Nightmare Alley

New York: Rinehart, 1946. First Edition. Endpapers foxed, one small and faint smudge, else fine in a very good dustjacket marred only by a 3/8” chip to the spine’s upper corner and light wear to its base. Seldom seen in a jacket this nice. An acclaimed model for postmodern noir, but if you like books with happy endings, don’t bother. 2 films (1947 and 2021) were also good but also not cheery. It is set at the lowest level of shady carnival life with the corrupt hustlers and schemers that are its seedy inhabitants, their crimes, cons, torments, treacheries, exploitations, deceits, and betrayals, driving a downward spiraling plotline with a more hopeless ending than an eternity spent feeling around in a dark cave for a black flashlight that isn’t there.