Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye (Midnight Classics) [Paperback]

Horace McCoy (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 1, 1996 | Series: Midnight Classics

The classic novel of the Dillinger era in America "Love as hot as a blow torch . . . crime as vicious as the jungle" (from the original 1948 edition)

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

McCoy's hard-boiled thriller was published by Random in 1948. The plot follows its thoroughly ruthless criminal protagonist from a chain gang escape through his rejoining a band of crooks and reentering a life of crime. The book was filmed in 1950, with veteran tough guy Jimmy Cagney in the lead. A gritty, gutsy thriller.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Kirkus Reviews

This once-famous noir novel (by the author of They Shoot Horses, Don't They?) was originally published in 1948 and inspired an excellent (and long neglected) James Cagney film. In a grating and deliberately stiff style that reflects his arrogant egotism, college-educated ``Ralph Cotter'' (his alias) relates the story of his escape from a prison farm, involvement with willing and dangerous women, and complicity with a corrupt establishment dominated by crooked cops and lawyers that he thinks he can bend to his own invincible will. Cotter is a pugnacious, violently sensual Middle American Raskolnikov, and his remorseless amorality resonates as chillingly today as it must have 50 years ago. Aficionados of hard-boiled fiction who think that Hammett, Cain, and Jim Thompson set the standard ought to take a look at Horace McCoy. -- Copyright ©1997, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Product Details

• Paperback: 250 pages
• Publisher: Serpent's Tail (December 1, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1852424338
• ISBN-13: 978-1852424336
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #441,893 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars He's Bad All Over, August 19, 2003

By 

Untouchable (Sydney, NSW Australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye (Midnight Classics) (Paperback)

This is a first-rate gangster book told in the first person from the perspective of Ralph Cotter, a thoroughly evil man. It's a terrific example of noir fiction. It's violent, gritty and tough, exploring the dark underbelly of a corrupt city.

Beginning with a prison breakout and re-establishment back into his life of crime, Ralph proves to be a violent, self-centred man. His life revolves around making money, and if that means robbery and murder is involved, then so be it. He is joined by Holiday, a jealous, suspicious and spiteful gangster's moll of low-morals who is prepared to sleep with any man who walks through her door, and Jinx, a small time crook happy to hang on to the coattails of Ralph's criminal genius. They are all a group of criminals who are anything but reliable, willing to rat each other out for any price.

The unnamed city in which the book is set is filled with corruption, from the criminals themselves to the crooked cops who police it. The grab for money is intense and morals are non-existent.

As with all noir stories, there are no good or nice characters, most of them are pretty repugnant people, and there is no chance of even a remotely happy ending.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Slam tough noir, June 24, 2002

By 

LGwriter "SharpWitGuy" (Astoria, N.Y. United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye (Midnight Classics) (Paperback)

Here's a 1948 hardboiled novel that almost reads like it could have been written yesterday. Not quite, but almost. It's the real McCoy, not a fake. The words are hard as nails--occasionally dipped in acid and that makes this all the more what it's spozed to be.

Take a con who's Ivy League educated and has warped aspirations of making himself as corrupt as possible. Yeah, do that, and at the same time, let him keep his three-dollar words to throw in when he feels like it, when he wants to prove--to himself, mostly--that he's a hell of a lot more educated than the guys he 'admires': Alvin Karpis, Pretty Boy Floyd, John Dillinger. It's a potent mix, and McCoy does it up just right. The language is not stupid; it's perfect, reflecting the main character (Ralph Cotter)'s twisted psyche. Everything's from his point of view.

You got your shysters, your corrupt cops, your wicked women. Oh yeah, you got 'em, all right, but when they're in the picture, the dialogue snaps like a wet Coney Island towel wielded by a wiseguy.

You wanna good read that reminds you of American knowhow--as in I know how to push your buttons, buddy? I know how to give you a story that tells you about the things Americans think about, but don't talk about.

This is it. This is an egg whose shell you can't break. That's how hardboiled this is.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Compelling reading., February 9, 2005

By 

Michael G. "mikefromrochester" (Rochester, NY United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye (Midnight Classics) (Paperback)

Fiction doesn't get any more noir than Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye. It's a gangster tale told by a gangster. And not just any gangster at that.
Ralph Cotter is evil incarnate. He's an amoral criminal who kills in cold blood. But unlike most other murdering thugs, Cotter is a cultured, educated man. His Phi Beta Kappa key is probably the last thing he ever came by honestly. To make everyone aware of his intellectual superiority, he freely uses five dollar vocabulary words and regularly makes obscure references to the classics.
Following a harrowing escape from a prison work farm, Cotter shacks up with a slutty gun moll named Holiday. It doesn't take him long to find corrupt police officials he can blackmail into doing his bidding. And his charming demeanor allows him to become romantically involved with the obscenely wealthy daughter of an ex-governor.
Is the plot of Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye a believable one? Of course not. I doubt it was meant to be. This is an allegorical novel. A fairy tale for adults, if you will. The novel's strength lies in its ability to convey certain truths about human fallability through the very detailed and astute introspection of the repugnant but fascinating narrator.
Both Cotter and the book itself have an overpowering audacity that makes for very compelling reading. Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye is an original work of crime fiction that embraces the noir tradition and takes it to a whole new level. Highly recommended.