Brighton Rock

Brighton Rock is one of Graham Greene’s darkest and most unsettling novels, one that begins as a gangster thriller and builds to explore religious themes and the nature of good and evil. The story focuses on two primary characters: Pinkie Brown, a 17-year-old Brighton thug who commits two murders and then marries a naïve woman (Rose) to prevent her from testifying against him; and Ida Arnold, an amateur detective who tries to bring down Pinkie and save Rose. The narrative is bleak and helpless, as the Catholic-raised Pinkie has comprehensively turned to a life of menacing evil. “He wasn’t made for peace, he couldn’t believe in it. Heaven was a word. Hell was something he could trust.” Highly recommended.