Thieves Fall Out

Written by Gore Vidal and Cameron Kay

Narrated by Will Damron

Lost for more than 60 years and overflowing with political and sexual intrigue, Thieves Fall Out provides a delicious glimpse into the mind of Gore Vidal in his formative years. By turns mischievous and deadly serious, Vidal tells the story of a man caught up in events bigger than he is, a down-on-his-luck American hired to smuggle an ancient relic out of Cairo at a time when revolution is brewing and heads are about to roll.

One part Casablanca and one part torn-from-the-headlines tabloid reportage, this novel also offers a startling glimpse of Egypt in turmoil—written over half a century ago, but as current as the news streaming from the streets of Cairo today.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Brilliance Audio
• Release date: May 26, 2020
• ISBN: 9781799751717

Gore Vidal

Gore Vidal (1925–2012) was born at the United States Military Academy at West Point. His first novel, Williwaw, written when he was 19 years old and serving in the army, appeared in the spring of 1946. He wrote 23 novels, five plays, many screenplays, short stories, well over 200 essays, and a memoir.

Reviews for Thieves Fall Out

[tomdonaghey · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Thieves Fall Out (1953) by Gore Vidal. Gore Vidal was one of America’s great writers, and this mystery/suspense thriller from the early fifties only adds to his shining star. Along with his Edgar Box novels, this book helps illuminate the vast expanse of his abilities.The book is set in Egypt some short time after World War Two. Pete Wells, ex-G.I., has come to Cairo looking for adventure and excitement. His first night in town he drinks himself into a stupor and wakes in a working girl’s bed with nothing but his clothes. Desperate but calm, he tries the American Embassy but gets no help. There is what appears to be a decent man, Hastings, a Brit, in the bar at the hotel for the British and business men. Pete gets offered a job.When he accepts he is immediately drawn into a viscous cauldron of lies and deceit, artifact smuggling, spies and ex-spies, beautiful women and corrupt police. You know, the standard stuff that happens on any given day in North Africa. The plot is rapid paced with bullets and knives everywhere. Pete never knows who to trust as seemingly every character would gladly stab any other at any given moment, just for the fun of it. The scenes of Pete in the desert among the tombs is very memerable. The entirety of the book feels very set in the time post war with characters that might have walked out of a Graham Greene or Helen McInnes novel. While reading this almost seventy years after bring first published you might find it derivative, but remember, this book came before them and set a high bar for what followed.Thieves Fall Out was first published in the 1950s using the pseudonym Cameron Kay.

[ssimon2000-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

4 stars

"Thieves Fall Out" is a fast read that places the reader in post-WWII Egypt, which was still considered an exotic and fascinating locale. In this book, Egypt is a hotbed of intrigue left over from the war. There is corruption everywhere, along with a fortune in ancient treasure just waiting to be plundered. There's revolution brewing in the air, as well. Not exactly a safe place for a foreigner.

The main character, Peter Wells, is a jack-of-all-trades with some military background. When his oil scheme in the States fails, he catches a freighter to Egypt to try to take advantage of other opportunities, but he gets rolled following an evening that included several shots of absinthe. Without a penny left to his name, he begins to seek out locations where schemes are hatched and gets more than he bargained for.

What follows is a story of a guy getting roped into intrigue he doesn't understand in a land where he can trust no one. In proper noir fashion, no one is on the up-and-up: the police are crooked, the women are definitely of the femme-fatale variety, and he is threatened at every twist and turn.

Gore Vidal originally published this under the pen name Cameron Kay, and it was promptly shelved in old used bookstores. Allegedly, Vidal never planned to re-release this one.

Thanks to Hard Case Crime, it has been re-released. Plot-wise, it is one of those books where the reader is left in the dark as much as the protagonist as to what is really going on. It is obviously not deep literature. Don't open this with high expectations and you will enjoy it as a quick fun read. It is an early novel from a writer who went on to successfully hone his writing skills and develop his craft. It's simply one of those quick-reading novels that you can sit back and enjoy in a few moments of escapism and excitement.

[davewilde-1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

"Thieves Fall Out" is a fun, fast read that transports the reader to post WWII Egypt, which, when this was written in the fifties, was still considered an exotic and fascinating locale. Egypt, in this book, is a hotbed of intrigue and spies left over from the war. There is corruption and deceit everywhere you look and a fortune in ancient treasure just waiting to be plucked. And, there's revolution brewing in the air. Not exactly the safest place for an American.

