Kioskdeckare! Småputtrig historia som aldrig blir tråkig. Lång ifrån något mästerverk men fantastiskt underhållande för stunden. Levererar vad man förväntar sig. Underbart utformad bok och jag är nu fast, kommer att köpa flera böcker i denna serien! ( )

Thieves Fall Out (1953) by Gore Vidal. Gore Vidal was one of America’s great writers, and this mystery/suspense thriller from the early fifties only adds to his shining star. Along with his Edgar Box novels, this book helps illuminate the vast expanse of his abilities.
The book is set in Egypt some short time after World War Two. Pete Wells, ex-G.I., has come to Cairo looking for adventure and excitement. His first night in town he drinks himself into a stupor and wakes in a working girl’s bed with nothing but his clothes. Desperate but calm, he tries the American Embassy but gets no help. There is what appears to be a decent man, Hastings, a Brit, in the bar at the hotel for the British and business men. Pete gets offered a job.
When he accepts he is immediately drawn into a viscous cauldron of lies and deceit, artifact smuggling, spies and ex-spies, beautiful women and corrupt police. You know, the standard stuff that happens on any given day in North Africa.
The plot is rapid paced with bullets and knives everywhere. Pete never knows who to trust as seemingly every character would gladly stab any other at any given moment, just for the fun of it. The scenes of Pete in the desert among the tombs is very memerable.
The entirety of the book feels very set in the time post war with characters that might have walked out of a Graham Greene or Helen McInnes novel. While reading this almost seventy years after bring first published you might find it derivative, but remember, this book came before them and set a high bar for what followed.
Thieves Fall Out was first published in the 1950s using the pseudonym Cameron Kay. ( )

I read this because Gore Vidal was the author. I think I will skip his other three hard boiled pulp men's crime novels though. Its the genre, not the quality per se that doesn't appeal. The cover art is enticing and the quality of the construction of the volume was good except that the cover began to split from the spine after a few days reading. There was a typo on p.164, "is" for "his" and another, "be" for "he" on the following page. Overall it showed the competence of a successful professional writer. ( )

4 stars

"Thieves Fall Out" is a fast read that places the reader in post-WWII Egypt, which was still considered an exotic and fascinating locale. In this book, Egypt is a hotbed of intrigue left over from the war. There is corruption everywhere, along with a fortune in ancient treasure just waiting to be plundered. There's revolution brewing in the air, as well. Not exactly a safe place for a foreigner.

The main character, Peter Wells, is a jack-of-all-trades with some military background. When his oil scheme in the States fails, he catches a freighter to Egypt to try to take advantage of other opportunities, but he gets rolled following an evening that included several shots of absinthe. Without a penny left to his name, he begins to seek out locations where schemes are hatched and gets more than he bargained for.

What follows is a story of a guy getting roped into intrigue he doesn't understand in a land where he can trust no one. In proper noir fashion, no one is on the up-and-up: the police are crooked, the women are definitely of the femme-fatale variety, and he is threatened at every twist and turn.

Gore Vidal originally published this under the pen name Cameron Kay, and it was promptly shelved in old used bookstores. Allegedly, Vidal never planned to re-release this one.

Thanks to Hard Case Crime, it has been re-released. Plot-wise, it is one of those books where the reader is left in the dark as much as the protagonist as to what is really going on. It is obviously not deep literature. Don't open this with high expectations and you will enjoy it as a quick fun read. It is an early novel from a writer who went on to successfully hone his writing skills and develop his craft. It's simply one of those quick-reading novels that you can sit back and enjoy in a few moments of escapism and excitement. ( )

"Thieves Fall Out" is a fun, fast read that transports the reader to post WWII Egypt, which, when this was written in the fifties, was still considered an exotic and fascinating locale. Egypt, in this book, is a hotbed of intrigue and spies left over from the war. There is corruption and deceit everywhere you look and a fortune in ancient treasure just waiting to be plucked. And, there's revolution brewing in the air. Not exactly the safest place for an American.

Peter Wells is a kind of jack of all trades with military training and boxing know-how. When he gets pushed out of an oil scheme in the States, he catches a freighter to Egypt, thinking there would be opportunities in oil there, but he gets rolled following a good drinking evening and, with not a penny left to his name, resorts to seeking out a bar/hotel where schemes are plotted and, in the process gets more than he bargained for.

What follows is a story of an innocent guy getting roped into intrigue he doesn't understand and a land where he can't fathom who to trust. Why are they sending him into the desert? What are they after? Who is on his side and who isn't?

It's release is somewhat controversial as it was originally published under a pen name Kay Cameron and promptly assigned to dusty paperback racks in used bookstores. Allegedly, Vidal never planned to re-release this one. But, it has been re-released and it is a smoothly written, action packed, entertaining read. It's basically more of a spy or adventure novel than a Hardboiled novel. Plotwise, it is one of those books where the reader is left in the dark as much as the protagonist as to what is really going on.

It may not be overly literary in scope and it is certainly not one of Hard Case Crime's best selections. Don't open this with overly high expectations and you will enjoy it as a quick fun read. It is an early novel from a writer who went on to hone and develop his craft. It's simply one of those quick reading novels that you can sit back and enjoy. ( )