In Plan B, Himes uses the omniscient third person narrative so familiar from the hard-boiled detective fiction of Raymond Chandler. Himes often reports even the most horrific of incidents in an unemotional, clinically descriptive way, so as to subtly heighten the reader's horror, and hint that these atrocities are fairly commonplace. There are moments, however, when Himes' narrative is full of rage, such as his description of the horrific living conditions of slum apartments, or the violent racism of the white policemen. In contrast with the mostly clinical narration, these passages seem to jump off the page, so that Himes' outrage becomes the reader's own.

In the figures of Coffin Ed and Grave Digger, Chandler presents the reader with two heroic protagonists: they seem to be larger than life, their deeds little short of miraculous. In this way, Himes primes the reader's expectations: in a piece of detective...