Product Description
NYPD criminalist Lincoln Rhyme joins his beautiful protégé, Amelia Sachs, in the hunt for the Coffin Dancer -- an ingenious killer who changes appearance even faster than he adds to his trail of victims. They have only one clue: the madman has a tattoo of the Grim Reaper waltzing with a woman. Rhyme must rely on his wits and intuition to track the elusive murderer through New York City -- knowing they have only forty-eight hours before the Coffin Dancer strikes again.Amazon.com Review
This return engagement for quadriplegic criminologist Lincoln Rhyme isstrong on forensic details as Rhyme tracks an elusive assassin known onlyby the tattoo that gives this fast-paced thriller its title.

Three witnesses to a murder could put a millionaire arms dealer behind barsfor good. When one of them, the co-owner of Hudson Air, is blown up in aplane bombing with the Dancer's fingerprints all over it, the FBI takes theother witnesses into protective custody. Only Rhyme can decipher a crimescene, read the residue of a bombing, or identify a handful of dirt wellenough to keep up with the killer. Helped by Amelia Sachs, his brilliantand able-bodied assistant, Rhyme traces the Dancer through Manhattanstreets, airports, and subways. The psychological tension builds rapidlyfrom page one all the way to the stunning and unexpected denouement. At thesame time, Jeffery Deaver slowly develops the against-all-odds love affair betweenRhyme and Sachs. Fans of Patricia Cornwelland others in the growing subgenre of forensic thrillers will find a lot toenjoy in Deaver's latest. --Jane Adams ... Read more

Customer Reviews (228)

Enjoyable, but not credible
1) The killer is unstoppable even by all the forces of the police and the FBI combined, and 2) The criminologist is a Sherlock holmes with none of the credibility of Holmes. To the point that the total lack of credibility ruins the novel for the reader.

So good a driving distraction
Bought this to listen to during an eleven hour drive to the Outer banks of North Carolina. It was so well read by Joe Montagna that I became completely engrossed to the point of missing two different exits and once getting on I 64 west instead of east. I would caution parents that it has strong adult language and would not recommend listening with kids in the car.

Another in the line of Lincoln Rhyme Novels
Another great job in suspense and twists. Keeps you on the edge of your seat trying to figure out which way the twist will go next!

Throws a few curveballs
This book has a sophomore slump feel to it.It just didn't have the same solid drive as The Bone Collector.Characters were static and got into a lot of cliched situations.It's during the last third to quarter that the book really picked up and proved itself.The airplane parts were interesting, something not found that often in books of this ilk.

A Time pass read
Though i am averse to fiction stuff yet i sometime fiddle with these when i am too saturated with reality. This novel really took me offto a non-real world and pace of the story never let its hook off me . I never felt like reading 500 pages . Though the theme was quite the same as other rhyme novels (lincoln chasing a ghost like criminal who leaves no trace)yet there are brief interesting interludes like gay feeling of coffin dancer for his accomplice or The seducing of Linclon by Sacks (which might be given more space in future novels) . Overall a return on investment though not a overthetop kinda stuff. ... Read more

Product Description
“Robert B. Parker is that rarity–a prolific author whose books are consistently original, suspenseful and fascinating. His crackling dialogue is always fresh and smart-alecky. You’re happily hooked before you know it.”-Forbes

Heidi Bradshaw is wealthy, beautiful, and well connected–and she needs Spenser’s help. In a most unlikely request, Heidi, a notorious gold digger recently separated from her latest husband, recruits the Boston P.I. to accompany her to her private island, Tashtego, for her daughter’s wedding. Spenser is unsure of what his role as personal bodyguard will entail, but he consents when it’s decided that he can bring his beloved Susan Silverman along.

It should be a straightforward job for Spenser: show up for appearances, have some drinks, and spend some quality time with Susan. Yet when his old nemesis Rugar–the Gray Man–arrives on Tashtego, Spenser realizes that something is amiss. With a hurricane-level storm brewing outside, the Gray Man jumps into action, firing fatal shots into the crowd of wedding guests and kidnapping the bride–but Spenser knows that the sloppy guns-for-hire abduction is not Rugar’s style. Unable to prevent the attack, Spenser will stop at nothing to recover the kidnapped bride and figure out how the Gray Man is connected. It’s up to Spenser to decide who the real enemy is . . . before more people end up dead. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (69)

Terrible ending
I don't know what's going on with Robert Parker,but this Spenser novel isn't like the old ones. The book didn't draw me in until Chapter 8. I thought the plot and concept were good, but that's about it.

