[moderately shelfworn, light staining along bottom edge of front cover, slight fading to cloth here and there; jacket lightly edgeworn, tiny bits of paper loss at several corners, a number of old internal tape repairs/reinforcements]. Suspense novel about "a man whose moral code is based on expediency, [which] can include the necessity to slug, rob and kill." When he does just that -- kills a man in a brawl in a pub -- he finds himself on the run, and takes refuge (by force) in the room of a shop-girl. Basis for the 1948 film of the same name, starring Burt Lancaster and Joan Fontaine. View More...