Odds against tomorrow

William P. McGivern

The situation is a nightmare waiting to happen -- a racist ex-con gets drawn into the planning of a heist by a crooked ex-cop, and they are forced to include a young black man who is in debt to a mobster. What can go wrong does go wrong in Odds Against Tomorrow, a bleak, mesmerizing thriller by William P. McGivern, published in 1957 and reminiscent of the novels of W.R. Burnett.An ex-con named Earl Slater and a disgraced former cop named Dave Burke agree to work together to rob a small bank in a small Pennsylvania town. Circumstances force them to include a young singer named Johnny Ingram, whose ex-wife and young daughter have been threatened by a low-life mobster to whom Ingram owes money. The problem is that Ingram is black, and Slater is a bitterly prejudiced man who taunts Ingram, humiliating him by calling him Sambo. With the tension already high, the robbery is a tactical...

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