Tomelty, the crusty-yet-lovable old paterfamilias in many a black and white film of the 1940s and 1950s, was also a novelist and playwright of some standing. Born in Co Down, his first job, like our own Brendan Behan, was as a house-painter. Moving to Belfast, he founded the Ulster Group Theatre, mainly for the purpose of producing his own plays. He also wrote two novels, the first of them being the one under review, which appeared in l948. Very dark in tone, it is the harrowing account of how sailor Stephen Durnin descends into madness, after making an illmatched marriage with the widow of his former Captain and then trying to murder her. A very powerful read, but don't try it if you're feeling a bit down.