SPOILERFOLLOWS. Don't read if you are getting the book:

The ending was awful. Basically Spenser lets a mass murderer go free, a guy who murders a minister, a wedding groom, and several security guys in cold blood. Why did Spenser let him go? Because the bad guy's semi-legitimate daughter won't have anyone left after her mother gets put away? Gimme a break!!! What kind of a person would let a young woman go off with psychopathic father like that. Ridiculous!

Spoiler Alert!
SPOILER ALERT!

In this one, Spenser is hired to cover a rich-couple's wedding (on a private island, no less), and takes Susan along.

A team of assassins arrives, kills the groom, kidnaps the bride, AND KILLS SUSAN SILVERMAN!!!!!!!!

Yes, the tedious Susan is finally (FINALLY!) terminated.

This causes jubilation at the wedding, and everybody forgets the groom (and also the minister, who has been killed), and even the kidnapped bride, and celebrates.

The Gray Man and Spenser reconcile, because GM has done what Spenser should have done years ago: get rid of Susan.

Everyone lives happily ever after.

No.Only kidding.

Susan doesn't die.Darn it.

She continues her tedious existence and pops up here from time to time, making the novel even less coherent than it already is.

Most people don't like the unfinished ending.But I think that's the best part.

The complexity of the crime in combination with the softness of the ending weaken what could have been a very powerful book
While this book still sparkles with the crispness and quality of the dialog and there is an adversary worthy of Spenser, the circumstances of the main crime and the resolution are a bit too extreme.
Gold digger extraordinaire Heidi Bradshaw has amassed a fortune through marrying and divorcing well several times and her daughter is about to be married. Even though the wedding will take place on a private island and she has hired an excellent security firm, Heidi also hires Spenser to attend. He is given no real instructions regarding his role, so with Susan Silverman at his side, Spenser is in the crowd as the "happy" couple is about to wed.
However, an extremely sophisticated group arrives by helicopter, kidnaps the bride and kills the groom and every member of the security detail. This group is led by Rugar a.k.a. the Gray Man and when a hurricane arrives, Spenser is able to escape and extract Susan from the group of hostages. Even though Spenser is paid off, his sense of pride and responsibility keeps him working the case, which is baffling because there is no ransom note. The trail involves local crime lords, international spying, child sexual abuse and the honor among thugs for hire. There is a resolution, but it is extremely tame, there is no climactic shootout or confrontation.
The main crime is so sophisticated that the complexity is on the border of overwhelming, it could have been toned down a bit and that would have improved the story. Given the number of deaths, while the ending is somewhat noble, it evokes no real tension or excitement. One of the high points is when Spenser, Hawk, Susan and Pearl are having Thanksgiving dinner together and Susan voices the love they have for each other.

Two stars because it is Parker
I am a long time RBP fan.That is now said.However, this book should have been 3 chapters long.One in which he gets hired, one to go to the wedding see Gray Man, kill him and then a wrap up chapter.Despite the fact that the rest of the book is pretty standard (if not tired) RBP Spenser, the whole book does not work because of the beginning. It is his JOB to be there for his employer.Yet Spenser drags Susan along to his job, sees his Arch Enemy and does NOTHING!!!!What the hell did he think GM was there for?!At bare minimum Susan should have been sent home and Hawk called in to deal with this.Also, wayyyyyy too much Susan.It would be OK if she would do something.By now it is like watching paint dry when she is in a chapter.Let something happen to her like some of the previous novels.Or better yet, make a couple of books with barely a reference to her at all.

Thank goodness, I got this one from the Library.I give it two stars just because of RBP. Don't waste your money.

Quick fix for most of this book:

If RBP had not let The Gray Man be seen at the start of the wedding and let it be a surprise later that it was him, the book would have worked and everyone would be happy (at least I would have).I just cant believe ole Spense let it happen that way.

