CHARLIE DELL

by Anderson Wayne ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 7, 1952

Denver, Colorado, for the plain first person recall of Charlie Dell, his decline and fall, and the payoff on some misspent moments in the ironic circumvention of his close calculations. An overdose of marriage to Irma, and her nasty, nagging suspicions, makes him particularly susceptible to Lois, her sister -- seventeen and sexy. The engineer on an airport project out of town, Charlie yields to the pressure of the contractor to undercut the specifications on the grading of the runway- and earn a fast buck; and a weekend away with Lois is covered by the substitution of his assistant's name. But Lois' pregnancy, and his need for proof that he is not the man, reverses his tactics, and although he clears himself with Irma- he faces a government inspection and the loss of his job after a plane crash. Lois has her baby, and again Charlie is able to finesse his involvement, but he is still to pay the full penalty of his indulgence some years later when Lois comes back and has the revenge he is unable to deflect...The James Cain derivative, for a story of passions and plans which have gone astray and which promote their own momentum as well as an expensive judgement on desire.

Pub Date: April 7, 1952

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Coward-McCann

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 1952

Categories: FICTION