Deadline at Dawn was written in the 1940s, during that incredible period when Cornell Woolrich released one memorable novel of suspense after another. Some he wrote under the Woolrich name, others William Irish, still others George Hopely. He was so prolific he feared glutting the market. Woolrich was in essence a romantic, which is why he had originally — and with some success — set out to become the next Fitzgerald.

Woolrich's sense of romanticism, and wishing it could be a certain way, but knowing it often wasn’t, led to a theme running through the most talked about novels in his oeuvre. In many of Woolrich’s finest efforts, fate and destiny were forces which couldn't be overcome, no matter how desperately the protagonist tried. There was a rainbow at the end, but often the protagonist couldn't reach it, and get out of the jam. Why? Because fate was laughing at him, dooming him.

If Night Has a Thousand Eyes exemplified Woolrich's overwhelming sense of fatalism in this part of his oeuvre, then Deadline at Dawn exemplified the romanticism; the hope that somehow, once in a blue moon, a guy and a girl could fight fate and win. Maybe.

Darkly romantic and deeply involving, New York City becomes a living thing in Deadline at Dawn. The city is a Woolrich extension of fate working against two little people in a jam. To say that Deadline at Dawn is about a young man who has made a mistake, and a cynical yet secretly soft-hearted dance hall girl who decides to help him try to fix it, is like saying Lonesome Dove is about a couple of old Texas Rangers making a cattle drive. Neither description can convey the tenderness, beauty, and heartfelt moments that stay with us long after the final page is turned.

After finishing this novel, I had the same feeling as when finishing Remarque’s Three Comrades, and The Night in Lisbon; I knew I had just read something wonderful. As in many Woolrich novels, there is much detail and description, a gradual building of suspense. Everything takes place as a race against the clock, an effort to stave off doom for the protagonists. Also, as in many Woolrich tales, the reader is drawn into their plight, and into their souls. We are aching for them to succeed, and give fate a kick in the pants.

First it’s trying to fix a moment of weakness, then get out from under a murder charge before anyone finds the body. But ultimately, Deadline at Dawn is a lovely novel which happens to be suspenseful. It is an exciting and moving story of two “little” people fighting a city that doesn’t care about them, has changed them in ways they don’t like, is laughing at them as they try to fix things and catch a bus back home before it’s too late.

Woolrich once wrote that he didn’t think he was a very good writer, he just wrote the truth. His reputation, and the respect among great writers like Bradbury and Chandler for his work, would suggest that he was undervaluing his place in literary history. While some of his other novels are more famous, and more heralded, I believe that it was in Deadline at Dawn that a writer who was more than just good, but truly great, actually told the truth.

A wonderful, involving read. It's dense, rather than bloated, so it will take some getting used to for the "modern" reader. Both a mystery and suspense story, it is about so much more. A masterpiece that's now available on Kindle, from a guy who wrote a slew of them. A must read, and probably my favorite among his big novels. ( )

Deadline at Dawn was written in the 1940s, during that incredible period when Cornell Woolrich released one memorable novel of suspense after another. Some he wrote under the Woolrich name, others William Irish, still others George Hoply. He was so prolific he feared glutting the market.

Woolrich was in essence a romantic, which is why he had originally — and with some success — set out to become the next Fitzgerald. The author's sense of romanticism, and a kind of soft-boiled sentimentality (he never wrote a truly hardboiled story) of protagonists wishing things could be a certain way, but knowing they often weren’t, led to a theme running through his most successful and legendary novels. In many of Woolrich’s finest efforts, fate and destiny were forces which couldn't be overcome, no matter how desperately the protagonist tried. There was a rainbow at the end, but often the protagonist couldn't reach it, and get out of the jam. Why? Because fate was laughing at him, dooming him.

If Night Has a Thousand Eyes exemplifies Woolrich's overwhelming sense of fatalism in this part of his oeuvre, then Deadline at Dawn exemplifies the romanticism many critics ignore. That sentimentality, the hope that somehow, once in a blue moon, a guy and a girl could fight fate and win, is at its most palpable in Deadline at Dawn.

