The film is the rare adaptation that shines and this is due entirely to the superb source material. A story driven by the language, a tone poem in the form of a hard-boiled crime piece. It’s a wonderful piece of work, the characterizations are all spot on, the cadences of the dialog are pitch perfect, Higgins is plumbing the depths of observation and seeking out the grit in the deceptions that career criminals live and die on. Beautiful writing, haunting characters that leap from the page.