They Shoot Horses, Don't They?

Horace McCoy

May 2011 · Profile Books

About this ebook

During the Depression, Gloria and Robert enter a dance marathon in return for three square meals a day and a chance at winning the big-money prize. Under the intense scrutiny of the media, corporate sponsors and obsessive fans, the competing couples are put through a series of gruelling and humiliating feats of endurance, until they begin to fight among themselves and betray each other. As days and weeks go by, the tension reaches boiling point, and this pitch-black tale of desire and desperation heads towards a violent conclusion.

Ratings and reviews

I could not put it down, although I knew how it ended. The book lays bare human desperation mixed with hope.

And this was an investment. And sometimes a person needs to be decisive regardless of the consequences, because humans also shoot things other than horses, don't they?

About the author

Horace McCoy was born near Nashville, Tennessee in 1897. During his lifetime he travelled all over the US as a salesman and taxi-driver and his varied career included reporting, sports editing, acting as bodyguard to a politician, doubling for a wrestler, and writing for films and magazines. A founder of the celebrated Dallas Little Theatre, his novels include I Should Have Stayed Home (1938), and Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye (1948). He died in 1955.