Spenser, come back!
First on, let's focus on the positives: for almost four decades the Spenser stories have collectively been, without doubt, one of the greatest detective series ever.He and his allies (most notably his paramour Susan Silverman and his tougher-than-nails sidekick Hawk) have meted out their own special justice in over three dozen mysteries--most but not all in the Boston area.

Throughout this series Spenser's fans could always count upon his quick wit, fast hands, an unshakeable ethical code, and his "See It Through to the End" credo.Whether the cases involved a missing person, a cheating spouse, personal security, or even carrying out vengeance, Spenser's work always carried with it an ethical dilemma from which true justice would have to be extracted, with or without the consent of his employer.

I've been reading these novels ever since my late college years in the early 1970s ("The Godwulf Manuscript"), and I have always been enthused every time a new Spenser paperback hit the shelves.During the interim I felt I always got what I'd paid for: humor, adventure, a clever plot, and a compelling case that moored my guy in a quandary that required an unusual and clever resolution. And I loved Parker's spare writing style, one that always seemed to me to symbolize how Hemingway would have written had he a sense of humor.

That is, until recently.Not usually a naysayer, I've heard the complaints of others and yet I tried to ignore what they were saying: the formula is getting stale; there have been too many trips to the well; no new ground is being broken.But I hung in there...the books were still fun, and I'd rather spend my time inside Spenser's head, even on a bad day, than with most characters on their best.

But with "Rough Weather," I have to admit that I, too, am getting bored.It's not just that for the umpteenth time he's re-treading an old character, doing more or less a sequel. No, it's more than that.It's kind of a...well...a boredom has set in.Like so many other fans, I think Mr. Parker is just earning a paycheck.

As I read "Rough Weather" I once again watched as all the basic elements were wheeled out: the sexy repartee between Our Hero and the perpetually "ready for a roll in the hay" Ms. Silverman; the racially centered badinage between him and Hawk (whose most essential feature lately is to alternate his speaking style between that of a street thug and a college graduate); the inevitable punch out scene where our Hunk knocks out a tough guy; and the women who throw themselves at him but he remains true to Dear Old Sue.

But it goes further than even that: in "Rough Weather," the antagonist doesn't even remain consistent within his own characterization.He's appeared before, and up until now the most interesting thing about him has been his sheer professionalism; he is maddeningly thorough and NEVER makes a mistake.In fact, he's the one foe who has come closest to ending Spenser's reign.But by the end of this novel he's behaving like a sniveling fool.

And yes, everything HAS been done before. We know that Spenser is going to run up against some amalgamate of evil corporate types; sexually frustrated women who spin out of control when he walks by; pseudo intellectuals who appear to know it all but are only a Spenser quip away from a humbling experience; tough brutes who would scare the pants off you and me, but Spenser and Hawk routinely dispatch like they're swatting flies, and the perennially steamy repartee between Spenser and Susan, who falls into a swoon with him about a dozen times a book.

Unfortunately, I think, after all of this time, that P.I. Spenser may finally be facing the one fundamental foe he cannot vanquish, the one enemy he cannot overcome: a languid Robert B. Parker, who has gotten too comfortable himself, and is content with doing what Our Hero never would: phoning it in.
... Read more

