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While still working on his
last Fedora novels, Cory looked for other outlets
for his creative talents and began to write psychological
thrillers.
The first of these, Deadfall,
examines the life of a solitary jewel
thief, and his vulnerabilities. In its
review, Books and Bookmen comments,
“there is a peculiar flavour of high-minded
depravity … and the burglary scenes
are even more exciting than the sexy
ones". Deadfall proved to be Cory’s
most successful book financially, 20th
Century Fox taking it up as a movie
starring Michael Caine, directed by
Bryan Forbes, with John Barry composing
the theme music. .
| Original Title |
Year |
| Deadfall |
1965 |
| The Night Hawk |
1969 |
Take My Drum to England
(published as Even if You Run in the USA)
|
1971 |
| A Bit of a Shunt Up the River |
1974 |
| The Circe Complex |
1975 |
| Bennett |
1977 |
The next novel, The Night Hawk,
focuses on an expert killer and Spanish
nobleman, and ultimately focuses on
the relationships that haunt his family.
The novel was one of Cory's favourites,
and it went on to win the Crime Critics
Choice of the Year award. Take My
Drum to England maps the world of
the bomber, the hijacker, the social
reject who builds an illusion of power.
While writing the psychological
novels, Cory was living in Penarth,
Wales as well as in Torreblanca, Spain,
but he did not use Wales as a setting
until the mid 70s. A Bit of a Shunt
Up the River was published only
in the USA, and investigates the relationship
between the pursuer and the pursued,
with a very suspenseful car chase included.
The Circe Complex, as its name
implies, centres on the hypnotic effect
exercised by a woman on several men
who are hunting stolen jewels. In addition,
it scrutinizes concepts of honesty since
three of the men are “honest” while
one is an ex-convict. The book went
on to win the Sunday Times' Best Crime
Novel of the Year, and was subsequently
made into a 6 part Thames TV series.
The last psychological novel takes
advantage of Cory’s familiarity with Spain. Bennett,
written in 1977, has an unusual twist. A British
detective aptly named Hunter is sent to Spain
to find Bennett, a murder suspect. What he finds
is a journal indicating that there are two people
with that name, one of whom seems to be taking
over the identity of the other.
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