Nightmare

Cornell Woolrich (1903 - 1968)

Dark crime fiction author Cornell Woolrich (real name George Hopley) brings us this show-stopping collection of grim and twisted stories of murder and other misdeeds. From a falsely accused ex-con who finds himself in an untenable situation in "I'll Take You Home, Kathleen" to the grotesque death of a starlet in "Screen Test", from a profoundly sad and impossible decision in "I O U" to the surprising twists and darkly humorous turns of "Bequest", these stories show Woolrich firing on all cylinders. As the centerpiece of the collection, the title novella "Nightmare" (which has been adapted into a film twice, first in 1947 as Fear in the Night then again in 1956 as Nightmare) begins as a shocking and brutal tale where the border between dreams and reality begin to blur together and where the noose only tightens as things become more clear. These stories show a master of hard-boiled crime fiction at his best. (Summary by Ben Tucker )

Genre(s): Crime & Mystery Fiction

Language: English

Keyword(s): short stories (695), Crime (227), murder (198), hard-boiled (20), hypnotism (10), lynching (9), burned alive (2), wrong man (1), convict on the run (1), grand theft auto (1)

Section Chapter Reader Time
Play 01 I'll Take You Home, Kathleen Ben Tucker
01:13:50
Play 02 Screen-Test Ben Tucker
00:50:42
Play 03 I O U Ben Tucker
00:32:17
Play 04 Three O'Clock Ben Tucker
01:04:18
Play 05 Nightmare Part 1 Ben Tucker
01:14:41
Play 06 Nightmare Part 2 Ben Tucker
01:00:43
Play 07 Bequest Ben Tucker
00:28:30