Product Description
Five CDs, 6 hrs.
performance by Joe Mantegna

The powerful prologue sets the tone. Gabe, the narrator of the novel, is visiting an old man—his uncle, Angelo—at the hospital. The uncle is dying a lonely and solitary death, abandoned by his family, deserted by everyone but Gabe. As Gabe keeps his sad vigil, a woman, Mary, enters the hospital room. He has never seen or heard of her before—but she knows an awful lot about him and even more about Angelo. She tells Gabe that there's much he should know. And as she begins to recount the real story of Angelo's past—and as Gabe, in his own first person voice, tells his own story as it intersects with Angelo's—Gabe learns not only his family history, he confronts important truths about who he is and what he's going to become.Part One is the story of the making of a powerful New York mobster—Angelo Vestieri. In a shocking opening in Sicily, Angelo's father must make a decision about his eldest son. The family then escapes to America (a scene of a fire on their boat is harrowing and indelible). As Angelo adjusts to his new life, he, along with his best friend Pudge, discovers what must be done to survive: skirt the law as a child, break the law as a teenager, then, as he grows up, become the leader of the law-breakers. His story unfolds against the backdrop of New York from the early part of the century to the early 1930's: the gang wars, the criminal mentality, the relationships between gangsters and their women, the loyalty between men, the moral codes that are embraced or discarded. Part One ends with a tragedy that occurs in Angelo's life, one that drives him further along the path of a hardened gangster with one goal only: to win.Part Two picks up Angelo and Pudge's story 30 years later. They are at the top—and they must face one last gang war. This is where Gabe enters the story as Angelo's surrogate son. Angelo and Pudge teach the boy everything there is to know about being a gangster. And, as the action unfurls—and there is a LOT of action—Gabe must ultimately decide whether or not to follow in the footsteps of the men he loves or join the safer, and less exciting, world of the non-gangster.The book comes full circle, dealing with Angelo's last days—and one final truth that Gabe discovers about himself and his past.
Amazon.com Review
It will come as no surprise to anyone who understands the derivative nature of filmmaking that Lorenzo Carcaterra's newest has already been bought for a TV miniseries. After all, how many times can you rerun all three parts of The Godfather? Here the author of Sleepers and Apaches provides a full accounting of the life of one Angelo Vestiere, told from the perspective of two people who witnessed it firsthand: Gabe, the street kid who ultimately betrayed Angelo's hope that he would succeed him; and Mary, the woman who loved him. One knows a secret about the other, which isn't revealed until the book's final pages. But by that time the secret doesn't matter and sheds no more light on Angelo than the reader has gleaned in the previous chapters.

Angelo has few redeeming characteristics. As the protagonist of this sprawling novel of the rise of organized crime in America, he never earns the reader's empathy, despite Carcaterra's attempts to humanize his central character by presenting the "code of the gangster" as a believable rationale for Angelo's existence and his success in his chosen career. By far the more interesting thugs who people this book are Pudge, Angus McQueen, and Ida the Goose, a trio of fellow gangsters the author pulls into Angelo's orbit. Despite their moral and ethical shortcomings, they are picaresque enough to have a certain raffish charm. But Angelo is no Don Corleone or even Tony Soprano. And while Carcaterra's a journeyman writer, he's not ready to inherit the mantle of the late (and in this case sadly lamented) Mario Puzo. --Jane Adams ... Read more

Customer Reviews (58)

An ok storyline
This book has taken me a while to get through. I find the story a bit slow

Inside the mind of a Gangster....
Wow...i just finished this book and am so amped up right now.This was phenominal to say the least.. i wish i could give it 6 stars.I love gangster movies like The departed, Scarface, American Gangster. i decided to try out this book called Gangster since the title alone had me hooked and curious.This books takes off like a rocket but kind of piddles in the middle at a certain point and i wondered if it was worth finishing but I am SOOO glad i did.This is one of my favorite books of all time and i may go reread it again since i rechecked it out at the library. I also liked the little tidbits of information about the life of Gangsters, such as their habits and what they lie and dislike...
Peace out.

The Codfather - Weak, Thin, Corny and Cheesy.
I do not understand how this book has garnered the reviews and acclaim that it has. It is anything but a classic. It cannot be mentioned in the same breath as The Godfather or The Sicilian. Agreed, it is about organised crime, but there the similarities end. This book is essentially pulp fiction, worthy of an airport newsstand. Completely disposable. It is a microwave meal of a gangster book. OK if you are hungry but imparting little nutrition and leaving you wishing you had consumed something better.

The characters, from main players Angelo Vestieri, Pudge, and Gabe right through to lesser characters like Richie Scarafino all suffer from a common ailment; They are paper thin, unconvincing, shallow and intrusively so throughout reading the book. One never ever forgets that this is a book whilst reading it. Carcaterra is present at all times, his hamfist hacking away at the rockface of this effort. You are never immersed in its world. If you are ever close to being so, it is not through the book itself, but rather through one's familiarity with the genre as a result of superior works by other authors. Plot devices are conspicuous. Moments intended to be emotionally powerful, are signposted far, far in advance, clumsily executed and go off like dud fireworks when you finally get there. The book feels like a budget TV movie, a pseudo-epic.

