David Goodis’s Dark Passage is most famous today because of the WB film starring Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall. Goodis sold the rights to film it for $25,000 and secured for himself immortality by doing so. To those who read, however, and especially those who enjoy a good crime noir, Goodis’s name would be known and bandied about during discussions of the genre, regardless.

Anyone familiar with the very good film based on the book knows that for the first forty minutes or so of the movie, we are in Parry’s (Bogart’s) shoes during the prison break and the ensuing escape. We never see Parry’s face during this portion of the film. Goodis’s entire novel is the equivalent of that portion of the film, the reader placed into Parry’s head, “hearing” him panic, reason out things, fight his fear and paranoia, and finally, figure out who killed his unfaithful wife and framed him for the murder.

Tightly constructed and narratively claustrophobic, Dark Passage is a unique narrative that won’t appeal to everyone. It is more likely to appeal to fans of the genre, and fans of the greatest writer of suspense, Cornell Woolrich. Goodis here seems to be influenced by Woolrich’s work. Parry even has an entire conversation in his head with his only friend, who has just been murdered, which is very Woolrichian.

One can almost picture Agnes Morehead as the shrill and annoying Madge Rapf, and Bacall as the lovely and lonely Irene, whose motives for helping Parry hide out at the outset, and later so that his face can heal when he has it altered, are at first unclear. Those motives will be seem more ambiguous for anyone who hasn’t seen the 40s film, but that’s not many.

There is loneliness here, and not just Parry’s, and there is that feeling of the little guy fighting against fate which permeated Woolrich’s work during this period. While Goodis doesn’t quite reach the level of Woolrich noir, this is very good, and there are moments when he comes close. A tricky and ultimately dooming confrontation with a guy referred to as Studebaker for much of the book, and the color of a car, set in motion an exciting conclusion. It is here, at the end, when Goodis throws the reader a Deadline at Dawn type of lifeline that makes this a memorable read.

While the narrative style of nearly every thought in Parry’s head can become too overblown at times, at other times it’s marvelous, both cerebrally claustrophobic and entertainingly mesmerizing. This seminal noir novel will have you looking up Patavilca, Peru on your globe, and wondering…

Because Goodis seemed to be channeling Woolrich, but didn’t quite reach that lofty plateau, this is 4.5 stars for me. But it is such a terrific read, I’m rounding up. A unique novel (unless you’ve read Woolrich), and like Woolrich, not for everyone. Fans of 1940s and '50s noir/suspense, however, must have a go at it to sample the full spectrum of what the genre has to offer. ( )

I almost feel ashamed that I have held onto this book so long without reading it. I loved every minute of it. Monomythic in scale with a heart of gold. Going right into my top 20.

Senda tenebrosa relata la historia de un hombre que, acusado de haber dado muerte a su mujer, es sentenciado a cadena perpetua y llevado al penal de San Quentin. Sin embargo, logra evadirse y ello significa el principio de la más azarosa y arriesgada aventura que pudiera concebir. A sus desesperados esfuerzos para demostrar su inocencia se enfrenta al unísono la justicia y la fuerza oscura que intenta impedir que sus descubrimientos pongan en peligro su propia seguridad

My first Goodis book and it was very satisfying. Very blunt storytelling... the innocent man escaping from prison, helped out by the dishy san francisco widow with hard characters all around. Some unusual writing style - like crack crack crack with the sentences. obvious / overkill probably but i think effective. nasty little number revealed to be behind it all. Extra bonus: just happened to catch the excellent movie adaptation of the book in the last month. Very faithful to book. ( )

Brilliant little novel about loneliness and identity disguised as crime fiction and mystery. Goodis stretches his stream of consciousness expressionism with talking corpses and other weirdness as escaped convict Vincent Parry sheds one identity after another. Parry initially gets so much bad luck that even when the breaks start coming he practically throws them away. He escapes San Quentin seemingly by accident or fate. Somehow his guardian angel keeps him from messing it all up too badly as he tries to stay out of the Big House or The Chair and stumbles around San Francisco sort of trying to find out who did kill his wife and best friend.

Made into an interesting film with Bogart and Bacall where Bogie is heard but never seen during the first half of the film due to a first person perspective and the necessity to keep the protagonist’s face hidden until after the plastic surgery. With special effects and sound looping this would probably be done differently today but the need to solve the cinematic problem back in the ‘40s ends up with a unique and effective solution. Makes the film particularly memorable. ( )