A Rage in Harlem (Penguin Modern Classics) [Kindle Edition]

A Rage in Harlem is the first in a series of nine novels that make up Chester Himes' Harlem Detective series. It is a very well-written, entertaining book, interwoven with violence, humour and farce in equal measure.

The main character, Jackson is in love with a beautiful woman called Imabelle. She introduces him to a get rich quick scheme involving turning ten dollar bills into hundreds. It's a trap, he ends up losing all his money and his tribulations escalate as he attempts to get himself out of trouble.

Racial tensions in Harlem around that time are clear from the narrative, but the story doesn't get bogged down with these. The white police are portrayed as overtly racist and black people conform to stereotypes in order to outwit them. The book certainly does throw a spotlight on the seedier side of life, with views of squalor, drug taking, gambling, desperation and hopelessness, but the humour lightens this considerably. The most entertaining moments in my opinion come from Jackson's brother, Goldy, who makes a living posing as a nun begging for alms, while passing on information to the police. When cornered, Goldy misquotes scripture to hilarious effect.

I highly recommend this book.

Jackson is a poor man who works for an undertaker, H Exodus Clay. And he is the sort of person who, in trying to solve a problem, only makes it worse. His problems begin when he is taken in by con men who relieve him of what little money he has, blowing up his landlady's oven in the process. Since the con leads to him paying off a fake Federal Agent with money stolen from his employer, things quickly go from bad to worse. And his refusal to believe that his woman, Imabelle, could be involved, while touching, doesn't help much either.

Jackson is an innocent surrounded by people on the make. One of those is his brother Goldy, who dresses up as Sister Gabriel, a Sister of Mercy, and relieves shoppers entering Blumstein's store of as much change as he can. In return he is liberal with quotations from the Book of Revelation, some of them made up by himself. (He suspects the author was high on drugs when he wrote it, symptoms he can recognise from his own experience.) Goldy also has a sideline in tickets for a dollar a time - ADMIT ONE, SISTER GABRIEL. Since he doesn't say in so many words that the admission is to heaven he isn't technically committing an offence.

As Jackson's troubles multiply he turns to two people for help. One is the Reverend Gaines, with whom he prays. The other is his brother, who quickly realises that Jackson is being played for a sucker by all concerned, including Imabelle, the love of his life. Goldy also figures out that the con men are working on a second, bigger con involving the finding of a lost gold mine. Imabelle is involved in this one too.

The plot moves rapidly, and has elements of farce about it, though the comedy is hard-edged. The story is intricately plotted, but very successfully. The dialogue is strong and some of it painfully funny. His exchanges with his landlady, both in person and over the phone, come into this category. Both are Christians, but with a differing take on the sort of behaviour this implies.

Two police officers are involved, Coffin Ed Johnson and Grave Digger Jones. Ed has acid thrown on him by one of the con men, leaving Grave Digger to sort things out, which he does with considerable violence. They do not figure as largely in this book as they do in later titles.

Though this book was first published in 1957, it easily stands comparison with contemporary crime fiction. There are no serial killers with weird motivations, there are no technicians pouring over crime scenes with hi-tech gear. Instead we have a large cast of characters, a great deal of local colour, a fast-moving story and quality dialogue.

Hello. My first experience of Chester Himes was with If He Hollers Let Him Go, a strong book, a decent read, but one which I felt suffered due to a twist ending. That ending would have been provocative when first written but to my 21st Century mind it felt a little tacked on. However, I liked the style, the setting, the characters, and the general atmosphere and tone Himes created and I had always been interested in reading more. Within the first few pages of A Rage In Harlem I knew that I would enjoy it more- it is fast paced in a pulp fiction manner and there is violence and bloodshoot ultra-reality in those opening pages. Himes doesn't let the pace slacken once and even with the introduction of a wide cast of characters, we speed through the NY setting and the story like a taxi on a pick up from hell, and we get the near sensation that Himes may have written this in one inspired sitting. That doesn't mean the story is not well written or thoughtless, far from it, but that you will be as breathless as our hero by the end of it.
Himes does have a gift for creating sympathetic anti-heros; Jackson is just a normal guy, albeit a bit of a screw-up, whose charming naivety and misguided affections lead him into a series of mishaps, near-misses, chases, shoot-outs, punch-ups, and absurdist scenes to create a one of a kind adventure. Along the way we meet everyone's favourite buddy cop due Coffin Ed and Grave Digger whose shoot first, lob a grenade, smoke a cigarette, then ask questions attitude inspired many a movie detective in the decades to come. There are hard boiled characters, shocking carnage, and plenty of moments of darkness, but thanks to Himes's style and his wonderful creation in Jackson, the whole sorry affair feels quite 'light'. 'Light' is a weak word to describe the tone, but it is the humour which punctuates the dialogue and the characters when mixed with the ridiculous nature of their lives and actions which makes the read most memorable. This never becomes a slog, we are never challenged, and all of the subtext simply drips into our minds seemlessly without needless metaphor or tiresome device.
To give a brief summary of the plot would be giving up much of the surprise and delight of your first read, but to keep it spoiler free we follow a day in the life of a foolish boy man involved in a petty get rich quick scheme gone wrong, and after a number of deaths ensue our hero is chased through NY by cops and gangsters and has to keep his questionable wits about him as he tries to find the woman he loves, prove his innocence, and possibly keep his job.
A Rage In Harlem crackles with wit as much as its main character lacks it; there is a vibrancy throughout and a noticable lack of stereotype or genre convention. Himes was a gifted writer who could turn his pen to any style and although this is at its hard a crime caper, there is enough humour, horror, action, pity, and invention that this leaps off the genre shelf and sits on a stand all of its own.