It is an OK story, but so poor in its final form. One wonders whether this may have been a draft, which was never polished. It feels uneven in its consistency. The story itself is filled with parts which are just not credible. The death of Vestieri's father is truly weak and incredible. Pudge's death is mildly sad but hardly operatic. Contrast this with Sonny's assassination. Contrast ANY character from The Sicilian with ANY character from Gangster. Its three dimensions versus one dimension. Its living, breathing originality versus derivative, dead, sketchy and immature imitation.

The whole book feels like it is written by a teenager. There is no attention to detail, and seemingly no knowledge of the world in which the book is set - a great surprise considering Carcaterra's reputation for being born and bred within such an environment. The scenes of violence in the book are childishly written and gory without having any impact. Paper characters killing even thinner ones. Small details can be irritating, for example; `The man ...picked up a black homing device with a green button in the center. He pressed down on the button and turned his head away from the dock. The explosion rocked the alley...'. Since when do homing devices have detonators built into them? Early sections when pipsqueaks Angelo and Pudge run a crime empire as teenagers are embarrassingly unconvincing. Teenagers as killers - yes. Teenagers as `Bosses' - no way.

Carcaterra ends many a section of the book with yet more corny Gangster fantasy trailer-voiceover speak. `He was a stone-hearted killer quick to eliminate any enemy who presented the slightest threat to his empire. He was Angelo Vestieri. A gangster'. The much feted `twist' at the end is just so utterly corny and not remotely worth waiting for. By the time you get there, it really doesn't matter anyway. Worthy of a daytime soap perhaps.

Don't believe the hype. This book is childish and very disappointing. One cliché after another. It's a moneyspinner, cynically marketed at an audience created by the works of much better authors. This would be perfect for a TV miniseries, replete with half-baked gangsters, hammy accents, cheesy epic orchestral scores (in the Italian stylee - to take you there), cliff hanger moments cutting to commercials, B-movie melodramatics. Mark my words. The only hope for this may be if the cast provide the depth necessary to breath some life into this complete dud. Gangster? Best advice? Fuggedaboudit! Go and read The Sicilian.

It was a disappointment. It was a big bag of clichés. It was weak and thin. It was GANGSTER.

Maudlin and unrealistic.
Credibility?The author acknowledges the assistance of more than a dozen people in the writing of the book...and not a single one of them explained to him that the end of the barrel of a gun is called the "muzzle," NOT the "nozzle."Whenever someone looked down the "nozzle" of a handgun, I expected them to get extinguished with water.

Sorry, folks, but something like this ruins the whole book.It's not a typo and it's not a minor error.It's evidence that the author doesn't really know what he's talking about and doesn't really care.All of the pontificating about the life of a "gangster" is basically crap.

Of course, there are numerous other errors and problems with the book, but this is typical of the whole.The style is good...too bad about the rest.

An Amazing Book!!!
Wow! I just finished this book today and it was the best fiction mafia book ive ever read. Ive read all the Mario Puzo books and many non-fiction OC books and this was in my top 10! When i read i could feel what Angelo and Gabe were feeling throughout the book. Everything is accounted for so vividly you feel like you are there watching everything like a movie. I recommend this to anyone no matter what your interests are-its amazing! ... Read more

Product Description

From the bestselling author of The Bone Collector and Devil's Teardrop comes this spine-chilling new thriller that pits renowned criminalist Lincoln Rhyme against the ultimate opponent -- Amelia Sachs, his own brilliant protege.

A quadriplegic since a beam crushed his spinal cord years ago, Rhyme is desperate to improve his condition and goes to the University of North Carolina Medical Center for high-risk experimental surgery. In a twenty-four hour period, the sleepy Southern outpost of Tanner's Corner has seen a local teen murdered and two young women abducted. And Ryhme and Sachs are the best chance to find the girls alive.

