Starred review from February 23, 2015
First published in 1980, this gritty tale of paranoia and violence from British author Lewis (1940–1982) shines an unflinching light on London’s thriving pornography scene in the 1970s. In the past, George Fowler was the undistributed kingpin of hardcore pornographic films known as “Blues,” and he lived the high life with his devoted wife, Jean, the two sharing a penchant for violence and sex. In the present, George is hiding out, alone, in the seaside town of Mablethorpe under an alias. Jean, who also pulled double duty as his bookkeeper, discovered someone in the distribution operation—which in the days before the Internet involved a series of middlemen to produce and ensure discreet delivery to recipients—was skimming substantial amounts. This sent George and his seemingly trustworthy right-hand man on a hunt to find the person—or persons—responsible, with dire consequences. As George’s vendetta unspools in the past, it becomes clearer why he’s hiding out, as every new face in town is greeted with fear and suspicion. Lewis, best known for Get Carter, gives new meaning to suspense with this masterly tale of a man’s downfall and the bloody trail he leaves behind.
April 1, 2015
A London porn king tries to ferret out the insider who's destroying his operation in the final novel by noir specialist Lewis (Get Carter, 1970, etc.). This novel, now having its first American publication, appeared in Britain two years before Lewis' early death in 1982. The title is a British legal acronym standing for Grievous Bodily Harm, which occupies pages in this tale of the fall of smut magnate George Fowler. Fowler and his wife, Jean, preside over a lucrative business producing and distributing illegal hard-core movies. When Jean realizes someone is skimming money, George determines to identify the embezzler. His method is torture, usually with Jean watching excitedly, eventually with her eager participation. Narrated almost entirely by George, the novel alternates between London as he looks for the traitor and an oceanside hideaway after his search has left a pile of bodies and he's presumed dead. The dominant note is George's mounting paranoia, though he's not a large or varied enough character to inspire pity or terror. For all the mayhem on display and the direct brutalism of Lewis' style, the copious scenes of George and associates spinning endless scenarios to identify their lowlife Judas begin to feel like being forced to sit in on the world's sleaziest contract negotiations. What stays in the mind is the seediness of an offseason resort town and the mix of swank and rot in the Fowlers' London life. Lewis' death meant the loss of an impeccable sociologist of the gutter.
Starred review from February 1, 2015
The story is that the author, in his cups, as was frequently the case, wandered into a pub and began playing the piano. Mournful dirge was followed by ever more melancholy, beautiful dirge until management kicked him out. That's our Lewis: banging out sad, beautiful tunes until it hurts. Published in 1980, this title (the initials stand for Grievous Bodily Harm) is in effect Lewis's epitaph; he died two years later at the age of 42. Mr. George Fowler is a successful London entrepreneur who's made a financial killing in snuff movies. After one of his associates starts to rob him blind, Fowler's nasty business collapses, and he and his wife light out for the bleak east coast. There, in an alcoholic haze, Fowler awaits the inevitable. The story is told in alternating sections, one ("The Sea") set in the protagonist's hideaway, the other ("The Smoke") set in his London past. As the stories interweave, they tighten to that point at which the reader's head begins to hurt. VERDICT A tip of the fedora to Soho Crime for making this long out-of-print novel, and never before published in the States, available again. Lewis is universally recognized as the author of the book on which the classic movie Get Carter was based, but he was more than a one-book author. Seize the opportunity to read this prime example of Brit Grit that present-day practitioners such as J.J. Connelly and Jake Arnott have imitated but never bettered.--Bob Lunn, Kansas City, MO
Copyright 2015 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
Starred review from February 15, 2015
Best known for Jack's Return Home (1970), which was retitled Get Carter after the 1971 Michael Caine film, Lewis published only nine novels before he drank himself to death in 1982 at age 42. That bleak tale of revenge became an influential crime-fiction classic, and deservedly sobut for some fans, his swan song was an even bigger literary achievement. This final novel (GBH stands for grievous bodily harm ), published in 1980, has been out of print for decades and was previously unavailable in the U.S. It tells the story of blue-movie kingpin George Fowler, hiding out in a seaside town that's all but closed for winter. In alternating chapters set in the past, in The Smoke, and in the present, in The Sea, we see Fowler trying to contain a threat to his crime empire in London and then laying low. But what went wrong? Lewis increases tension and teases our curiosity masterfully, both during Fowler's hunt for his betrayer and his self-imposed exile. He believes he's been discoveredbut is he paranoid? Or something worse? Will he return to power again? Though he narrates his own story, Fowler's lack of self-awareness makes this book about a bad man a great one.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2015, American Library Association.)