You're lonely when you're dead [Unknown Binding]

James Hadley Chase (Author)

Product Details

• Unknown Binding: 245 pages
• Publisher: Duell, Sloan and Pearce (1950)
• Language: English
• ASIN: B0007E5JAU
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #6,680,836 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

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A very good murder mystery, September 16, 2005

By 

Ruchir Saurabh "San" (India) - See all my reviews

This review is from: You're lonely when you're dead

James Hadley Chase was London-born children's encyclopedia salesman and book wholesaler. He was inspired by American crime writers and wrote his first book "No Orchids for Miss Blandish" which was published in 1939 and still claimed to be one of the best selling mysteries ever published. He published some 80 books and a number of his books were attacked for their violence.

"You're Lonely When You're Dead" builds a mystery of a series of murder which is finally broken down by an intelligent detective. The story is woven around a millionaire's wife who is suspected of kleptomania. It begins one sunny morning around 11'o clock in mid-March. Mr. Vic Malloy, head of Universal Services, goes to meet a millionaire, Mr. Jay Franklin Cerf, who hires him to watch his wife, Anita Cerf, whom he suspects of kleptomania. Malloy appoints one of his operator, Dana Lewis, for the job but she was found dead after a few days of work. The millionaire's wife also vanishes. As Universal services guaranteed secrecy, Malloy had to beat the cops to the murderer.

The novel introduces us to a number of characters. Natalia Cerf, Cerf's daughter, who is in a wheel chair after meeting with an accident, Ceaser Mills, the millionaire's guard, who was a boxer and then disappeared suddenly, Brandon who is captain and Mufflin who is a cop. The Malloy's operators are Dana Lewis, Jack Kerman, Paula Bensinger and Ed Benny. The author introduces one more gorgeous lady, Miss Gail Bolus, who was the only person helping and swore she was just going along for the ride.

At the centre of the Chase's novel is Anita Cerf who disappears after the Dana's murder. When Cerf threatens to sue Malloy if he goes to the police, Malloy decided to play a lone hand find the killer. He was caught up in a series of ruthless murders and macabre situations that succeed each other with the punch and at the speed of a rivet gun. All the leads he got were found dead before he reached there.

Chase has a unique style on which his explanation of the situations and plot development makes the reader create original thought feel himself in that situation. Due to in depth description, an inexperienced reader may find himself too lost in his description and loose the storyline in the process. The narrator always distances himself from any and all characters, yet reveals the thoughts, feelings and emotions of each of them through the course of the novel.

Chase's masterpiece has such lucid characters and precise attention to emotional details to construct a clever plot that is both witty and thought provoking. In addition to its specifically literary virtues, it is a wonderfully edgy thriller.