The prime suspect is a teenaged truant known as the Insect Boy, so nicknamed for his disturbing obsession with bugs. Rhyme agrees to find the boy while awaiting his operation. Rhyme's unsurpassed analytical skills and stellar forensic experience, combined with Sachs's exceptional detective legwork, soon snare the perp.

But Sachs disagrees with Rhyme's crime analysis and so ensues a battle of wits and forensics between Rhyme and Sachs, his best friend and soul mate.Amazon.com Review
It's not easy being NYPD detective Lincoln Rhyme, the world'sforemost criminalist. First of all, he's a quadriplegic. Secondly,he's forever being second-guessed and mother-henned by hisex-model-turned-cop protégé, Amelia Sachs, and hispersonal aide, Thom. And thirdly, it seems that he can't motor hiswheelchair around a corner without bumping into one crazedpsycho-killer after another.

In The Empty Chair, Jeffery Deaver's third Rhyme outing--after1997's The BoneCollector and 1998's The CoffinDancer--Rhyme travels to North Carolina to undergo anexperimental surgical procedure and is, a jot too coincidentally, metat the door by a local sheriff, the cousin of an NYPD colleague,bearing one murder, two kidnappings, and a timely plea for help. Itseems that 16-year-old Garrett Hanlon, a bug-obsessed orphan knownlocally as the Insect Boy, has kidnapped and probably raped two women,and bludgeoned to death a would-be hero who tried to stop one of theabductions.

Rhyme sets up shop, Amelia leads the local constabulary (easilyrecognized by their out-of-joint noses) into the field, and, after someHolmesian brain work and a good deal of exciting cat-and-mousing, theduo leads the cops to their prey. And just as you're idly wonderingwhy the case is coming to an end in the middle of the book, Ameliabreaks the boy out of jail and goes on the lam. Equally convinced ofthe boy's guilt and the danger he poses to Amelia, Rhyme has no choicebut to aid the police in apprehending the woman he loves--no easytask, as she's the one human being who truly knows the methods ofLincoln Rhyme.

Rhyme's specialty combines the minute scientific analysis of physicalevidence gathered from crime scenes and his arcane knowledge of, itwould seem, every organic and inorganic substance on earth. Deavercombines engaging narration, believable characters, and his trademarkability to repeatedly pull the rug out from under the reader'sfeet. Lincoln Rhyme's back all right, and the smart money's bettingthat his run has just begun. --Michael Hudson ... Read more

Customer Reviews (200)

Decent, but Rhyme acts like a child!
This book is decent...not my favorite of Deaver's novels, but not the worst either.

What I really want to mention, though, is not specific to this novel, but to all of Deaver's Lincoln Rhyme novels. Why does Deaver write Rhyme like a child? Because he's disabled, he must act childish. Thom treats him like an infant, telling him when he can and can't have alcohol (or food, etc.)...and instead of firing him on the spot (which I would do, were I in Rhyme's place), Rhyme ends up pouting and frumpy all the time. It's so frustrating.

While I'm thrilled at Deaver's efforts to highlight a gifted and brilliant disabled person in his most popular series, the way he writes Rhyme doesn't just diminish the character but also reinforces the common sterotype that people with disabilities should be treated like children (i.e., if they're physically disabled, they must have the mental capacity of a child...which is obviously not the case with Rhyme and just makes Deaver's characterization inconsistent).

The Empty Chair
Great book!I have never read anything before by Jeffry Deaver, but will definitely look for more by him.This book was a surprise at every turn.Just when I thought I had it figured out, there was always a big surprise.

loved it
I read a lot of Grisham, Demille, Patterson, and Baldacci.This was my first Jeffrey Deaver book and I absolutely Loved it!!!

Fish Out of Water, A Few Hornets Mixed In
This was quick, and I maybe saw one or two things coming when it was all said and done! Jeffery Deaver once again proves why he's a magician with the pen, using sleight of hand, and then more tricks up his sleeve. I'd read some great things about "The Empty Chair," and I really was impressed. Now, to the others out there who thought this sucked, I think you guys suck! I thought this was a great piece of writing by a great author. In North Carolina country, Jim Bell, who made an appearance in "The Coffin Dancer," asks for Lincoln Rhyme's help in this 3rd installment.

