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Dreadful Summit
One day George LaMain turned sixteen. It was a special day. That night he took his father's gun and set out to kill a man named Al Judge.
A powerful novel of suspense and violence, DREADFUL SUMIT was successfully filmed by Joseph Losey as THE BIG NIGHT.
A powerful novel of suspense and violence, DREADFUL SUMIT was successfully filmed by Joseph Losey as THE BIG NIGHT.
181 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1948
About the author
Stanley Ellin
164 books40 followersStanley Bernard Ellin was a mystery writer of short stories and novels. He won the Edgar Allan Poe Award three times and the Grand Prix de Litterature Policiere once, and in 1981 he was awarded with the Mystery Writers of America's highest honor, the Grand Master Award.
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Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
March 3, 2024
This isn't something I'd typically choose to read, but when it's looking at you longingly from a shelf in the famous 'Book Farm' how could I not? This was a short novel which could be read in one sitting if one has the time. It is a part thriller, part coming of age type novel, which gave me serious 'Catcher in the Rye' vibes more than once, I should say.
The story focuses on sixteen year old George, who, throughout the novel has it ingrained in his mind that he has to kill a man, who goes by the name of Al Judge. George's actual adventure of sorts takes place within around twelve hours, so the reader has enough time to listen to George's repetitiveness. Ellin has made it so George says the same line much too often, and eventually it drove me batty. (Hence 'Catcher in the Rye' vibes.)
There are some comical parts in here, ones that defuse a more serious and possibly morbid situation. I'm not sure I'd go out of my way to read more of Ellin's work any time soon, but it's a possibility for the future.
The story focuses on sixteen year old George, who, throughout the novel has it ingrained in his mind that he has to kill a man, who goes by the name of Al Judge. George's actual adventure of sorts takes place within around twelve hours, so the reader has enough time to listen to George's repetitiveness. Ellin has made it so George says the same line much too often, and eventually it drove me batty. (Hence 'Catcher in the Rye' vibes.)
There are some comical parts in here, ones that defuse a more serious and possibly morbid situation. I'm not sure I'd go out of my way to read more of Ellin's work any time soon, but it's a possibility for the future.
February 3, 2026
No m'ha convençut. El xaval m'ha posat més aviat nerviosa. Que fàcil accedeix a una pistola carregada i com el domina aquesta possessió. L'escena on apunta a un nadó amb la pistola m'ha semblat esperpèntica. I una nota d'humor quan es posa la pistola a la butxaca i li forada.
No la recomanaria perquè la història em sembla un despropòsit, tot i que el final fa que augmenti la meva simpatia pel xaval protagonista.
Al CL no hi ha hagut unanimitat: detractors (personatges mal definits, incoherències) i defensors (distreta, lectura fàcil, creïble en el context USA anys 50).
Però tothom hem estat d'acord que no tenim ganes de llegir res més d'aquest autor, però sí que ens interessa veure la pel·lícula que es va fer.
No la recomanaria perquè la història em sembla un despropòsit, tot i que el final fa que augmenti la meva simpatia pel xaval protagonista.
Al CL no hi ha hagut unanimitat: detractors (personatges mal definits, incoherències) i defensors (distreta, lectura fàcil, creïble en el context USA anys 50).
Però tothom hem estat d'acord que no tenim ganes de llegir res més d'aquest autor, però sí que ens interessa veure la pel·lícula que es va fer.
March 9, 2021
Atípica novel·la negra americana. Acció trepidant. El protagonista, quan comença la novel·la, és un noi, i quan la novel·la acaba, 24 hores després, és un home. És el que passa quan la vida va massa de pressa.
August 9, 2020
4,5/5
June 21, 2009
This was Stanley Ellin's first novel and maybe his best. Its a kind of Catcher in the Rye Noir. A teenage boy sees his father humiliated where the father tends bar. The boy furious decides to track the man down and kill him. Some of the scenes are remarkably similar to some in Catcher in the Rye. The tone of adolescent rebellion against adult hypocrisy also owes a debt to Catcher in the Rye. Its a wonderful story in its own right and worth the time if you can track down a copy.
June 16, 2026
OK, bought from evil empire, but it prompted me to resubscribe to the series direct from the Mysterious Bookshop. So there.
