Brighton Rock by Graham Greene audiobook review – Sam West captures the menace of this modern classic
We are not short of audio versions of Brighton Rock, Graham Greene's classic thriller from 1938 set in the eponymous seaside town. Past narrators have included Jacob Fortune‑Lloyd, Richard Brown and Tom O'Bedlam, and that's before you get to the various radio dramatisations. But few can match this narration from the Howards End actor Samuel West, first recorded in 2011, which captures the menace and seediness that runs through Greene's novel.
It tells of 17-year-old Pinkie Brown, a razor-wielding hoodlum who is trying to cover up the murder of a journalist, Charles 'Fred' Hale, killed by his gang in revenge for a story he wrote on Pinkie's now deceased boss, Kite. Pinkie sets about wooing Rose, a naive young waitress who unwittingly saw something that could implicate him in the murder. His plan is to marry her to prevent her testifying against him. But he doesn't bargain for the doggedness of Ida Arnold, a middle-aged lounge singer who smells of 'soap and wine' and who happened to meet Hale on the day he was killed. On learning of his death, Ida refuses to believe the reports that he died of natural causes. She resolves not only to bring his killer to justice but to protect Rose from a terrible fate.
Brighton Rock is one of several Greene audiobooks being rereleased this year by Penguin; others include The Quiet American (narrated by Simon Cadell), Travels With My Aunt (Tim Pigott-Smith), The Power and the Glory (Andrew Sachs) and The Heart of the Matter (Michael Kitchen).
Available via Penguin Audio, 9hr 10min
Normally Weird and Weirdly NormalRobin Ince, Macmillan, 9hr 7minInspired by his ADHD diagnosis, the co-presenter of Radio 4's science comedy The Infinite Monkey Cage investigates neurodiversity and asks: what does it mean to be normal? Read by the author.
It's Probably NothingNaga Munchetty, HarperCollins, 11hr 33minMunchetty narrates her memoir-cum-polemic about her struggles with adenomyosis and the enduring problem of medical misogyny.
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