I read Brighton Rock because I loved The Quiet American so much – in fact, I may get a line from it tattooed on my body! That’s a lot of love, y’all. Unfortunately, this book didn’t quite capture me the way my first run-in with Graham Greene did.

The story began with a death and then followed a motley crew of characters as they reacted to that death. The mob was involved, there were quite a few murders, and lots and lots of the word “paloney.”

The writing was tight and excellent, as I expected from Mr. Greene, and the story was interesting enough, but I never really got swept up in it. I didn’t dread reading it but it didn’t excite me either. It felt like a very long-form short story that touched on a lot of characters and showcased a lot of wacky behavior but didn’t dig deep in the way I wish it would have.