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The Big Caper
White is one of the lesser-known noirists whose books were filmed by Kubrick and Godard ('Pierrot le Fou' was 'based on' 'Obsession') and were an influence on Tarantino.
Despite the title, this is more of a character study, with a chilling portrayal of a cold-hearted manipulator called Flood and the men and women, good and bad, who follow his orders, however reluctantly.
The attitudes to women are very much of its time (mid-fifties), i.e. three categories: good, bad, and married. There's humour, and violence, and a general sense of unease.
Memorable pulp noir, a forgotten classic.
Despite the title, this is more of a character study, with a chilling portrayal of a cold-hearted manipulator called Flood and the men and women, good and bad, who follow his orders, however reluctantly.
The attitudes to women are very much of its time (mid-fifties), i.e. three categories: good, bad, and married. There's humour, and violence, and a general sense of unease.
Memorable pulp noir, a forgotten classic.
Paperback
First published January 1, 1955
106 people want to read
About the author
Lionel White
93 books38 followersLionel White was a crime reporter who wrote around 38 suspenseful thrillers beginning with The Snatchers in 1953 and ending with The Walled Yard in 1978.
Most of his books were translated into a number of different languages and his earlier novels were published as Gold Medal pulp hard-boiled crime fiction, but when Duttons began a line of mystery and suspense books, he also wrote for them.
He was most well known for what a New York Times review described as "the master of the big caper."
A number of his books were made into movies and Stanley Kubrick liked his book 'Clean Break' (1955) so much that he licensed the rights for his film "The Killing" in 1956.
In Quentin Tarantino's film "Reservoir Dogs", Lionel White is listed as an inspiration for the film in the credits.
Gerry Wolstenholme
May 2011
Most of his books were translated into a number of different languages and his earlier novels were published as Gold Medal pulp hard-boiled crime fiction, but when Duttons began a line of mystery and suspense books, he also wrote for them.
He was most well known for what a New York Times review described as "the master of the big caper."
A number of his books were made into movies and Stanley Kubrick liked his book 'Clean Break' (1955) so much that he licensed the rights for his film "The Killing" in 1956.
In Quentin Tarantino's film "Reservoir Dogs", Lionel White is listed as an inspiration for the film in the credits.
Gerry Wolstenholme
May 2011
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
August 31, 2012
This is my first Lionel White title. He's one of the Gold Medal Books pulpsters I've been meaning to try and only now have gotten around to reading. I picked a winning book since the New York Times dubbed him the "master of the big caper." Frank Harper is an ex-Marine who operates a filling station in the sleepy town of Indio Beach, Florida.
He lives with Kay who pretends to be his wife. Indio Beach has a prosperous society of rich farmers and citrus growers who keep all their dough in the local bank. This tempting plum has caught the eye of Flood, the mastermind of planning the heist. On the eve of the big day, he brings in his other henchmen, including a whack job arsonist and psychotic killers, to the small town.
Kay and Frank are sympathetic characters who're in love, although Kay is supposed to be Flood's main squeeze. The local cops aren't the real enemies as much as the gang's internal strife and staying on target to pull off the heist.
The tension of the build up to the heist reminds me of Richard Stark's Parker series, though Parker is probably more hardboiled. The sultry Florida setting adds to The Big Caper's appeal. Gil Brwewer, Harry Whittington, and John D. MacDonald also used Florida in their crime novels. I liked the solid plot, steady pacing, and colorful characters, especially the bad guys.
He lives with Kay who pretends to be his wife. Indio Beach has a prosperous society of rich farmers and citrus growers who keep all their dough in the local bank. This tempting plum has caught the eye of Flood, the mastermind of planning the heist. On the eve of the big day, he brings in his other henchmen, including a whack job arsonist and psychotic killers, to the small town.
Kay and Frank are sympathetic characters who're in love, although Kay is supposed to be Flood's main squeeze. The local cops aren't the real enemies as much as the gang's internal strife and staying on target to pull off the heist.
The tension of the build up to the heist reminds me of Richard Stark's Parker series, though Parker is probably more hardboiled. The sultry Florida setting adds to The Big Caper's appeal. Gil Brwewer, Harry Whittington, and John D. MacDonald also used Florida in their crime novels. I liked the solid plot, steady pacing, and colorful characters, especially the bad guys.