Darkly romantic and deeply involving, New York City becomes a living thing in this novel. The city is a Woolrich extension of fate working against two little people in a jam. To say that Deadline at Dawn is about a young man who has made a mistake, and a cynical yet secretly soft-hearted dance hall girl who decides to help him try to fix it, is like saying Lonesome Dove is about a couple of old Texas Rangers making a cattle drive. Neither description can convey the tenderness, beauty, and heartfelt moments that stay with us long after the final page is turned.

After finishing this novel, I had the same feeling as when finishing Remarque’s Three Comrades, and The Night in Lisbon; I knew I had just read something wonderful. As in many Woolrich novels, there is much detail and description, a gradual building of suspense. Everything takes place as a race against the clock, an effort to stave off doom for the protagonists. Also, as in many Woolrich tales, the reader is drawn into their plight, and into their souls. We are aching for them to succeed, and give fate a kick in the pants.

First it’s trying to fix a moment of weakness, then get out from under a murder charge before anyone finds the body. But ultimately, Deadline at Dawn is a lovely novel which happens to be suspenseful. It is an exciting and moving story of two “little” people fighting a city that doesn’t care about them, has changed them in ways they don’t like, is laughing at them as they try to fix things and catch a bus back home before it’s too late.

Woolrich once wrote that he didn’t think he was a very good writer, he just wrote the truth. His reputation, and the respect among great writers like Bradbury and Chandler for his work, would suggest that he was greatly undervaluing his place in literary history. While some of his "Black" titled books written in the aforementioned stretch at the beginning of this review are more heralded, Deadline at Dawn, also written during that period, outshines them in some ways. I tend to believe that it was in Deadline at Dawn that a writer who was more than just good, but great, actually told the truth.

A wonderful and involving read, despite its length. It's dense, rather than bloated, and Woolrich's prose takes some getting used to for the modern reader. Both a mystery story and a novel of suspense, it is about much more than just those things. Deadline at Dawn is a type of masterpiece, from a guy who wrote a slew of great reads; both short stories and novels. It's great that this fine novel is finally available on Kindle. A must read for Woolrich fans, and probably my all-time favorite among his novels. ( )

Deadline at Dawn was written in the 1940s, during that incredible period when Cornell Woolrich released one memorable novel of suspense after another. Some he wrote under the Woolrich name, others William Irish, still others George Hopely. He was so prolific he feared glutting the market. Woolrich was in essence a romantic, which is why he had originally — and with some success — set out to become the next Fitzgerald.

Woolrich's sense of romanticism, and wishing it could be a certain way, but knowing it often wasn’t, led to a theme running through the most talked about novels in his oeuvre. In many of Woolrich’s finest efforts, fate and destiny were forces which couldn't be overcome, no matter how desperately the protagonist tried. There was a rainbow at the end, but often the protagonist couldn't reach it, and get out of the jam. Why? Because fate was laughing at him, dooming him.

If Night Has a Thousand Eyes exemplified Woolrich's overwhelming sense of fatalism in this part of his oeuvre, then Deadline at Dawn exemplified the romanticism, the hope that somehow, once in a blue moon, a guy and a girl could fight fate and win. Maybe.

Darkly romantic and deeply involving, New York City becomes a living thing in Deadline at Dawn. The city is a Woolrich extension of fate working against two little people in a jam. To say that Deadline at Dawn is about a young man who has made a mistake, and a cynical yet secretly soft-hearted dance hall girl who decides to help him try to fix it, is like saying Lonesome Dove is about a couple of old Texas Rangers making a cattle drive. Neither description can convey the tenderness, beauty, and heartfelt moments that stay with us long after the final page is turned.

After finishing this novel, I had the same feeling as when finishing Remarque’s Three Comrades, and The Night in Lisbon; I knew I had just read something wonderful. As in many Woolrich novels, there is much detail and description, a gradual building of suspense. Everything takes place as a race against the clock, an effort to stave off doom for the protagonists. Also, as in many Woolrich tales, the reader is drawn into their plight, and into their souls. We are aching for them to succeed, and give fate a kick in the pants.

