The problem with Harold Robbins books is that you can’t read them in public because the morality police (or your old aunt) may swoop down on you for ’’reading sexually explicit literature’’.
Don’t let that deter you from picking this novel up. ’’Never Love A Stranger’’ is Robbins’s first novel written in 1947 and has all the ingredients (romance, suspense and tragedy) for satisfying any fiction lover. And to top it, the book is far less explicit than his later work and this works in its favour.
The novel is the saga of racketeer Francis Kane who moves from an orphanage to tackle the mean American streets of the 1920’s. Its an innocent love-hate story, not just between people but the society and environment at large. The book features some very real and likable characters..
I read this book from my grandfather’s collection of fiction books during my summer holidays back in 1986, and it’s been with me ever since.
Incidentally, this book was made into a movie in 1958 starring Steve McQueen and John Drew Barrymore (father of Drew Barrymore).