Based on his original short story "Havana Night" (Flynn's Detective Magazine, December 1942), The Black Path of Fear is the fifth novel in Cornell Woolrich's Black Series. Like much of Woolrich's work, Black Path of Fear deals with the destruction of love, the individual versus the system, and - of course - revenge. In this case, Bill Scott finds himself on the run from police and trying to prove his innocence after being framed for the murder of the woman he loved, the kept woman of a crime boss he worked for and stole her from.
What sounds like a convoluted plot comes across straightforward, as do many of our hero's escapades, as he winds his way through the labyrinthine streets and underworld - from dark, narrow alleys to decrepit opium dens - of Havana. There aren't many twists or surprises in Black Path of Fear, but that's not why one reads Woolrich; the focus of the story is on the main character's despair and loneliness, and how redemption, vengeance, or the occasional ally, do little to console those who have lost love.
The Black Path of Fear is my favorite title in the Black Series, for while likely intended to describe a lone man's flight from injustice or pursuit of justice, it can also stand as a description of life itself, and how all people are loners struggling to hang on to that brief glimmer of light that the rest of the world seems determined to extinguish at any given chance.
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