February 7, 2018
Only my second book by Lionel White and as with the previous one, i'm constantly reminded of Richard Starks' (Donald E. Westlake) 'Parker' series. If only because this is a story about a heist gone wrong, as so many of the Parker novels were. Entertaining.
March 18, 2011
This was excellent. The first Lionel White book I've read. I'll be reading more.
June 22, 2017
"The Big Caper" by Lionel White is first-class hardboiled crime fiction. Make no mistake about that. Like White's novel, "The Killing" (aka "Clean Break"), "The Big Caper" is the story of how a criminal mastermind plots a crime by bringing together a team of individuals. Here, it's a bank robbery in a small Florida town. Flood, the ringleader, pulls together a crew of characters from all walks of life in order to pull of a well-planned down to the most minute detail. As such and because of the sparse, stripped-down prose, it has a similar feel to many of Donald Westlake's Parker novels, although White published "The Big Caper" in 1955, a decade before many any of the Parker novels came out.
In this book, White's writing is not flowery. His writing is detailed, but is written in such a stark manner that the details flow through the writing naturally, not as an added enhancement. It is told in a matter- of-fact manner. And, this style of writing, at least in White's hands, is top-notch and establishes his place as one of the top crime fiction writers of the fifties and sixties.
The heart of this book is not the plot, which is not terribly complex or hard to understand. Rather, the meat of the book is about the characters that Flood brings together to pull off this caper. Flood is the ringleader and he has been gathering people for quite some time just because he might need them for such a caper. Unfortunately for Flood, these people are characters and they act and interact in ways that are sometimes detrimental to the caper that he planned.
Kosta was the explosives man. He had unusually large eyes of "an odd russet brown and they bulged out from their sockets." They reminded one "somewhat of the eyes of a very sick person or a sick animal." He was short and obese. Frank Gerald Harper and Kay were assigned the task of establishing themselves in a rented house, pretending to be a married, square couple, blending into the town and casing the bank and the police department. Harper had leased a gas station and made friends with everyone in town.
Kay "looked exactly like what everyone that they knew in Indio Beach believed she was - - the young, extremely attractive wife of a nice- looking ex-Marine." She was only supposed to play a part with Harper since Kay had been Flood's mistress for the last four years. Despite her connection to Flood, she never knew whether he was married or where he spent his time when he was away from her. The safecracker was Hans Paulmeyer, an old man "well past seventy" and "set in his ways." This was going to be his last job and, when it was done, he would take the train home and sit on the porch and wait for death.
Rounding out the group pulling off this caper was Roy Cluney, who had the "round, half-formed face of a baby" and small ears set close to his head. Cluney's buddy, Wally, barely has any more sense than Cluney. While waiting for the caper to start, Cluney read comic books with his lips moving laboriously as he spelled out each word. There was also Candle, who was a big man with a hard face, and Shorty.
Of course, none of these people are as interesting as Flood himself, James Xavier Flood to be precise.
Lionel White knows how to spin a yarn. That much is true.
In this book, White's writing is not flowery. His writing is detailed, but is written in such a stark manner that the details flow through the writing naturally, not as an added enhancement. It is told in a matter- of-fact manner. And, this style of writing, at least in White's hands, is top-notch and establishes his place as one of the top crime fiction writers of the fifties and sixties.
The heart of this book is not the plot, which is not terribly complex or hard to understand. Rather, the meat of the book is about the characters that Flood brings together to pull off this caper. Flood is the ringleader and he has been gathering people for quite some time just because he might need them for such a caper. Unfortunately for Flood, these people are characters and they act and interact in ways that are sometimes detrimental to the caper that he planned.
Kosta was the explosives man. He had unusually large eyes of "an odd russet brown and they bulged out from their sockets." They reminded one "somewhat of the eyes of a very sick person or a sick animal." He was short and obese. Frank Gerald Harper and Kay were assigned the task of establishing themselves in a rented house, pretending to be a married, square couple, blending into the town and casing the bank and the police department. Harper had leased a gas station and made friends with everyone in town.
Kay "looked exactly like what everyone that they knew in Indio Beach believed she was - - the young, extremely attractive wife of a nice- looking ex-Marine." She was only supposed to play a part with Harper since Kay had been Flood's mistress for the last four years. Despite her connection to Flood, she never knew whether he was married or where he spent his time when he was away from her. The safecracker was Hans Paulmeyer, an old man "well past seventy" and "set in his ways." This was going to be his last job and, when it was done, he would take the train home and sit on the porch and wait for death.
