Creative Staff
Author: Gore Vidal, writing as Cameron Kay.
What They Say
ON THE EVE OF REVOLUTION, EGYPT IS A TINDERBOX.
WILL ONE AMERICAN LIGHT THE SPARK THAT SETS IT ABLAZE?
Gore Vidal was one of America’s greatest and most controversial writers. The author of twenty-three novels, five plays, three memoirs, numerous screenplays and short stories, and well over two hundred essays, he received the National Book Award in 1993.
In 1953, Vidal had already begun writing the works that would launch him to the top ranks of American authors and intellectuals. But in the wake of criticism for the scandalous content of his third novel, The City and the Pillar, Vidal turned to writing crime fiction under pseudonyms: three books as “Edgar Box” and one as “Cameron Kay.” The Edgar Box novels were subsequently republished under his real name. The Cameron Kay never was.
Lost for more than 60 years and overflowing with political and sexual intrigue, Thieves Fall Out provides a delicious glimpse into the mind of Gore Vidal in his formative years. By turns mischievous and deadly serious, Vidal tells the story of a man caught up in events bigger than he is, a down-on-his-luck American hired to smuggle an ancient relic out of Cairo at a time when revolution is brewing and heads are about to roll.
One part Casablanca and one part torn-from-the-headlines tabloid reportage, this novel also offers a startling glimpse of Egypt in turmoil — written over half a century ago, but as current as the news streaming from the streets of Cairo today.
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
It figures that the first Gore Vidal novel I read is one he wrote while he was slumming it.
Okay, that’s not quite fair, but compared to Vidal’s other work, this is decidedly more pulpy and less literary—which is just how I like it.
After the controversial City and the Pillar, Vidal wrote three crime novels under two pseudonyms, Edgar Box and Cameron Kay. While the Box novels were eventually reprinted under his own name, this is the first time for his Kay book, thanks to Hard Case Crime.
The novel begins with Pete Wells experiencing a fairly bad day. He wakes up, hungover, in his motel room in Cairo to the sound of someone pounding on his door. He opens it and is immediately accosted by an Egyptian woman demanding money for something. Pete manages to escape, but discovers that he lost his wallet. The American Consulate provides little help, and Pete makes his way to a bar, hoping to bum a drink off of some lonely drunk. At the bar, he runs into a man named Hastings, who not only buys him a drink, but offers him a job. It’s obviously shady, but Pete is a rough-and-tumble sort of guy, and has no problem with that.
His employers wait pretty late in the game to reveal the nature of Pete’s job. They instead provide him with vague instructions that send him to and fro from Cairo to Karnak: “Take the midnight train, and talk to the moor with the missing teeth at the station.” That sort of thing. During his stumbling, Pete encounters the beautiful French ex-spy Hélène; a corrupt, homosexual (much was made about this, which is the only reason why I mention it here) police officer named Mohammed Ali; and a beautiful, mysterious German ex-patriot named Anna who may provide him with a higher purpose than just making a profit.
While Pete serves as the story’s protagonist, the real star of this work is Egypt. The setting works as the novel’s greatest strength and weakness. Vidal does a fantastic job of making Cairo and Karnak feel real, while at the same time injecting them with a strong atmosphere of mystery and danger. The setting thrills and draws in the reader, but there are times when the novel shows its age in terms of how some groups of people are described. While one can forgive the use of the word “negro” to describe a character, the portrayal of Egypt and the Egyptians skirts the border of Orientalism. While the majority of the cast comprises people from other nationalities—American, French, and German—the Egyptians we do encounter are either corrupt and dangerous or are basically nonentities. There were no positive portrayals of Egyptians in this book.
This becomes a delicate issue, because only presenting a group of people in a positive or negative light leads to reifying them—taking away their humanity and making them a category, which is just another form of racism. Not every “minority” character should be a positive role model, but it does help if one or two serve that role because it then presents us with a nuanced take on a particular group and defies reification.
What saves Thieves Fall Out is its genre. Every character in a traditional crime novel is a despicable bastard in some way, shape, or form. Unlike straight up mysteries where the protagonist stands for order, reason, and law, crime fiction features morally ambiguous—at best—characters engaging in morally ambiguous acts. At its worst, the genre descends into cynicism, but at its best, the genre provides a glimpse into the darker aspects of the human condition we often prefer to ignore. This is such a staple of the genre, that I was disappointed when Anna didn’t betray Pete in the climax. The novel redeems itself by following the genre’s basic conceit that human beings are miserable, loathsome bastards. While that certainly isn’t a happy or life-affirming statement, it alleviates the potential racism in the portrayal of some of the characters, because they are no better or worse than the white, Anglo-European characters.
Another aspect I found interesting is how Vidal’s writing style doesn’t quite fit with modern storytelling sensibilities. Simply put, the man tells more often than he shows. If he were in my class, I would hound him over that (which is a really funny thought). This serves as another example of how this book is a product of its time, and readers unfamiliar with this older style might need to adjust their expectations and sensibilities, because aside from that, this is very well written.
And the book itself is gorgeous. For my money, no publisher produces better looking books than Hard Case Crime. The books all follow the same aesthetic design: a cover featuring classic art in the pulp tradition (typically a beautiful, half-dressed woman looking both seductive and dangerous), a white spine with the book’s title spelled out in red and the author’s name spelled out in black, and a back cover with the story synopsis in blue with white bordering it at the top and bottom. The consistency to the style along with the quality makes for a beautiful book, and I enjoy seeing them all lined up on my shelf.
In Summary
Although there are places where the novel shows its age, Thieves Fall Out is a quick, exciting read made all the better by the expert way that Gore Vidal uses the setting. This serves as not only a good read, but an interesting look into the famous author’s less-regarded work. Add to that the beauty of the packaging, and you’ve got a clear winner here.
Content Grade: A-
Released By: Hard Case Crime
Release Date: April 21st, 2015
MSRP: $22.99
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