British Novel Week 7

This week's novel is Brighton Rock by the English author and playwright Graham Greene. The novel opens with the line "Hale knew they meant to murder him before he had been in Brighton three hours..." Greene himself states that he began the book as a "detective story" but that "the first fifty pages of Brighton Rock are all that remain of the detective story." Greene employs the third person omniscient point of view in this novel. The view shifts among a selected number of characters. As the story progresses, tension builds. The death of Hale at the beginning of the novel sets a series of events in motion. Ida, a companion with Hale just before his death cannot accept that he died without anyone asking why. She becomes his avenging angel. Members of a small time mob commit more murders in an attempt to cover up their involvement in Hale's death. Rose, an unsuspecting waitress becomes the center of focus for both a mob member and Ida who is running her own investigation on Hale's death. This novel has suspense, death and pits good against evil. The novel was made into a movie in 1947 and again more recently with a 60's setting. The movie would be worth seeing based on the suspenseful story line in the novel.