First it’s trying to fix a moment of weakness, then get out from under a murder charge before anyone finds the body. But ultimately, Deadline at Dawn is a lovely novel which happens to be suspenseful. It is an exciting and moving story of two “little” people fighting a city that doesn’t care about them, has changed them in ways they don’t like, is laughing at them as they try to fix things and catch a bus back home before it’s too late.

Woolrich once wrote that he didn’t think he was a very good writer, he just wrote the truth. His reputation, and the respect among great writers like Bradbury and Chandler for his work, would suggest that he was undervaluing his place in literary history. While Night Has a Thousand Eyes is more heralded — and still in print — and is one of his most brilliant works during that aforementioned stretch at the beginning of this review, I prefer to believe that it was in Deadline at Dawn that a writer who was more than just good, but great, actually told the truth.

A wonderful, involving read. It's dense, rather than bloated, so takes some getting used to for the modern reader. Both a mystery and suspense story, it is about so much more. A masterpiece, from a guy who wrote a slew of them. A must read, and probably my favorite among his novels.

** Adding an update to make people aware that this terrific, hard-to-find Woolrich novel is finally available on Kindle! ** ( )

A book that grew on me as I read it. At first I didn't know what to think. The plot was too unbelievable for even Woolrich, too many turns of fate, the Deus ex machina on every other page. I finally realized it was all allegory. Fantasy isn't believable either but we somehow still believe that wizards show up at the right time to save the day. So this is noir fantasy all the more potent for being in a world we can somewhat relate to.

Now that that's behind us, what now? Deadline is a noir Wizard of Oz with New York as a sort of a hellish Oz. In fact the City is another character constantly standing in the way of the protagonists and trying to thwart them getting back to Kansas (Iowa here) at every turn. The novel drips with allegory; it's drenched in it. Page after page of the grimmest fairy tale imaginable. The story is a modernist Gothic.

Things start out small as these things usually do even in real life. One little sin, then a lie, then we're on the slippery slope to hell, forced by paranoia to concoct and conduct still more damning words and actions to get out of the next jam. In this mess Bricky sees some sort of kindred spirit (Is it pity? Love at first sight?) in the hapless Quinn. In any case she ties her fate inextricably to his: find out who killed the McGuffin, Stevens, and get on the bus to Iowa by 6 am. There are more dead ends and cul de sacs than a high class gated neighborhood. Paranoia and suspense follows every step as Bricky and Quinn break up to try to find half of the puzzle.

And clocks, always the clocks reminding Bricky and Quinn (and us) of the 6 am deadline.

Bricky presents one of the few really strong female characters in noir. When she casts her lot with the hapless and desperate Quinn she also takes the reins and directs most of the choices the two make from then on.

A swell read... ( )

I came across the name Cornell Woolrich by listening to Harlan Ellison talk about one of his short stories "Sad Old Man". It is based on a meeting Ellison had with Woolrich – one of his writing idols. Based on a quite effusive recommendation, I searched for some of Woolrich's work.

I finally found a few and, stabbing in the dark (there is a pun there if you know Woolrich's work) I started with this book.

I am absolutely blown away by the writing skill exhibited in the book. Never before have a read a first paragraph, read it again, and then reread it one more time just because the prose was so phenomenal.

And throughout the book, I would be reading along and suddenly be stopped dead by the beauty of the turn of a phrase. And the detail and description within the book is the definition of noir.

The plot is good enough. A couple meets and, because of events within the young man's life, feels that, if they do not turn things around by morning, they will never get another chance. What brings them together is a bit of a reach. And I'm not convinced people would act exactly as they do here, they would not have the sense of fatalism that pervades the situation. (Then again, that might also be the scourge of time.)

But that prose, those beautiful words. I could give you examples, but I won't. You go out there. You read it. You find them. And you be smacked back in your chair the same way I was. ( )