A detective and a chorus girl stalk the shadows of a murderer in this thriller from “a pioneer of the modern mood we now think of as noir” (LA Weekly).
Born out of a brutal childhood, Raven is an assassin for hire whose latest hit—a government minister—is one calculated to ignite a war. When the most wanted man in England is paid off in marked bills, he also becomes the easiest to track—and police detective Jimmy Mather has the lead. But Raven’s got an advantage. Crossing paths with a sympathetic dancer named Anne Crowder, the emotionally scarred Raven has found someone in the wreckage of his life he can trust, maybe his only hope for salvation. Or at least, escape—because Anne is also Mather’s fiancée. Now the fate of two men will depend on her. And either way, it’s betrayal.
With its themes of deception, double cross, and the consequences of indiscriminate passion, the breathless cinematic narrative of Graham Greene’s thriller became a perfect fit for the classic 1942 film noir starring Alan Ladd and Veronica Lake.
