The Protector

by Malcolm Braly

The Protector

Genres: Fiction

189 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1979

About the author

Abandoned by his parents, Braly lived between foster homes and institutions for delinquent children, and by the time he was forty had spent nearly seventeen years in prison for burglary, serving time at Nevada State Prison, San Quentin, and Folsom State Prison. He wrote three novels behind bars, Felony Tank (1961), Shake Him Till He Rattles (1963), and It’s Cold Out There (1966), and upon his release in 1965 began to work on On the Yard. When prison authorities learned of the book they threatened to revoke his parole, and he was forced to complete it in secret. Published in 1967, after Braly’s parole had expired, On the Yard received wide acclaim. It was followed by his autobiography, False Starts: A Memoir of San Quentin and Other Prisons (1976), and a final work of fiction, The Protector (1979). Malcolm Braly enjoyed fifteen years of freedom before his death in a car accident at age fifty-four.

Reviews

[Kyle · Rating 3 out of 5]

Set in NYC in the Upper West Side, written in 1979. Charlie Hyatt has a rent-controlled apartment, but the crime rate in the building is high. The tenants decide to hire a security guard, but he turns out to be a scary vigilante-type who seems to be manufacturing more crime to scare the tenants into keeping him around. They feel like prisoners in their homes. But he does protect them. They never can decide if he's dangerous or not. Cool seventies details, like the Rockford Files.

[Janet · Rating 4 out of 5]

This 1979 paperback is a great example of what fiction was at one time. Selling for $2.25 it was a reasonable purchase for a working person. I call this an easy read. It was written by Malcolm Braly, one of the more famous writers of prison genre crowned so after writing 'On the Yard' about his prison experiences.