Peter Wells is a kind of jack of all trades with military training and boxing know-how. When he gets pushed out of an oil scheme in the States, he catches a freighter to Egypt, thinking there would be opportunities in oil there, but he gets rolled following a good drinking evening and, with not a penny left to his name, resorts to seeking out a bar/hotel where schemes are plotted and, in the process gets more than he bargained for.

What follows is a story of an innocent guy getting roped into intrigue he doesn't understand and a land where he can't fathom who to trust. Why are they sending him into the desert? What are they after? Who is on his side and who isn't?

It's release is somewhat controversial as it was originally published under a pen name Kay Cameron and promptly assigned to dusty paperback racks in used bookstores. Allegedly, Vidal never planned to re-release this one. But, it has been re-released and it is a smoothly written, action packed, entertaining read. It's basically more of a spy or adventure novel than a Hardboiled novel. Plotwise, it is one of those books where the reader is left in the dark as much as the protagonist as to what is really going on.

It may not be overly literary in scope and it is certainly not one of Hard Case Crime's best selections. Don't open this with overly high expectations and you will enjoy it as a quick fun read. It is an early novel from a writer who went on to hone and develop his craft. It's simply one of those quick reading novels that you can sit back and enjoy.

[anniemod · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

An ex-soldier from WWII, ex-small time criminal (maybe ex anyway) washes up in Cairo, spending the days in doing nothing. Until one day he gets robbed and the American embassy is not in any hurry to help him. So Peter Wells needs to find his own way - and a job that just appears out of nowhere seems to be the answer to his hopes. Vidal's novel, written under a pseudonym, is called a pulpy novel by the publisher that brought it back and the description is pretty accurate. Peter manages to get himself in the middle of a grand adventure (with a bit of stealing on the side) in Egypt - and somewhere along the way he meets a woman that he falls in love with (and she falls for him), another woman that thinks she has him around her small finger, a corrupt policemen, a group of locals that really want to kill our guy, a few other people that seem to have the same designs on him and more lies than you want to count. Add a revolution and a few more interesting characters and the book ends up as a lot better novel than I expected. It is cheesy and it is wonderful; it shows its age and it is still a very readable book. We live in the age of the reprints - a lot of books that had not seen the light of day for decades are getting reprinted. And this one should have stayed in print - it may not be even close to the usual Vidal books but it is still a great adventure story - a bit naive, a bit racist, a bit unbelievable. And still - a book I really liked.

[unkletom_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Gore Vidal, renowned for his more literary work, did go through a rough early in his career and supplemented his income by writing several crime novels under the pseudonyms Edgar Box and Cameron Kay. The Edgar Box books have lings since been re-released under his own name but ‘Thieves Fall Out’, the one book he wrote a Cameron Kay, went out of print and has not been re-released, until now.Aptly given a name reminiscent of the old adage that there is no honor among thieves, ‘Thieves Fall Out’ tells the story of Pete Wells, a former soldier turned drifter, who wakes up in a Cairo whorehouse unaware of how he got there or where his money went. Receiving little assistance from the American consulate he sets out in search of some scheme to pick up some quick cash. Needless to say, he finds more than he bargains for. What follows is an interesting, although not exceptional, romp up and down the Nile in the days before the overthrow of Egypt’s King Farouk involving smugglers, ex-spies, corrupt cops and sexy femme fatales. It is not without its twists and turns but none that will totally gobsmack the reader. One thing that troubled me was the condescending attitude that Vidal’s character had about anyone Egyptian. Even though Wells himself was no paragon of virtue, he had no problem describing anyone he encountered as dirty, unattractive, scheming and untrustworthy. While I really applaud the folks at Hard Case Crime for resurrecting so many great pulp classics and providing them with such stimulating retro covers, the bottom line is that many books go out of print for a reason. I this case, if it weren’t for the fact that it was written by someone as famous as Vidal, I probably would have given it a pass.*The review book was based on an advanced reading copy obtained at no cost from the publisher in exchange for an unbiased review. While this does take any ‘not worth what I paid for it’ statements out of my review, it otherwise has no impact on the content of my review.