Night and Fear: A Centenary Collection of Stories

It's easy to see why Woolrich is considered a pioneer--as in first, or nearly so--of the noir mystery genre. His prose is terse, clean, with few if any throwaway or mere transition sentences or paragraphs. Nor does he employ much dialogue, preferring mainly description to tell his stories; dialogue generally gives the reader respite from deduction. In which sense this book of short stories is not for everyone, because it requires an attentive reader, one willing to enter the detailed flow of the writer's simple but elegant prose. On top of which, Woolrich is what I call a sensory writer (in the Jungian sense of psychological types). His descriptions present sounds, smells, light and dark and colors ... Not that he can't sum up a state of mind with a memorable turn of phrase. He certainly can. But this too requires attention: you never know when one of his descriptive gems will come. This book was my introduction to Woolrich, and I look forward to seeing what he can do at novelistic length. I Think, Therefore Who Am I?

Published in 2004 to commemorate the centenary of Cornell Woolrich's birth, `Night and Fear" contains 14 short stories that had not, until now, been included in any anthology of his work. In the Introduction editor Francis M. Nevins says of Woolrich, `He was the Poe of the twentieth century and the poet of its shadows.' And that, in my opinion, pretty much nails it. Although, of course, there are differences. Poe's tales always seem to take place in drafty mansions dimly lit by guttering candles, his characters slowly going mad by morbid introspection. Woolrich's characters, on the other hand, are out in and a part of the larger world. Creeping madness is not what threatens them. Rather it's freakish, capricious Chance that will put a valuable string of diamonds in a sugar bowl at a table in a greasy spoon diner. At your table. It's the malevolent Chance that sends the death dealing thug, who had been frantically looking for that hot ice before you chanced upon it, out to your side in the shadows of that diner. To paraphrase Mr. Nevins again, the typical Woolrich hero cannot move forward, or backward, or even stand still. According to a web site that usually gets such things right, Woolrich's stories have been made into movies sixty-six times, probably most successfully with Alfred Hitchcock's 1954 Rear Window. He has often been called, along with Raymond Chandler, the `father of noir.' There's a breathless, fast-paced quality to many, most, of the stories in this collection that make them seem natural for a cinematic treatment. As a rule the setting is urban, the characters are flawed and danger is imminent. In other words, a typical noir setting. Most of the stories are taken from pulp magazines and, as far as I can tell, probably won't hold up to great critical scrutiny. You can only stretch credibility so far until it snaps, and Woolrich doesn't seem to know or much care about its breaking point. That flaw, if it is a flaw, didn't bother me much. I enjoyed these stories immensely.

When I was a boy I loved Cornell Woolrich and I'm old enough to remember Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine publishing "For the Rest of her Life" and "New York Blues." I was shocked when he died, straight off the twin triumphs of "The Dark Side of Love" and "Ten Faces of Cornell Woolrich." Now as I read the stories Mr. Nevins has collected for "Night and Fear," I'm a little puzzled as to why I loved him so much as a youngster, but out of respect to my memories I give this book five stars. I think frankly the collections CW published while he was alive have a bit more authenticity, even if the biography explains how different editors and publishers chose the arrangement of those books even more than did Woolrich himself. And then again Nevins really wants to sell the "Noir" angle on Woolrich, and thus downplaying the gay pastoral fabulist of something like "Stranglers Serenade" or "The Black Path of Fear." Indeed no one but a gay man could have written the famous "Black Curtain," nor the fragment of a novel that Lawrence Block later completed, "Into the Night." However that's just my two cents and reflects probably my own dark vision as much as anything of Woolrich's."Night and Fear" collects a whole bunch of pulp fiction that truly has some serious ups and downs, but when Woolrich is hot (as in "Cigarette" or the aforementioned "New York Blues", he is smoking! Good work to all concerned. I hope there are further collections, for the barrel has been bottomed out yet.

Aaahhh, Cornell Woolrich! How could anyone not love this guy? He ranks right up there with James M. Cain, Dashell Hammett, and Raymond Chandler as one of the godfathers of pitch black noir. Unfortunately, Woolrich's voluminous short stories and his many novels for the most part remain out of print. No excuse exists to merit such blatant disrespect. Happily, Woolrich biographer and all around noir fan Frances M. Nevins agrees, and that is why he assembled fourteen of the man's gems in "Night & Fear." You won't find any Woolrich novellas, like "Rendezvous in Black" or "I Married a Dead Man" here, but you will discover stories that crackle with despondency, murder, crooked cops, and suspense drawn out to knuckle cracking heights. The book also contains one of the most enthusiastic, insightful introductions I have ever seen in a fiction collection, an introduction from Nevins that puts Woolrich's life into crystal clear focus from his earliest, schmaltzy novels to his later forays into the depths of the bleakest noir and pulp fiction. If this foreword is any indication, Cornell Woolrich lived his life veering from one dank depression to another. He worshipped his mother, drank incessantly, and kept his true sexuality repressed. It was an overriding fear of his own mortality, however, that fueled his desolate visions. Sad to say, but Woolrich's miseries have given generations of fans of the genre something to sing about ever since.The first story in the collection, the appropriately entitled "Cigarette," sets a tone that will continue to the final pages of the book. A dupe working for a crime boss must carry out a mission involving a poisoned cigarette. Predictably, the hapless hero of the story botches the job, requiring him to race around the city in a mad dash to find the tainted smoke before his malevolent boss discovers the mistake. I knew how the story would end a few pages in, but that's beside the point. What's important is seeing how Woolrich will get us there. Following closely on the heels of "Cigarette" is "The Heavy Sugar," a frightening account of an out of work transient who finds a surprise in the sugar pot at a coffee house, and who must then figure out how to contact the cops before the men responsible close in for the kill. "Death in the Yoshiwara," set in Japan, follows the exploits of a sailor turned detective as he attempts to help an American woman beat a murder rap. "The Case of the Killer-Diller," "Through a Dead Man's Eye," and "New York Blues" all deal to some extent with the most heinous of crimes and how "murder will out" every time. "Through a Dead Man's Eye" is the best story in the book as we follow the son of a cop pursuing a murderer. "New York Blues," according to the date of publication, may well be Woolrich's final story. It's a whirlwind of sight and sound as a man awaits the authorities in a secluded hotel room.The book contains several tales labeled "Noir Cop." According to Nevins, Woolrich's police stories em

(First, a correction. There are fourteen stories in this collection, not twenty.)Cornell Woolrich was America's best suspense author, spinning out for the pulps a string of dark noir tales that pulse with fear, dread, and paranoia. He can put the fear of death into you so that your hands shake as you read the page. But he can also move you to tears with his deep sense of human tragedy and emotional devastation. There never was anyone like him, and if you've never read him -- you have no idea what genius you are missing.This volume contains a number of gems never before published in book form, so for Woolrich fans, this is a must buy. New readers may wish to begin with the collection "Rear Window," but will still get a great Woolrich experience with this collection.Here are the contents:1. Cigarette2. Double Feature3. The Heavy Sugar4. Blue is for Bravery5. You Bet Your Life6. Death in the Yoshiwara7. Endicott's Girl8. Detective William Brown9. The Case of the Killer-Diller10. Through a Dead Man's Eye11. The Fatal Footlights12. Three Kills for One13. The Death Rose14. New York BluesAll the stories are great (the editor is a Woolrich expert and knows what works), but here are some of the stand-outs. "Endicott's Girl," which Woolrich once listed as his personal favorite story, is an emotional wringer about a cop who begins to suspect that his beloved teenage daughter is a murderer. Obsessed cops also populate "Three Kills for One" and "Detective William Brown." The first story is bizarre, disturbing, and edging on the psychotic -- I'm so glad this collection is making it easily available again. "Cigarette" will have you on the edge of your reading chair as a poison cigarette is passed from person to person -- who will finally take the fatal puff? "Double Feature" and "Death in the Yoshiwara" are action packed suspensers.But the best tale is the last one, "New York Blues." It might have been Woolrich's last story, and it's a fitting end. It's almost abstract, plotless, but filled with pain and fear and a sense of impending doom that is impossible to shake. You will never forget this story.Editor Francis M. Nevins offers an informative introduction which will bring new readers into Woolrich's life and world (both very depressing places). He also offers epilogues to each story to help place them in Woolrich's canon, and shed light on his work.NIGHT AND FEAR -- buy it. Get yout friends to buy it. Let's get more Woolrich in print. And watch for his best novel, "Rendezvous in Black," coming back into print in March!