Pinkie Brown
Pinkie is the seventeen-year-old head of a Brighton race gang, and the leader of Cubitt, Dallow, and Spicer. Pinkie orders Charles Hale’s murder in revenge for Kite’s death, which he…
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Rose
Poor, timid, and even more devout than the morbidly religious Pinkie, Rose is working as a waitress at Snow’s café when she finds the Kolley Kibber card Spicer placed on one of the café’s…
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Ida “Lily” Arnold
Ida is the unlikely, self-appointed detective at the heart of Brighton Rock’s crime story. Like many men before him, Charles Hale is attracted to Ida’s buxom and earthy beauty when he meets her on…
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Charles “Fred” Hale
A reporter for The Messenger newspaper, Charles Hale travels to Brighton as a Kolley Kibber man, responsible for placing cards in shops around the town as part of a promotion meant to attract new readers…
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Colleoni
Colleoni is the most powerful mob boss in Brighton. He is a small man with a round belly who walks on tip toe and has thinning gray hair, but his unassuming appearance and dandyish air…
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Kite
Kite was once the head of the Brighton gang that Pinkie now runs. Killed with a razor blade by Colleoni’s mob while waiting alone at a railway station, Kite was like a father to…
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Spicer
The oldest member of Pinkie’s gang, Spicer wants to be done with the mob. He’d opposed Hale’s murder from the beginning and dreams of retiring to Nottingham and opening a pub there. He…
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Phil Corkery
Phil Corkery is, in Ida’s opinion, a weak and passionless man, not the kind of lover she would typically pursue, but, while on the hunt for Hale’s killer, she finally accepts his attentions…
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Mr. Prewitt
A breezy and swaggering lawyer with more ambition than skill, Prewitt agrees to help Pinkie marry Rose despite the legal impediments to their underage union. Later, he witnesses Pinkie’s killing of Spicer and agrees to…
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Bill Brewer
A stout elderly man who lives near the tram way with his sick wife, he has neglected to pay his protection subscription to Pinkie. He has, however, made sure to keep his subscription to…
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Jim Tate
The bookie that Ida visits to put money on Black Boy, Tate is often referred to by his friends as “Old Honest” Jim. Like Brewer, he has fallen behind in his payments to Pinkie…
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Judy
Frank’s wife, she has dyed red hair and an air of joviality. Like Ida, she wears California Poppy perfume. After Rose’s marriage to Pinkie, Judy welcomes her warmly to Frank’s boarding…
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Molly Pink
Fat and covered in acne, Molly is the one woman on the Brighton pier Charles Hale thinks might be desperate enough to keep him company while he tries to avoid being murdered by Pinkie’s…
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Sylvie
Spicer's girlfriend. Pinkie meets Sylvie the day after Spicer's death. Pinkie feels sexual attraction to Sylvie in a way he never has before. She leads him out to one of the cars to have…
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Minor Characters
John Cubitt
A big man with red hair and a slow, friendly air and a tendency toward sentimentality when he’s drunk, he leaves the gang when he discovers that Pinkie murdered Spicer.
Ted Dallow
Muscular and possessing of a broken nose and blank expression, Dallow is always ready to join Pinkie in a bit of violence or criminal activity. Dallow does feel for Rose, though. He draws the line at hurting her.
Mrs. Prewitt
A bitter woman who likes tinned salmon, Mrs. Prewitt is, in her husband’s estimation, a hag. Mr. Prewitt tells Pinkie that she has ruined him.
Police Inspector
A tired man worn down with care, he tries to talk Pinkie into leaving Brighton. He doesn’t want a mob war just as the peak tourist season is coming on. He wants peace.
Frank
The owner of the boarding house where Pinkie and his gang live, Frank is most known for his ironing prowess. His wife, Judy, is having an affair with Dallow behind his back.
Delia
Molly’s pale, skinny friend, she does little more than squeal every once in a while.
Clarence
A somber man who frequents Henekey’s bar and pines openly for Ida, Clarence eventually declares her a terrible woman.
Charlie Moyne
A drunken gambler, he meets Ida on her way to meet Molly Pink in the offices of Carter and Galloway. As Charles Hale’s face fades from Ida’s memory, it is gradually replaced by the bloodshot mug of Charlie Moyne.
Old Crowe
Old Crowe lives down the stairs from Ida and often joins in her Ouija board sessions.
Harry
A bar fly at Henekey’s, he flirts with Ida and is rejected by her.
Crab
A young criminal who was once run out of Brighton by Pinkie and his gang, Crab is now Colleoni’s right-hand man. A Jew, he dyes his hair red and has had his nose straightened in order to pass as a gentile.
Samuel
A young man who works for Jim Tate, handing out winnings at the race track.
Mr. Wilson
Rose’s father, Mr. Wilson is small, thin, elderly man with a face marked by suspicion. He refuses to allow Rose and Pinkie to be married. Both of Rose’s parents are given to black moods and show very little affection for their daughter.
Mrs. Wilson
Mrs. Wilson, Rose’s mother, is described as stupid and vindictive. Both of Rose’s parents are given to black moods and show very little affection for their daughter.
Annie Collins
A schoolmate of Pinkie’s, she killed herself by putting her head on the railway tracks when she was fifteen and pregnant with her second child.
Maisie
Maisie is Rose’s favorite co-worker at Snow’s café.
Doris
The senior waitress at Snow’s, Doris wears a habitual sneer.
Piker
Piker went to school with Pinkie and waits on him and Rose when they stop at his Peacehaven pub prior to fulfilling their suicide pact.
Tom
Ida's ex-husband. He desperately wants Ida back, and often writers her love letters.
