Customer Reviews

Get Carter (Storysound)

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Originally titled "Jack's Return Home", this stellar crime novel became a smash hit in the 70's due to the popularity of the film version of it starring Michael Caine. A lesser film version came out a few decades later with Stallone in the lead role. Both movies have their good qualities, though the Caine version is glaringly superior and much more like the novel.

In this, his second novel (his first one being the sorrowful, art-school love affair story entitled "All the Way Home and All the Night Through"), author Ted Lewis crafts a powerful crime drama in which there are no heroes. There are only villians doing wrong and other villains doing right in wrong ways.

The story begins with loan shark collector/hit-man Jack Carter coming back to his home town to investigate the death of his estranged brother. There is depth in the fact the two had not spoken in many years prior to the demise and yet Jack insists on looking into it and paying his respects. See, Frank Carter, his brother, dies in a car wreck due to drunk driving. But he didn't drink.

This search through the underbelly of the town sends Jack clashing with all sorts of crooked tycoons and low-life hoods from his past. Lewis' writting is tense when needed, over-all dark and gloomy, and filled with breathless emotion. Though Jack is a hard man, his hardness has been molded about him, poisoning him since youth, and the reader gets to delve deep into his troubled soul as he releases all the wrath of his vengeance, doing so in the name of his family, even though he is sacrificing everything he has in the process.

I don't want to give anything away, so I'll just say that the reasons behind Jack's brother's death are odious and give even more cause for revenge. The nobility of Jack's cause makes the book somewhat like a western in this manner. There is intense violence in the book and yet at the same time there is incredible poetry to it all, particularly in the stunning ending (which was changed in both film versions).

I think this book is a must read for all fans of dark literature, noir and crime fiction. Ted Lewis was one of the most visionary voices in fiction before he passed away pre-maturely, and his other works, particularly BOLDT, GBH, and PLENDER, are also works of genius in the world of gritty revenge tales.

I wanted to read this book because I loved both films that were made upon it: Mike Hodges's Get Carter (1971) and Stephen Kay's Get Carter (2000). These films are very different, so I wouldn't call the second one a "remake" just because sir Michael Caine was cast in both (and delivered good performances, as usual).
Back to the novel: it wasn't too easy for me to read it, because english is not my mother's language, but I've succeeded and I liked it a lot. I've no idea into how many languages was translated so far (not in romanian, that's for sure), but they should consider, it's really good stuff. There's only one remark: it should never be renamed "Get Carter"; the original title "Jack's return home" was good enough, plus that I hate the idea of renaming things, especially for commercial reasons.

This book has been made into a movie twice (One good, one excellent), I prefer the book. Jack Carter (an gang enforcer)comes home for his brother's funeral, and decides there is something fishy about his death. While the brothers have been estranged for years Carter has a code he lives by. Anything else would be a spoiler. Read the book. Noir at its best. If I lose this book I will certainly replace it, and I will look for other books by the Author Ted Lewis.

Bit of a bore I'm afraid. If you've seen the movie, you know that not a whole-helluva-lot happens for the first half (read: 150 pages!), and by that time - if you're as impatient as I - you'll give up on it. Like I did.

Take two measures Richard Stark, one measure Derek Raymond, add a dash of Jim Thompson, and chill the mixture to just above freezing. That's Jack's Return Home. It is a very cold thrill to watch Jack work his way through the cesspools of his hometown, playing villain against villain in search of the people who wronged his brother Frank.

As one negative review mentioned, the burn is slow for the first half of the book. If you can't appreciate that, you should leave the hard stuff for the grown-ups.

Very strange movie; hard to follow. I read the book first and still had trouble figuring out what was going on!