Street of No Return

More Roman noir from David Goodis, the poet of the losers.

Michael Rogers - Library Journal

Goodis is one of those hard-boiled guys whose works falls somewhere in the middle of the totem pole. He's not in a league with Raymond Chandler, but he's not a bum either-he's probably shoulder to shoulder with someone like Jim Thompson. Goodis's 1947 Nightfallis considered one of his best. Equally good and nasty, Street of No Return(1954) also reveals society's underbelly. Along with the full novels, each of these Millipede reprints includes a Goodis short story and introduction ("The Blue Sweetheart," intro by Bill Pronzini for Nightfall; "Black Pudding," intro by Robert Polito in Street). Good-is stuff.

Known as the poet of the losers, David Goodis (1917-1967) was an elusive, reclusive man. At his death he was living in obscurity with no living family. Few photographs of him exist. Dark Passage was his first major work, published in 1946, and opted for a Hollywood film with Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall.