I've read several other adultery novels from the 1950's, like the excellent The Tightrope and novels by William Ard, so I was excited to find this one written by Jay J. Dratler - who, as well as writing seven novels, wrote the screenplay for one of my favourite noirs The Dark Corner, and received an Oscar nomination for the screenplay of the classic Laura. He won the Oscar for Call Northside 777.
Mona was a stranger in town - and lonely
The Pitfall is raw and tense, one of the sleaziest of the pulps I have read.
Jon Forbes is a Hollywood screenwriter making no progress on his latest job. He likes to hang out with his cop friend Mac and hear about Tinseltown's dirty secrets. One day Mac tells him about the beautiful wife of a purse snatcher he's arrested, how she is all alone in town and in his mind, ready for it. Mac wants her for himself, but she might shy away from a cop - so the plan is for Jon to have her first and then Mac will take over. Jon is quickly obsessed about having sex with her, really worked up. Jon tricks her into a date using a phony name, saying he is a friend of her husbands. They make a date and surprisingly, she really is up for it. The sparks fly and it gets intense really fast. The kind of all consuming sex that is so rough it includes cigarette burns for that extra thrill.
"That's what I wanted. That's what I 'd been praying for. It means we'll get to be lower and lower, until we're caught and trapped. And then maybe we'll turn on each other like the rats we are. You and I have changed since we met. We're closer to animals..."
"Tigress...Tigress..."
The first half deals with his lust for Mona - not able to work and barely able to take care of his wife and young daughter. Yes, he is a married man and his wife is so pregnant the doctor has ordered bedrest, so when he becomes distant she blames her pregnancy. He begins to buy the same gifts and perfumes for his wife as for Mona, blurring the lines of his affair. The second half has more of a doomed noir feel - as Mona's jealous husband comes home from jail and his friend Mac is ready for his turn at Mona - and Jon won't move aside. Mac hints at a plan where Jon could kill her husband and get away with it, he's even given a gun. His obsession turns to nerve-wracking misery and it seems everything will go down in ruin.
"No sleep. No peace. Ever."
It's a sordid premise that a woman alone is an easy target for sex, that they will use her as they like and pass her around. That she is the kind of woman who is right up for that makes The Pitfall a little sleazy. The writing was good and when the tone changes in the second half as Jon spirals in torment the story balances out. The Pitfall was turned into a film in 1948, starring Dick Powell and the ever tempting Lizabeth Scott - retaining only the characters and turning it into more of a mystery than a story of sexual obsession. Reading this in 1947 must have been a thrill, even now it feels sordid.
Another gem from Popular Library, recommended for a salacious read.
1947 / Paperback / 142 pages
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