and Gerry P. Broderick
By guest reviewer Nicholas Litchfield,
editor of the Lowestoft Chronicle
IN this moody, hard-edged noir – teeming with deception and sexual
tension – a battle-weary ex-Marine is drawn by a beguiling stranger into a
spiral of robbery and murder along the California coast where each shadow
harbours treachery and every promise comes at a price.
Roadside Night is the work of Erwin S. Nestler and Gerry P. Broderick, two virtually unknown writers. Broderick, a Canadian, earned renown as the controller for Mike Todd Productions, a company instrumental in the evolution of widescreen cinema, before taking his own life aged just forty-three in 1955 midway through the making of the Oscar-winning Around the World in 80 Days. First published in 1951 by Pyramid Books and reissued this month, the novel carries the same air of mystery and tragedy that enveloped its authors. Set on the Southern California coast, this lean and gritty tale is narrated by Buck Randall, a 28-year-old former Marine who is trying to eke out a living on the edge of the Pacific where he runs a dilapidated motel and bar, aided only by Dominic, ‘an old drifter who came by one day and stayed on.’
Buck is rugged and world-weary, carrying the invisible scars
of war and personal loss. His business barely scrapes by but it’s enough to
keep him afloat, and the regulars who frequent his bar are as much companions
as customers. Then into his simple, if dreary, world drifts Sylvia Landon, a
mysterious and alluring figure whose arrival in a flashy convertible turns
every head, especially Buck’s.
Sylvia is the kind of woman who carries a cloud of intrigue
and regret about her. Schooled abroad and once accustomed to a life of
privilege, she is now reduced to working as a secretary for a wealthy employer who
is confined to a wheelchair, ‘a sick man with interests scattered all over the
world.’ Her tales of Havana, Hawaii, Rio and ‘yachting in the Caribbean’ leave
Buck painfully aware of the gulf between her world and his, stirring both
desire and insecurity within him.
When Sylvia makes a return trip to his lonely stretch of
coastline, Buck is swept up in a tide of hope and longing. Enigmatic and
sophisticated, she keeps her emotions locked away, captivating Buck not only
with her ‘greenish eyes and the longest eyelashes’ he’s ever seen but also with
her ability to remain at once approachable and tantalisingly distant. Buck, for
all his rough edges, finds himself daydreaming of a future together, even as he
suspects he may be just another chapter in her chequered past.
Caught in this emotional undertow is Joyce, the beautiful
and naïve 18-year-old who has nursed a crush on Buck for years. Her
heartbreak is palpable as Buck’s obsession with Sylvia deepens. When Sylvia
finally spends the night with him, Buck’s hopes are briefly revived. Yet, even
in the afterglow, doubts gnaw at him…will Sylvia return, or was he merely a
passing diversion in her restless life?
As Buck is drawn further into Sylvia’s orbit, he discovers a woman marked by past heartbreak and entangled in dubious affairs. Sylvia, pragmatic and jaded, proposes a dangerous scheme to Buck… help her steal a briefcase of cash from her boss. Her worldliness clashes with Buck’s self-deprecating admission: ‘I’m small time.’ Yet desire and desperation keep the pair bound together. Meanwhile, Joyce becomes an unwitting pawn as Buck manipulates her to keep their scheme secret, adding further guilt and tension to Buck’s already heavy conscience.
Together, they set out on a perilous path, with Sylvia
masterminding a high-stakes heist which drags Buck deeper into the underworld.
As the plan unravels, Buck’s need for her approval drives him to ever greater crimes,
culminating in a gripping and powerful finale.
At once bleak and atmospheric, Roadside Night is a taut,
character-driven page-turner, brimming with biting wit and electrifying
passions and, in the tradition of the best noir thrillers, it is also deeply and
unforgettably human.
(Black Gat, paperback, £19.95)
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