‘The Getaway’ by Jim Thompson   (1959) – 205 pages

In ‘The Getaway’, Doc McCoy is a very smart dedicated career criminal.

“Doc was made for crime, the truly big operations which he rapidly moved into.”

Doc McCoy can even see the up side of getting caught and being put in prison.

“He liked his work. Beginning a stiff sentence at age twenty-five, he still remained committed to it. His take for the last five years was more than a hundred thousand a year. For that kind of money, a man could afford to sit it out for awhile. He could use his enforced leisure to relax, make new contacts, improve his criminal knowledge, and plan new jobs. Doc’s ensuing eight years were entirely comfortable and often enjoyable.”

However when Doc gets caught a second time, they give him a longer sentence. He asks his wife Carol to meet with the warden and bribe him to get him out of prison. The warden and Carol agree to a deal where Doc is released from prison and then Doc will plan and execute a large bank robbery with the warden getting a share of the loot. Doc wonders what else was part of the deal between his wife and the warden.

The bank robbery is successful, although a bank guard is murdered. Doc also shoots one of his accomplices, Rudy Torrento, who is no longer useful to Doc. Doc also shoots the driver of a car which he then steals, and Doc and Carol begin their getaway. Unknown to Doc, Rudy is still alive and when he recovers, he trails after Doc for revenge and murder.

‘The Getaway’ is written from the point of view of the criminals rather than law enforcement. I believe the secret to the success of Jim Thompson is that he can think like an adept criminal. Several times I was impressed with Thompson’s understanding of the details of crime. Since we are seeing events through the eyes of the criminals, we begin to root for them. It requires a lot of knowledge to pull off a successful bank robbery and get away with it. Doc and Carol become the most-wanted criminals in the country.

‘The Getaway’ is most cynical like a good crime novel should be. Even Honest Johns can be bought if you approach them the right way.

However I found the ending of ‘The Getaway’ somewhat questionable. Up until that point we have a quite straightforward crime story, albeit with quite a few murders. However the ending is quite surreal, and this ending was scrapped for the famous movie version of ‘The Getaway’ directed by Sam Pekinpah and starring Steve McQueen and Ali McGraw in 1972. I don’t blame them for scrapping the ending.

Grade:   B+