“This is a subtle and powerful novel about the relation of a lapsed Catholic to his lost faith and his homosexual nature, set amidst scenes of lust, violence, and death in the New York slums. I found all its characters lovable because they are created with so much truth. The good priest is as true as the bad boys—and that’s really saying something!” —Christopher Isherwood

“In Such Dark Places is an unusually impressive first novel . . . that can be read in one sitting but will linger in one’s mind long afterwards.” —Chicago Daily News

“Caldwell writes a deceptively simple prose, without decoration, metaphor, or simile. In Such Dark Places is so satisfying and so completely realized that I don’t want to brand Caldwell by comparing him to established novelists or to call him, as we often do first novelists, ‘promising.’ He is here, well worth reading now and watching for in the future.” —Doris Grumbach