A-Z Wednesday: The Night of the Hunter

A-Z Wednesday is hosted by Reading at the Beach.

Here are the rules: Go to your stack of books and find one whose title starts with the Letter of the Week and post the following:

1. A photo of the book
2. Title and synopsis
3. A link (Amazon, B&N, etc.)
4. Come back here and leave your link in the comments

If you’ve already reviewed this book, post a link to the review as well. Be sure to visit other participants to see what books they have posted and leave them a comment (we all love comments, don’t we?) Who know? You may find your next “favorite” book.

THIS WEEK’S LETTER IS: N

My “N” Book is:

The Night of the Hunter

by Davis Grubb

(New York: Dell, 1953)

Paperback, 255 Pages, Fiction

ISBN: N/A, US$0.35

Wilt thou forgive that sinne by which I’have wonne
Others to sinne? and, made my sinne their door?

—Donne

From the Cover: LOVE HATE These were the words written into the flesh of his fingers, this man with Jehovah on his tongue and a glistening knifeblade in his hands. This was The Hunter, man of evil, deluding the innocent with impassioned oratory that belied the sin in his soul, driven by perverted lusts to search out his quarry to the death. And The Hunted: John, the boy of nine, sworn to utter secrecy of a dark knowledge, understanding too with a child’s instinct the dark truth of the two-faced hunter. He saw the weird shadow of a hanged man in the night, yet his desperate warnings went unheeded by those whom he had to protect.

My Review: There was no doubt in my mind when I saw that this week’s letter was N that the book I would choose would be Davis Grubb’s The Night of the Hunter. I first read this book years ago (I think I was in high school) and I fell instantly in love with it. (This would have been around the same time that I first read Thomas Harris’ The Silence of the Lambs, and the two books had a very large impact on my concept of the crime thriller.) In the intervening years I had all but forgotten about Grubb’s novel (especially in light of my discovery of the brilliant 1955 Robert Mitchum film) until recently, when it came to my attention again and I sought out a copy for my library.

Purchasing books online is a risky business at best (especially given that I am very picky about my book covers) but imagine my delight when arriving in the mail was a 1953 Dell paperback copy of Grubb’s novel (with the wondrous cover price of 35¢)! It is a gem of a novel on my shelves (up there with my 1933 edition of A. Merritt’s Burn Witch Burn! and 1955 Dell paperback copy of John W. Campbell, Jr.’s Who Goes There? and Other Stories (“Who Goes There?” being the basis for 1951’s The Thing from Another World and 1982’s John Carpenter’s The Thing), especially given that I got Grubb’s novel for $1.00 plus shipping and handling; a steal really.

The Night of the Hunter is a great thriller … back when they knew how to write them, and if you can get your hands on a copy of Grubb’s novel, I highly recommend you do so post haste.