In this 1946 crime noir classic, time is both its existentialist theme and a plot device.

The story's central character, George Stroud, is plagued by the "big clock", his metaphor for the tedium of his life, moving him steadily toward mortality as one day, one meeting, one dinner is nothing more than a repetition of the previous days'. Contributing to his discontent is a marriage in trouble and his job as an editor a Crimeways, one of several publications owned by Earl Janoth - a media mogul (before media met mogul). Janoth runs a highly competitive operation that encourages corporate conformity and overachievers. Another use of the time (clock) metaphor is as a symbol for the corporation machinery which grinds the worker down.

When Stroud is given a special assignment to locate a man who was a witness to a murder, time becomes the plot element that gives the story its suspense. The man Stroud is to locate is himself. It is just a matter of time before he is found out.