process. the other has things like 111 for i'll, other kindle-typos. notzis. they're everywhere, they're everywhere!
good read! onward, ever onward!
onward and upward. (i think i picked this one 'cause of the title and a quick look-see at the description. sounds like a winner. we'll see.
25 jun 16, finished, great story! ooga booga! non-stop suspense, non-stop action, not breathless white knuckle action, more low-key suspenseful action. i like how nobody, really, in this story knows what the other is doing, thinking, what their purpose is. everyone has an idea, not often right, and that adds to the suspense.
and yeah, this is another "book revivals press" and it must be listed amongst the groupings to do with wimmen. wimmen and literature. saw it listed as such. but in this one, they spelled "revivals" right. or did they spell it wrong here? heh! this one, too, has some oddball things about it, that i attribute to the editing process. the other has things like 111 for i'll, other kindle-typos. notzis. they're everywhere, they're everywhere!
good read! onward, ever onward!
November 27, 2012
I have to say I was a little disappointed in this book, set in WWII the main character was supposed to be travelling throughout Europe and the states evading Nazis. In fact she just took a train from New York to Santa Fe. While the woman spent most of the time on the run and paranoid, she was terribly inept and realising when she was being followed, judging people and making decisions about what to do. I think the most interesting thing about this book was the white people’s perceptions of the Indians living in New Mexico, and the barriers between the culture and the racism that barely got mentioned. As a thriller it wasn’t that exciting, not enough happened, none of the characters were very likeable and the writing lacked style. It mostly seemed to be a book by an American about what she thought French people might be like, but really had no clue. I think it was particularly striking to read, after having read the amazing Women’s barracks by Teresa Torres which is published as part of the same series that was a book by a French author about French women in WWII, and was much more passionate, interesting and insightful. I don’t think I will be reading anymore books by Hughes.
December 11, 2022
Well that's me done with Dorothy B Hughes. In a Lonely Place and The Expendable Man are brilliant, The So Blue Marble and this one are absolute messes. A cludge of ludicrous coincidences and implausible twists, interspersed with a lot of random running around.
August 14, 2022
I was disappointed with this book. Dorothy B. Hughes writes well, but it was easy to see the false premises from which the main character was operating and all the wrong conclusions to which she was jumping.
The book was first published in 1943 and that’s the clue to it: it’s wartime propaganda. It also springs a couple of surprise explanations for plot twists late and has a very sentimental ending. Other Hughes work is much better.
The book was first published in 1943 and that’s the clue to it: it’s wartime propaganda. It also springs a couple of surprise explanations for plot twists late and has a very sentimental ending. Other Hughes work is much better.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 26, 2023
Weird combo of antic chases and WW2 propaganda. The Pauline-in-peril protagonist is somewhat appealing until she magically morphs into a feminist superhero toward the end of the book (crack shot, ace pilot, accomplished car thief, and Gaia knows what else). The hyper-patriotic blather about exterminating human ants makes you a little queasy when you think about Hiroshima and Dresden. But there was a total war going on.
April 4, 2014
I love sitting down, opening a Dorothy Hughes, and reading right to the end. All at once. I didn't quite get to do that with this, but close, and it's a page turner. This in spite of treating people and places I know very well as exotic scenery. But that is what it is, and I like the idea of fighting Nazis in New Mexico.
August 7, 2022
I'd never heard of the author or the book. Picked it up in Hatchard's in Piccadilly, read the blurb, thought, 'sounds good.' Bought it, two days later I managed to put it down.
Fantastic writing, great story, intriguing from page 1 and a total page-turner. Reading it is like watching a film, a spy thriller from WW2.
Dorothy B Hughes, one hell of a good writer!
Fantastic writing, great story, intriguing from page 1 and a total page-turner. Reading it is like watching a film, a spy thriller from WW2.
Dorothy B Hughes, one hell of a good writer!
August 30, 2016
Read for a book club, very engaging story of noir fiction. Dark but not graphically violent, Hughes is great at creating s sense of fear. Set during WW II, intrigue abounds. Much of the story takes place in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
December 3, 2018
People try to figure out who they can trust during WWII.
Some of this book was good, but overall it left me a bit cold as the plot seemed to jump around and the writing felt dated.
Overall rating 2.5
Some of this book was good, but overall it left me a bit cold as the plot seemed to jump around and the writing felt dated.
Overall rating 2.5
March 20, 2018
Breathless prose forced me to give up at about 30 pages in.
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