What makes this novel unique in the Goodis canon is that, while as dark, detailed, layered and sad as Goodis' later work, "Dark Passage" manages to project a sense of hope absent in his post-Hollywood novels. Where the later material, as impressionistic and wonderful as it is, presents characters with no future, a grim past, and a long-shot at momentary, hollow gain (missed, of course), Parry has a tangible, worthwhile goal: freedom. Because he believes he can achieve that goal, meets people who believe he can achieve it and, without question, deserves to achieve it, we ache for him at every obstruction in the road.
Still, Parry is one of Goodis' saddest creations -- a perpetual victim who, in spite of good intentions, finds himself in a vicious, dark vortex -- mostly through his own passiveness. The scenes flashing back to his relationship with his ex-wife are as depressing and heart-wrenching as any Goodis ever wrote. Unlike later Goodis characters, Parry realizes that he must re-make himself both inside and out to have any chance of escaping either of his former incarcerations. Therein lies the balancing act in this novel: the story of his attempt to escape San Quentin (an imprisonment for which is he not to blame) is supplemental to his attempt to escape the real-life traps brought on by his past behavior/demeanor. An exciting & often funny novel (people don't often mention how funny even the darkest Goodis novels can be).