Brighton Rock
First published 1938 · English · 352 pages
- Novels
- Mystery and crime
- Thriller and suspense
Set in the seaside town of Brighton in the 1930s, this novel follows Pinkie, a teenage gang leader with a cold, fierce nature, after a killing that he hopes to cover up. A cheerful, stubborn woman named Ida Arnold takes an interest in the matter and begins to pursue the truth. Greene combines crime story and moral drama, setting ideas of good and evil, mercy and justice against a grimy world of racecourses, boarding houses and hired violence.
Quotes
[Re Hale] He only felt his loneliness after his third gin.
[Ida] "...It's a good world if you don't weaken."
… it was the little things which tripped you up.
[Priest at Hale's cremation] "...our brother is at this moment reabsorbed in the universal spirit."