"Hale knew, before he had been in Brighton three hours, that they meant to murder him.."

Brighton Rock by Graham Greene was published in 1938 and later adapted for film in 1947 and 2010. It’s a murder thriller set in the underworld of 1930s Brighton. The title refers to the confectionery traditionally sold at seaside resorts with the name of the resort embedded in the centre and elongated down the length. In the novel it’s used as a metaphor for the personality of Pinkie, the anti-hero protagonist.

It’s the tension between the two faces of Brighton – the illuminated tourist bling and the gritty, mobster-laced industry behind the façade – that sets up the intrigue in Greene's classic 1938 novel of good and evil.

It remains a classic example of the thriller genre.

Read by Jacob Fortune-Lloyd
Abridged by Florence Bedell
Produced by Clive Brill

A Brill Production for BBC Radio 4 Show less