This is a stylistic departure from a lot of what they've chosen to revive (aside from Cornell Woolrich, with whom it shares the one-night-in-NYC structure [that's a mini-genre, stretching through The 25th Hour and After Hours] and dark existential tinge, though this one ultimately leads more Hemingway at the end, which makes sense given the 1948 publication), in that it's a first-person POV narrator, a bookish teenage boy whose dad runs a saloon and who, in the opening scene, sees a prominent sportswriter cane his father right in the middle of the barroom, a punishment his dad accepts. So he vows vengeance and spends the night trying to exact it. The source of the title clues you in to how this will work out.
I doubted Isaac Babel had been translated at that point (turns out he had, as early as 1929!), so it's possible that Ellin, who followed the classic NYC Jewish-writer trajectory (grew up in Brooklyn, went to New Utrecht HS and then Brooklyn College) could have known his work, especially "Story of My Dovecote," whose central plot point this echoes. We've also got some DNA of The Stranger, from 1942, and, for me, Ring Lardner, one of the masters of first-person vernacular American narrators who constantly reveal themselves in ways they aren't quite clued into. George, our narrator here, is a big-for-his-age kid, just turned 16, who hasn't spent a lot of time thinking about the meaning of life, or fatherhood, or a lot outside of his immediate world, and he has strong reactions to what he's seen, the appropriateness of which we come to learn. More in common with someone like Simenon or one of those French crime novelists whose short, sharp novels are occasions for moral/ethical reflection than, say, Erle Stanley Gardner. Or...one more. Kinda reminds me of John O'Hara's Appointment in Samarra.
Not the usual American Mystery Classics selection, and one I quite liked. Ordered Ellin's short stories, which were apparently his major artistic achievement. Curious to see how much they transcend typical midcentury professionalism.
This is a stylistic departure from a lot of what they've chosen to revive (aside from Cornell Woolrich, with whom it shares the one-night-in-NYC structure [that's a mini-genre, stretching through The 25th Hour and After Hours] and dark existential tinge, though this one ultimately leads more Hemingway at the end, which makes sense given the 1948 publication), in that it's a first-person POV narrator, a bookish teenage boy whose dad runs a saloon and who, in the opening scene, sees a prominent sportswriter cane his father right in the middle of the barroom, a punishment his dad accepts. So he vows vengeance and spends the night trying to exact it. The source of the title clues you in to how this will work out.
I doubted Isaac Babel had been translated at that point (turns out he had, as early as 1929!), so it's possible that Ellin, who followed the classic NYC Jewish-writer trajectory (grew up in Brooklyn, went to New Utrecht HS and then Brooklyn College) could have known his work, especially "Story of My Dovecote," whose central plot point this echoes. We've also got some DNA of The Stranger, from 1942, and, for me, Ring Lardner, one of the masters of first-person vernacular American narrators who constantly reveal themselves in ways they aren't quite clued into. George, our narrator here, is a big-for-his-age kid, just turned 16, who hasn't spent a lot of time thinking about the meaning of life, or fatherhood, or a lot outside of his immediate world, and he has strong reactions to what he's seen, the appropriateness of which we come to learn. More in common with someone like Simenon or one of those French crime novelists whose short, sharp novels are occasions for moral/ethical reflection than, say, Erle Stanley Gardner. Or...one more. Kinda reminds me of John O'Hara's Appointment in Samarra.
Not the usual American Mystery Classics selection, and one I quite liked. Ordered Ellin's short stories, which were apparently his major artistic achievement. Curious to see how much they transcend typical midcentury professionalism.
May 2, 2025
Theres a beautiful story about how i came to read Dreadful Summit, and the moral of this story is that you must never judge a book by its cover. I heard that phrase somewhere, don't know if you've heard it before. You see, the stark, exciting cover on this particular edition of the novella was favoured by Penguin's marketing department and became one of a series of postcards. A good friend spotted said postcard, and, given my predilection for mountains, thought of me.
Years later, on a whim and to satisfy one of my many eccentricities, i sought out the actual book to match the postcard i have displayed in my house. And so on ebay, i found it.
George LaMain watches his father get beaten by the local press baron, and vows to avenge him.
That is the plot. Its short - a little over 100 pages - and its all set in one night. George sneaks out of his house with two tickets to a wrestling match, thinking he can sneak up on Al Judge (the press baron) and 'do him in', using his dad's gun. George does not take into account the characters he'll meet along the way, nor could he possibly have imagined this one act would lead to his transition from boy to man, in a sexual sense.
