I enjoyed this book very much- as i always do with Woolrich, but it also kind of drives me crazy. This was a Hoopla audio book. Story of man who can foresee the future and ultimately foresees the death of a rich man. The rich man's daughter is about to off herself (before hand - in tortured foreknowledge) but is saved by a generic police guy. They muddle about and the cops try to figure all the angles and someone tries to take advantage of the fortune see-er but no one understands the deep sorry and pain of this pained Cassandra. I don't need to give it all away, but there are whole swaths of wasted space in there... an endless scene with a roulette wheel to prove ... to prove what? nothing really is said - is the roulette wheel tied to our soothsayer person? Hmmm... so- it is great in settings its dark mood and instilling the dread of inevitability to the story, but rather self indulgent in rolling down aisles the author thinks (?) is deepening the mystery. ( )

Woolrich's meditation on predestination and determinism disguised as a suspense novel, are a bit too melodramatic and drawn out for my taste. Both the plot, the usual Woolrich tangle of unlikely coincidences, and the behavior of the characters need too strong a dose of unbelief to hold water. In my opinion this would have been better as a shorter work.

Woolrich is still the master of character and metaphor but his characters are just too extreme in type to hold our attention. The ending is almost predictable being one of about four possible set out by the author. I think the one chosen was planted too early to really keep holding our suspense. In addition Reid has become such a pathetic and empty character by this time that we don't really care how he goes, just that he goes, the alternative being too anticlimactic. The fact that after all the trouble the protagonists go to in other avenues to prevent Reid's early demise, the other obvious ones that haven't already been removed stretches the reader's credulity.

The apparently clairvoyant Thompkins, even given his short stage time, remains the most enigmatic and interesting character in the novel. He is played by the outstanding and superbly cast Edward G. Robinson in the film adaptation. This novel did have a very cinematic feel and I highly recommend the movie based on it.

Not characteristic of Woolrich's better work which is usually as weird but not so drawn out, these being more akin to more tightly plotted short shocks. ( )

Unusual story of a prediction and what happens to those who believe in it. Well written and moves at a fast pace. ( )

Warning: this book review contains a spoiler. No, I’m not going to give away the plot of this Cornell Woolrich thriller (originally published under a pen name), I’m going to alert you to a spoiler of sorts, written by the author himself. But I’m getting ahead of myself.

City homicide detective Tom Shawn is on his way home from work late one evening, walking along a river. As he approaches a bridge, he finds money, loose bills drifting in the breeze like leaves. As he turns across the bridge he finds a diamond ring, then a purse. This shadowy bridge setting and the scenes immediately following exemplify noir as well as anything written during the period and pull you into a twisted tale.

Det. Shawn follows the trail of money, jewelry and other purse contents until he sees high-heel shoes and finally a woman standing on the bridge parapet. With difficulty, he talks her out of jumping and she steps down and out of the shadows. He sees her clearly for the first time. “The arc light gave him a drenching flash of surprise, as it tore the darkness apart and she stepped through the rent into full view.”

He’s surprised to find that she’s a beautiful young woman, barely 20. She tells Shawn she’s afraid of the stars twinkling above, so they make their way to a deserted restaurant where Shawn persuades her to tell her story.Night has a Thousand Eyes

She begins rambling on about “darkness and fear and pain and doom and death.” As she begins to settle down and explain, she soon outlines the theme of the book saying, “…God permits us to look backward, but God has forbidden us to look forward. And if we do, we do so at our own risk.” Her lengthy tale involves her father, a wealthy investor, who has become involved with someone who seems to be able to predict the future.

The predictions bring a promise of riches and fears of death. The story of Jean Reid and her father draw Shawn into a race against time and against capricious, malevolent forces that ultimately mobilize the city detective squad.

Woolrich’s noir style and attention to details highlight the novel. An early chapter focusing on terror is as close to Poe as anything I’ve read by Woolrich and one of the later “police procedure” chapters demonstrates–at length–the finer points of tailing a suspect.

As I read, I was dragged firmly into the heroine’s malaise until it sounded familiar. Too familiar. I had not read the book before, yet after rounding the half-way point in the novel, I knew exactly what was going to happen. Was a book about clairvoyance imparting some of its mystical powers? Was Woolrich a plagiarist?

I found the answer–although I had a notion what the problem was–in the book’s introduction by Woolrich biographer, Francis M. Nevins. He explained the 1945 novel was based on a novella Woolrich had published eight years earlier. And I read the novella, “Speak to Me of Death,” in a Woolrich collection some time before. Apparently this is not the only short story or novella that Woolrich turned into a novel.

So, my advice for readers who are just getting into Woolrich is to be cautious. Try several novels before you pick up a story collection. If you have already read Woolrich short stories, there’s still hope. Most Woolrich books available today come with introductions by Nevins or others. Scan the intro to see if the novel might be based on a short story you’ve read.

In a cursory online search, I could not find a list of his novels that come from his shorter works. In fact, some of the references in the first search engine list I encountered were to my mystery blog.

And don’t be fooled by the different names Woolrich used. As mentioned, this book was originally published under a pen name, George Hopley, Woolrich’s two middle names. He also published under the name William Irish.

Meanwhile, back at the Thousand Eyes, the race against time that Shawn and other detectives embark on is typical of Woolrich thrillers and as Nevins says in the introduction, imminent death and the ticking of the clock are as central to this book as any Woolrich novel. (The description is also true of the story, “Speak to Me of Death.” ) Incidentally, the novel title comes from two of the characters’ aversion to stars, i.e. a thousand eyes.

Perhaps due to the novel’s genesis, it has more than one climax. In fact, it has more ups and downs than many mysteries, making it something of a noir rollercoaster. You will cling tightly to the coaster’s safety bar waiting to see if there’s a final descent and crash.

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Video note: Like most, if not all Woolrich novels, this was made into a movie. Edward G. Robinson, Joan Lund and William Demarest star in the John Farrow-directed film. It retains the title of the novel. Although the first scene makes it look as if the film will follow the book closely, it doesn’t. At all. The movie is based on a relatively creative concept, but one that’s not in the book. Woolrich, rather than George Hopley, receives screen credit for the novel. Apparently he was not involved in the script. Remarkably, the one-hour, 20-minute film is available on YouTube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RH3bzUF862k ( )

Good for a while but Woolrich doesn't seem to know when to end it and it goes on way longer than it has to. ( )