Lincoln Rhyme has business in North Carolina. But his business is getting a high-risk operation performed. And Jim Bell, knowing Rhyme is in the area, wants Rhyme's help after a local teen is dead, and two women are abducted. Set the stage for Lincoln Rhyme and Amelia Sachs! They are on the lookout for another young man known as INSECT BOY. And Insect Boy knows his insects, he knows his cat and mouse, and he knows how to elude the proper authorities. The question is, is Insect Boy the suspect they need to be tracking down?

Rhyme in his wheelchair is a genius. And Sachs isn't too bad herself. But when Sachs crosses the local authorities, not to mention Rhyme with a daring move, the ultimate showdown begins. And nobody is certain what she's up to as she goes up against Lincoln. Is Amelia doing the right thing?

I can say for certain that Jeffery Deaver is indeed one of the best authors out there. That's because he can put together a scene, and not have the reader lost. And if that wasn't enough, he does what he does so well, and that's write amazing stories, and he doesn't always let you know where he's going. Yet, you always keep flipping the pages frantically! And I'm going to be on a frantic search for "The Stone Monkey," to see what kind of Houdini is dared attempted. I'll be ready next time, Deaver, you just wait!! Yeah, right. He'll have me going again, but I'll sure enjoy the story!

Twist after twist
Just when I thought I had the culprit nailed, the story took another twist! Excellent read! ... Read more

Product Description
This book was originally intended to be a set of principals designed to maximize the chances for military victory and national survival and minimize the chances of military defeat and human loss.With this view firmly in mind, Sawyer provides the most detailed introduction and commentary yet offered to the Art of War, its author and his age. Features an extensive overview of the history of Chinese Warfare and military thought, including references to the six less well known classics of Chinese military strategy, as well as battle diagrams to help readers visualize the historic military encounters discussed in the book. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (10)

The Art of War on tape by Ralph D Sawyer
This book on tape pays for itself in creative thinking and inspiration. It gives you a fresh look at the your business information. Each time I listen I pickup something new, or create a new view of the same old information. I have already used some of the ideas in my presentations and blew the audience away.
If there was ever a book that needs to be read by a salesman, this is it!
Thank you Ralph D. Sawyer

Hmmm ...
This is the translation I ordered, but wasn't the one I got, so I can't comment specifically on THIS version, which, I'm told, is excellent.I received a version by Gary Gagliardi.

I'm not terribly happy with it - too much "how to apply it to Corporate America and Defeat Your Competitors" interpretation and too little translation.There's also a blatent appeal to the reader to purchase the authors corporate supplemental training seminars - before one gets 3 pages into the text.Really didnt' like that ...

I'll try ordering it again - c'est la vie ...

Out Standing
The Art of War by Sun Tzu, Ralph D. Sawyer
If you looking for a historical document I highly recommend this book. Sawyers interpretation is excellent with a clear understanding of Chinese culture and history. He uses numerous examples of battles that occurred in Ancient China, during Sun Tzu era. His writing is clear and easy to understand. I have read other interpretations of the "Art of War" and some areas are esoteric and confusing, not so in Sawyers version. Sawyers book is almost like having two books in one. He has a concise history of ancient Chinese military, he has his own comments (don't neglect reading the foot notes section.) besides an excellent interpretation of the text. After reading Sawyers translation, I now use it as a guide to base the accuracy of other translations.

Again this is not a "business" guide adaptation of Sun Tzu's book, it is a true historic translation of Sun Tzu's Art of War. I believe Sawyer truly communicates the message Sun Tzu actually meant to convey in his book, as military guide. If you're interested in the military might of ancient China I cannot recommend this book enough.

I have no tactics,...
This is not a book for the bookworm.You have to read it at least one-thousand and one times to be able to use it in everyday applications, but it is worth the time to the serious
student of what true warfare is all about.