There are no mountains in this novel, i can tell you that. The narrative is taut but undistractedly wavy - George's head is a fascinating place to inhabit, as his thoughts sway from the present, to the past, to literature, exaggerating and catastrophising. If this was today, George would have been diagnosed as 'on the spectrum'. Some of his actions are very questionable and certainly not relatable - pointing a gun at a baby - but others are recognisable. Seeing the worst case scenario of every situation, reading too much into offhand comments.
It feels like a classic American novel, like Catcher in the Rye or maybe even The Mosquito Coast, and as such it does actually leave a lasting effect, even if you weren't aware at the time. Its not brilliant - i couldn't sympathise with the protagonist and it highlights a culture that i don't particularly like - but it was an interesting read.
And, bottom line, i've read it. Which satisfies a weird quirk of my personality.
Years later, on a whim and to satisfy one of my many eccentricities, i sought out the actual book to match the postcard i have displayed in my house. And so on ebay, i found it.
George LaMain watches his father get beaten by the local press baron, and vows to avenge him.
That is the plot. Its short - a little over 100 pages - and its all set in one night. George sneaks out of his house with two tickets to a wrestling match, thinking he can sneak up on Al Judge (the press baron) and 'do him in', using his dad's gun. George does not take into account the characters he'll meet along the way, nor could he possibly have imagined this one act would lead to his transition from boy to man, in a sexual sense.
There are no mountains in this novel, i can tell you that. The narrative is taut but undistractedly wavy - George's head is a fascinating place to inhabit, as his thoughts sway from the present, to the past, to literature, exaggerating and catastrophising. If this was today, George would have been diagnosed as 'on the spectrum'. Some of his actions are very questionable and certainly not relatable - pointing a gun at a baby - but others are recognisable. Seeing the worst case scenario of every situation, reading too much into offhand comments.
It feels like a classic American novel, like Catcher in the Rye or maybe even The Mosquito Coast, and as such it does actually leave a lasting effect, even if you weren't aware at the time. Its not brilliant - i couldn't sympathise with the protagonist and it highlights a culture that i don't particularly like - but it was an interesting read.
And, bottom line, i've read it. Which satisfies a weird quirk of my personality.
June 7, 2026
In this post WW2 novel, a sixteen-year-old boy runs away to New York City after a traumatic event. He is having a breakdown. He gets drunk at a nightclub. He ends up spending time in bed with a prostitute. He is compulsively thinking about his younger days and his family. He makes bad decisions. The story ends as he is about to be institutionalized.
It is not "Catcher in the Rye", which was published in 1951. This is a brutal savage noir variation that was published in 1948 and was just re-issued in the American Mystery Classics series. George LeMain is a hard-edged bitter version of Holden Caufield. He is closer to being a psycho and he has lived a much tougher life than Holden.
George's father owns a bar. His mother is dead. They live in an apartment above the bar. George is a big awkward kid with no real friends. He spends most of his time at the bar. He likes to read.
Al Judge, well-known sportswriter. shows up at the bar. For no reason George can see, he gives his father a savage beating. George pledges to himself that he will kill the sportswriter. The great line is, "I think I liked Al Judge a lot before I knew I had to kill him." George steals a gun from his father's bar and heads off into the City to kill him.
Al Jones is covering a fight at Madison Square Garden that night. George spends a crazy night following Jones. He is getting drunk, getting in fights, assaulting cops and losing his virginity. The ending is classic noir twists and turns.
This short tight tale is a thrilling New York City story with a complicated and fascinating protagonist. I would love to learn that Salinger had read this book before he finished "Catcher in the Rye".
It is not "Catcher in the Rye", which was published in 1951. This is a brutal savage noir variation that was published in 1948 and was just re-issued in the American Mystery Classics series. George LeMain is a hard-edged bitter version of Holden Caufield. He is closer to being a psycho and he has lived a much tougher life than Holden.
George's father owns a bar. His mother is dead. They live in an apartment above the bar. George is a big awkward kid with no real friends. He spends most of his time at the bar. He likes to read.
Al Judge, well-known sportswriter. shows up at the bar. For no reason George can see, he gives his father a savage beating. George pledges to himself that he will kill the sportswriter. The great line is, "I think I liked Al Judge a lot before I knew I had to kill him." George steals a gun from his father's bar and heads off into the City to kill him.
