How does a man escape from himself...? A classic masterpiece of American noir fiction.

George Stroud is a hard-drinking, tough-talking, unscrupulous journalist working for tyrannical Earl Janoth's media empire. And he's involved with the wrong woman - his boss's mistress, Pauline Delos. One day, as Stroud escorts Pauline home, he spies his boss returning from a trip. The next day, Pauline is found dead in her apartment.

Janoth knows someone saw him enter Pauline's apartment on the night of the murder; he knows it must have been the man Pauline was seeing on the side; but he doesn't know his identity. To get his hands on the man and pin the crime on him, Janoth assigns his best investigative reporter and most trusted employee to track him down: George Stroud...

"THE BIG CLOCK has it - the deadpan, make-believe sinister quality, and the terse, preposterous fancy. It is, besides, a thriller with a unique plot" - TIME

"If you enjoy top-drawer detective fiction...we can recommend this one with no reservations whatsoever" - NEW YORK TIMES

"So rare a compound of irony, satire, and icy-fingered narrative" - WEEKLY BOOK REVIEW

"[A] brilliant study in noir...deservedly a classic in its depiction of the corporate man at his most basic and disloyal" - BOSTON GLOBE AND MAIL

"A master of the tour de force" - WASHINGTON POST

"A brilliantly dark and menacing tale." - CATHOLIC HERALD

"You'll be hard pushed to find a better noir thriller." - BIG ISSUE IN THE NORTH