Almost anyone can be a publisher if they are wiling to read widely, exercise good taste, and take a few risks. Naxos AudioBooks, which has pioneered great versions of Finnegans Wake, and the works of Jane Austen, is branching out this month with a 10-hour recording of William Lindsay Gresham’s Nightmare Alley. William Lindsay who? I’d never heard of this forgotten Americancorrect crime writer, briefly married to Joy Davidman (who, later, was the doomed wife of C.S. Lewis). In its day, Lindsay’s highly original portrait of the dark side of the American dream, seen through the desperate world of carnival sideshows, was a hit. Read by Adam Sims, it makes for an enthralling listen for a long car journey. Hats off to Naxos for the discovery.

This extraordinary and mesmerising 1946 cult novel was born of the author’s lifelong fascination with the sophisticated tricks behind American carnival and the sideshows of Coney Island. Its clever and ambitious protagonist, Stan Carlisle, learns how to dupe the gullible public, and sets out to make huge bucks from faked spiritualism. He treats others as ruthlessly as he was treated as a child, but is plagued by his own demons which are as destructive as those he conjures. Matched by a spectacular narration.

Gresham’s little-remembered noir masterpiece deserves a whole new generation of readers, and Adam Sim’s dark performance is a marvellous way to reach them. The story begins in a carnival, which provides a narrator’s dream assortment of characters. Though some are unmistakably comic, Gresham’s vision is anything but lighthearted. His protagonist, Stanley Carlisle, is a mind reader cum spiritualist who preys on the lonely and despairing without recognising the blackness at his own centre. Sims is alive to the tragedy of Carlisle but never seeks to soften him. He coldly follows Carlisle on his unmerciful path – right to the devastating but inevitable end.

Gresham’s little-remembered noir masterpiece deserves a whole new generation of readers, and Adam Sims’s dark performance is a marvellous way to reach them. The story begins in a carnival, which provides a narrator’s dream assortment of characters. Though some are unmistakably comic, Gresham’s vision is anything but lighthearted. His protagonist, Stanley Carlisle, is a mind reader-cum-spiritualist who preys on the lonely and despairing without recognising the blackness at his own centre. Sims is alive to the tragedy of Carlisle but never seeks to soften him. He coldly follows Carlisle on his unmerciful path – right to the devastating but inevitable end.

William Lindsay Gresham’s Nightmare Alley is noir at its finest. Originally published in 1946, this reissued audiobook is a pinnacle of the genre.
Stanton Carlisle wants what most everyone does, fame and fortune. The American dream. He will stop at nothing to achieve it. Working his way up from an amateur sleight-of-hand artist in the traveling Ten-in-one shows, to a successful fake mind-reading act in vaudeville, the more he gets, the more he wants. Together, he and his wife Molly start a ministry where they attract wealthy ’marks’ for séances to contact loved ones in the afterlife. All Stanton and Molly need is one big score, and they’ll be set for life. But greed is a dangerous thing, and sometimes, if you’re not careful, the tables can turn on you.
With stark detail, Gresham shows the life of a traveling carnival. Every detail of the ups and downs is chronicled, along with characters so real to life that they could jump off the page. Including some of the best dialogue in fiction. You could tell he really knew the subject well, and that shows through in spades. His insight into human psychology, and the vernacular of the times, really make this novel powerful.
I listened to this audio version and found the narration by Adam Sims extremely satisfying. He had a different voice for each character’s dialogue, and I found that it enriched the story nicely.
I truly believe this to be one of the best noir novels I’ve ever read (or listened to). It’s a shame the author didn’t write but two novels, but there is also something fitting about that as well. It seems to make this book all the sweeter. Highly recommended.