RENDEZVOUS IN BLACK (Mass Market Paperback)

Cornell Woolrich (1903-1968) was the father of noir. Originally an author of 'disaffected youth' novels in the jazz era, Woolrich turned to suspense and mystery stories for the pulp magazines in the mid-thirties. In 1940 he wrote the novel "The Bride Wore Black," kicking off a hugely creative period in which he wrote eleven novels (sometimes under the pseudonyms William Irish or George Hopely) between 1940 and 1948, concluding with "I Married a Dead Man" (available in the compilation "Crime Novels: American Noir of the 30s and 40s" and also one of his best works). Woolrich then entered a long phase of writer's block, turning out a few more novels and stories before he died an alcoholic recluse. His work is deeply concerned with doom and fate, people trapped in an uncaring world, the slow loss of love, and the inevitability of death. Through it all flows his incredible sense of pacing -- he can wring you dry with "races against the clock" that make your chest pound like race car piston -- and his stunning word magic that can break your heart with just a sentence.

"Rendezvous in Black" is the second-to-last novel of his major period, and it seems to return to the plot of "The Bride Wore Black"...at least on the surface. In "The Bride Wore Black," a woman named Julie Kileen loses her husband to a bizarre accident on their wedding day. Julie then goes on a quest to track down the five men she believes are responsible for the accident, and kill them one by one after inserting herself into their lives. "Rendezvous in Black" reverses the sexes, and adds an extra twist. Johnny Marr, an anonymous, average young man, loses his fiancee a few days before their marriage in a weird, bolt-from-the-blue accident (the perfect Woolrich example of the random cruelty of the universe). Marr eventually snaps, and discovers the identities of the men he feels are responsible for the accident. He then seeks to slowly, meticulously track down each one, discover who the most important woman in the man's life is (daughter, wife, protege), and kill her, so that man will forever know the pain that he feels.

It's a grim, frightening premise. Woolrich repeats the episodic structure of "Bride": after the opening chapter introducing the main character and his quest, each chapter after that switches to the P.O.V. of the next person on Marr's 'hit list.' But "Rendezvous" isn't just a rehash of "Bride." As Woolrich's biographer, Francis M. Nevins, pointed out, it is "Bride" as it should have been, written with greater emotional involvement and deeper horror and suspense. It seems as if Woolrich was trying to correct the flaws of the earlier novel.

Correct them he does: "Rendezvous in Black" opens with a long, stunning chapter, "Parting," that captures perfectly the horror of losing a loved one, and then contains one of best portraits I've ever read of a descent into insanity. It's one of Woolrich's best sustained pieces of emotional writing. Each chapter after that, Woolrich tortures us with the suspense as we meet the next target of Marr's horrid quest. Woolrich's use of suspense here is brilliant: as in Hitchcock, we know WHAT will happen, but never WHEN, HOW, or even WHO (which woman in the man's life is Marr's target?). Since we don't know what Marr looks like or what fake name he is using, we aren't even sure which man in the chapter is actually the killer! Meanwhile, the police start to string things together, and with each chapter, Woolrich screws down the suspense tighter and tighter. The second to last chapter is a massive race against death that will probably have you locked in a room reading with sweaty, shaking hands. Even though there are logic flaws in the story the size meteor craters (this is Woolrich's way of showing how universe's basic illogic and unfairness), you won't notice them. Woolrich holds you in an unbreakable spell.

Read this book. It is an American classic. You will never forget its power. And you'll encourage the publication of more Woolrich classics. Look forward to re-prints of "Black Alibi" and "Night Has a Thousand Eyes." When you discover Cornell Woolrich, you will never be the same again.

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