Al Jones is covering a fight at Madison Square Garden that night. George spends a crazy night following Jones. He is getting drunk, getting in fights, assaulting cops and losing his virginity. The ending is classic noir twists and turns.
This short tight tale is a thrilling New York City story with a complicated and fascinating protagonist. I would love to learn that Salinger had read this book before he finished "Catcher in the Rye".
January 19, 2023
L’adolescent "Georgie" LaMain és seriós. Li agrada llegir. Té un comportament força madur per la seva edat. I si es posa una corbata i el barret del seu pare, ben bé pot passar per un home adult.
Trobo que té molt mèrit per part de l’autor ser capaç d’escriure les reflexions que es fa el protagonista talment com se les faria un noi de setze anys, que no veu la realitat com la veuen els adults, ni entén correctament les situacions, i arriba a conclusions errònies que en certs moments fins i tot ens fan gràcia, si no fos per el dramatisme de la història.
Una novel·la curta on tot succeeix en una nit. I no pots deixar de llegir. Molt bona.
Desprès de llegir la novel·la hem vist el film clàssic “The Big Night” (1951), de Joseph Losey.
És força fidel al llibre, excepte alguns detalls, com ara la relació del noi amb Marion o el que li va succeir a Frances i, sobre tot, el desenllaç final. Ens ha semblat una bona pel·lícula, però no ens ha atrapat de la forma com ho ha fet la novel·la.
Trobo que té molt mèrit per part de l’autor ser capaç d’escriure les reflexions que es fa el protagonista talment com se les faria un noi de setze anys, que no veu la realitat com la veuen els adults, ni entén correctament les situacions, i arriba a conclusions errònies que en certs moments fins i tot ens fan gràcia, si no fos per el dramatisme de la història.
Una novel·la curta on tot succeeix en una nit. I no pots deixar de llegir. Molt bona.
Desprès de llegir la novel·la hem vist el film clàssic “The Big Night” (1951), de Joseph Losey.
És força fidel al llibre, excepte alguns detalls, com ara la relació del noi amb Marion o el que li va succeir a Frances i, sobre tot, el desenllaç final. Ens ha semblat una bona pel·lícula, però no ens ha atrapat de la forma com ho ha fet la novel·la.
June 29, 2026
One of the best noirs I've ever read, and a great revenge story entwined with a coming-of-age tale where the teenage protagonist learns things about his father that shatter his life. It's vivid, brutal, and screams for a new film version by directed by Martin Scorsese.
December 21, 2021
... a lot can happen in twenty four hours... Revenge at pace.
August 29, 2024
M’encanta la personalitat del protagonista i com evoluciona la història sense perdre el temps en descripcions pesades i llargues. M’agrada el final.
January 9, 2013
This book could be called a coming-of-age story, but in this case, it happens at warp speed for sixteen-year-old George. The action of the story all takes place within about twelve hours. On page 5 (in my edition) George announces “I think I liked Al Judge a lot before I knew I had to kill him.” In a few pages, we figure out why George thinks he has to kill Al Judge, and for almost the whole rest of the book, the reader is torn between hoping George succeeds or fails at this mission. Variations on the phrase “I had to kill Al Judge” appear with, for me, an annoying frequency, throughout the first half or so of the book. I think Ellin does a pretty good job of portraying the thought process of a sixteen-year old boy, (I can’t be sure, never having been one), and that’s probably the cause of all the repetition. At any rate, the reader is unlikely to forget George’s mission, even if they only read one page a day. I like the novel overall, and it’s a quick read due to its shortness, and the urgency which makes you want to hurry up and get to the part when and if George finally catches up with Al Judge. George is a bumbler, and the novel is almost comical with all the delays George runs into as he follows Al Judge around the city, except that the presence of the gun keeps reminding us how serious things are going to get, eventually.
May 30, 2010
This is a coming-of-age story in the form of a mystery. It succeeds admirably as both.
Read
October 21, 2020Molt bella
July 24, 2024
Instructing as teenager.
El vam llegir a l'institut, història de les que ajuden a madurar.
El vam llegir a l'institut, història de les que ajuden a madurar.
September 13, 2012
this book is better than catcher in the rye.
November 7, 2013
An engaging and interesting thriller that plays cleverly with misdirection.
Want to Read
December 21, 2018Synopsis: on the day George LaMain turned sixteen, he took his father's gun and set out to kill a man named Al Judge.
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