**Nick Triplow's soulful biography of enigmatic British crime fiction
pioneer, Ted Lewis (author of Get Carter), is one of those rare works
of literary investigation that relentlessly asserts its own status as
art. Like Philip Hoare's Melville in The Whale or James Sallis'
Chester Himes: A Life, Triplow more than uncovers the forgotten
godfather of the modern British crime story; he also spins a noir
morality tale with a poetry all its own.
**
Mike Hodges' 1971 cinema classic was based on a book called Jack's
Return Home, and many commentators agree contemporary British crime
writing began with that novel. The influence of both book and film is
strong to this day. Lewis never lived to realize his legacy.
Ted Lewis is one of the most important writers you've never heard of.
Born in Manchester in 1940, he grew up in the tough environs of post-war
Humberside, attending Hull College of Arts and Crafts before heading for
London. His life described a cycle of obscurity to glamour and back to
obscurity, followed by death at only 42. He sampled the bright
temptations of sixties London while working in advertising, TV and films
and he encountered excitement and danger in Soho drinking dens, rubbing
shoulders with the "East End boys" in gangland haunts. He wrote for Z
Cars and had some nine books published. Alas, unable to repeat the
commercial success of Get Carter, Lewis's life fell apart, his
marriage ended, and he returned to Humberside and an all too early
demise.
Getting Carter is a meticulously researched and riveting account of
the career of a doomed genius. Long-time admirer Nick Triplow has
fashioned a thorough, sympathetic, and unsparing narrative. Triplow is
at once a cold case detective and a Boswell of the backstreets. Required
reading for noirists, this book will enthral and move anyone who finds
irresistible the old cocktail of rags to riches to rags.
