Tiger By The Tail

Masterpiece... One must read..

Perfect

A very old book.but my favourite author.Superb novel

Another masterpiece by JHC

One of the greatest tales of suspense. It's another story that JHC novels have lost the popularity they once enjoyed, but I feel most of them are better than a section of todays novels that are overhyped in social media.

Good as usual, what we expect from JHC novel. Have read almost all his novels, does not disappoint. Thanks JHC.

“You took an awful risk tonight, Buster. Do you realize that?”In the opening chapters of James Hadley Chase’s Tiger by the Tail, neighbor Parker plants the seed in everyman Ken Holland’s mind. Ken, in a moment of weakness, decides to have a fling with a prostitute when he is coerced. After all, his wife is out of town, right? “One night, nothing more, what’s the big deal?”, thinks Ken, but things pretty much get out of hand rather quickly when the prostitute winds up dead in another room hours later, and Ken is square in the thick of trouble from many different angles. This murder sets events in motion, but the plot progressively becomes a convoluted web and storyline as we move along with each chapter.This was not the novel I thought it would be. Once we get past Ken’s decision and the ultimate death of the prostitute, the book treks into all sort of territories: corruption in various agencies, a bunch of nefarious types out for their own interests, dirty politics, crooked police, and various other shady characters.The initial set up with Ken was quite interesting. It makes sense that this type of scenario has been played out on screen before: the regular guy in over his head from reprehensible characters on all sides all the while a mystery must be solved. I found that once Ken’s predicament took a back seat to the multiple other subplots involving O’Brien, etc. after a few chapters in, everything else was pretty much less interesting and meh.The ”baddies” in this book are pretty much too numerous to name, and they are mostly your generic, derivative and predictable, and their dialogue and actions are proof.I guess this is one where the actual initial premise of the book was fascinating and engaging, but everything else about it falters and renders the rest of the novel a ho hum experience as we head towards a mediocre resolution.Still, I’m interested in the film adaptation, and I could see how the premise would be inspiration and influential for many of the innocent man “in over his head” scenario we see played out in so many crime novels and films.

Be careful when you grab a tiger by the tail, you might just be waking up a whole lot of trouble you aren't prepared to handle. In Chase's 1954 crime thriller "Tiger by the Tail," (one of four he put out that year), Chase offers us a twist on the old plot device of the innocent man waking up with a corpse and blood all over him. Here, a mild-mannered Clark Kent type bank teller, Ken Holland, reluctantly takes out a call girl while his wife is out of town.Seen with her by all sorts of people, Holland finds that wiping down his fingerprints doesn't get him in the clear from either the law or the blackmailers who make use of his troubles. But what really sets this thriller over the edge is the politically connected, mob-connected serpents that have been awakened. As Holland desperately and at times ridiculously attempts to destroy evidence, half the town is looking for him and the other half trying to cover up what they think really happened.Through a comedy of errors, the entire town drowns in an explosion of violence so complete that only Chase could have dreamed it up. Slow to start, this novel picks up the pace as it moves along, gathering up speed and momentum as it barrels toward the conclusion.

Simple plot. Right amount of twists. You feel for the characters. Ordinary hero becomes a super hero in stressed situation which is the only cliche. Read this in high school. Brought back memories reading it again..My all time favorite - "Believed Violent"

Great story line

the suspense kills!