Rounding out the group pulling off this caper was Roy Cluney, who had the "round, half-formed face of a baby" and small ears set close to his head. Cluney's buddy, Wally, barely has any more sense than Cluney. While waiting for the caper to start, Cluney read comic books with his lips moving laboriously as he spelled out each word. There was also Candle, who was a big man with a hard face, and Shorty.
Of course, none of these people are as interesting as Flood himself, James Xavier Flood to be precise.
Lionel White knows how to spin a yarn. That much is true.
March 14, 2019
"Flood felt very much like a Broadway producer who starts out with a perfect script and then, luckily, is able to hire the perfect actor for each part in the drama."
A noir work from the old days...
I haven't read any of Lionel White's works before; this is the first one and I intend to explore more in the future if possible, considering that he was an interesting mix of a journalist and crime novelist and several of his books had been made into films including this one...
Bland prose with pretty decent story- engaging but not that colorful.
There's Flood- a cold and ruthless racketeer who is acknowledged by the crew members; some of them also seem to be, as he wants them to be, indebted to him.
They follow him, listen to his orders and carry out his plans, whether they truly want to or not...
If I dismiss the story, the good thing about the work is he character portrayal- the bland and simple prose does a nice job of creating significant image of each major (and non-major) character.
I find it baffling how he came to be at the end of the book, and the others for that matter; and this is where I found things to be stupidly ending the story...
But nonetheless, it was a fun read. Don't judge the book just by my reading span of a month- I had other things going on!😉
A noir work from the old days...
I haven't read any of Lionel White's works before; this is the first one and I intend to explore more in the future if possible, considering that he was an interesting mix of a journalist and crime novelist and several of his books had been made into films including this one...
Bland prose with pretty decent story- engaging but not that colorful.
There's Flood- a cold and ruthless racketeer who is acknowledged by the crew members; some of them also seem to be, as he wants them to be, indebted to him.
They follow him, listen to his orders and carry out his plans, whether they truly want to or not...
If I dismiss the story, the good thing about the work is he character portrayal- the bland and simple prose does a nice job of creating significant image of each major (and non-major) character.
I find it baffling how he came to be at the end of the book, and the others for that matter; and this is where I found things to be stupidly ending the story...
But nonetheless, it was a fun read. Don't judge the book just by my reading span of a month- I had other things going on!😉
June 11, 2023
🖊 My review: An excellent noir, his book was made in the 1957 movie by the same name with Rory Calhoun and James Gregory.
✔️Published in 1955.
🤔 My rating 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟
🟣 Media form: Kindle version.
🎥 Media form: 1957ovie version.
✿●▬●✿●✿●▬●✿
✔️Published in 1955.
🤔 My rating 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟
🟣 Media form: Kindle version.
🎥 Media form: 1957ovie version.
✿●▬●✿●✿●▬●✿
October 3, 2012
I enjoyed this short novel quite a bit. It's very fast-paced, the characters are well-drawn, and the tension is real. As in many caper stories, a group of hoodlums, each with their own specialty, converge on a small Southern town in preparation for a big burglary, all led by the very dangerous Flood. I liked the backstories of how Flood rescued various people when they were at rock-bottom and then manipulated them.
It's nice that you can get books like this for a buck on Amazon for the Kindle. Lionel White wrote the novel for what became one of the great caper movies of all time, Stanley Kubrick's The Killing.
It's nice that you can get books like this for a buck on Amazon for the Kindle. Lionel White wrote the novel for what became one of the great caper movies of all time, Stanley Kubrick's The Killing.
February 24, 2025
Brilliant noir crime fiction!
This is my first novel by this author and it won’t be my last. Excellent character development, spot on setting and a well paced plot. This author does not use a lot of unnecessary descriptions and world building he just tells his story and it was riveting. Every character was believable and had agency. This is an example of how authors should write their stories.
This is my first novel by this author and it won’t be my last. Excellent character development, spot on setting and a well paced plot. This author does not use a lot of unnecessary descriptions and world building he just tells his story and it was riveting. Every character was believable and had agency. This is an example of how authors should write their stories.
November 22, 2015
I'm not much of a crime story reader but I'm a fan of older Science Fiction and Pulp magazine stories. This book was fun to read more from the fact that it was written in 1957. It is a basic bank robbery story with some twists. It takes place is a quiet town in Florida. It is a time when men wore suits and hats to rob a bank.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews