A beautifully metered coming of rage story. Eddie Kiley is on the cusp of manhood, flirting with vice, sex, and moonshine in old Chicago. His role model is his father, a successful salesman who travels frequently and hasn’t always been around to provide guidance to the teen. His mother is devout, a barricade that keeps the family’s skeleton closet shuttered to keep the uglies at bay. Like most older sisters, Eddie’s is further ahead in maturity and overall savvy than her years might attest.

An excellent character study, this fascinating story carefully unravels each person’s flaws over the course of their lives during Eddie’s most critical formative years. The most obvious is his Uncle Frank, who fights a losing battle with moon, stumbling from one self-inflicted crisis to the next. The novel is categorized as a crime book; it certainly skirts the borderline. It could also be cast as noir, but even there it defies expectations. In the end, what matters is Fairman has crafted a beguiling glimpse into the inner lives of one depression-era Chi-town patriarchy with all its heart and hedonism.

Paul Warren Fairman (1909–1977) was the founding editor of the If digest, and also served for a time as editor for Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, Amazing Stories, and Fantastic. He wrote a raft of short stories and novels across multiple genres under his own name and several pseudonyms. Several movies and television episodes were based on his stories.