To gain all under Heaven one must...
Read the book at least 1001 times.That's all I'm saying. ... Read more

Product Description
2 cassettes/ 3 hours
Read by Joe Mantegna

This is the true story of four young boys. Their potential is unlimited, but they are content to live within the closed world of New York City's Hell's Kitchen and to play as many pranks as they can on the denizens of the street. Until one disastrous summer afternoon what begins as a harmless scheme goes horribly wrong. And the four find themselves facing a year's imprisonment in the Wilkinson Home for Boys.  What happens to them over the course of that year - brutal beatings, unimaginable humiliation - will change their lives forever. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (183)

Midnight Angels
I've read Lorenzo's books, especially Sleepers, and found his narrations to be subperb. Sleepers is my favorite since I identify with growing up in Hell's Kitchen and the orphanage in NYC. His latest novel, Midnight Angels, is a suspenseful mystery story centered in Florence. Like Preston's novel, Monster of Florence, we are learning about the seamy side of human nature. His characters are interesting holding anticipation and delight in their exploits and outcome. Grab the new book!! Rob Fitz in Boston.

Sleepers
A wonderfully, well written true story that certainly holds your attention at every page.I also watched the movie which was also very enjoying. I'm looking forward to other books written by Carcaterra.

A page turner that holds on and doesn't let go
I've read hundreds of books througout my life and there are a few that stick with a person, and "Sleepers" is one that will stick with me forever. I'll not bother recreating the whole premise, as other reviewers have done this justice already. I was literally reading this book while stopped at stop lights, in line at the grocery store, and with any bit of free time I had. You won't regret reading this book...

Truth or fiction-either way it's a great story
Sleepers is a wonderful book that tells the story of a small group of friends whose lives are changed forever by what they intended to be a childhood prank. The boys start out as typical boys roaming the streets of Hell's Kitchen and getting into as much mischief as they possible can. However, one of the boys' pranks finally goes wrong and lands the boys in a Boys home for a years sentence. While the boys are imprisoned they are forced to endure horrible abuses by the guards which are incredibly hard to read. The boys' lives are, all in different ways, forever changed by this absolutely terrible occurences. The book then skips years forward to adulthood for these pranksters. The once inseparable boys have grown apart. One has become a lawyer, one a reporter, and two hitmen...and they all want the gaurds who still haunt them to pay for what they've done. The tale that follows is a riveting plan to claim back their lives from the men who stole their innocence.

The author of the book maintains that this is a memoir of his own youth. This claim is quite controversial. It seems pretty unbelievable to me that all of this could have happened and the author refuses to provide the evidence that would prove his claim...which is understandable considering that if it is true he and his friends would be in a lot more trouble than they ever got into as children. However, true or not, it is definately a great story and worth reading at least once.

A Tale of Grit, Truth, Love and Loyalty - Bravo, Lorenzo. Bravo, and Thanks!
I don't care how much of the story is fabricated; there's plenty here that's real, especially Lorenzo's often brilliantly rendered dialogue. The plot is brilliant as well. I don't like some of the characters, but I respect who they were and who they became and why. Some of the characters are unforgettable: Fat Mancho, Father Carillo, King Benny, Sean Nokes, Marlboro, Carol, Shakes, among others.

I didn't go to reform school, but I spent 9 years in aTexas orphanage where children were either tortured, loved, or tolerated, depending on who was in charge. Many of the scenes and feelings expressed in this story ring true to my experiences there. They could not have been manufactured. It's the overall feel of the story that's convincing and captivates--that driving need for justice (therein termed "revenge"). When you've been tortured as a child, the adult consequences are unavoidable and permanent: mistrust, oversensitivity, the inability to attach and express love--emotionally crippling consequences that haunt one forever. Lorenzo demonstrates clearly an uncommon compassion and understanding of these timeless truths of humanity.

If you get nothing else from this story, get that juvenile detention centers can create monsters or angels and violence begets violence. ... Read more

Product Description
In a novel filled with his signatures -- nerve-shattering suspense, crackling dialogue, scathing wit -- Elmore Leonard proves once again why he sets the standard against which all other crime novels are measured.In Get Shorty, he takes a mobster to Hollywood, where the women are gorgeous, the men are corrupt, and making it big isn't all that different from making your bones:you gotta know who to pitch, who to hit, and how to knock 'em dead.

Get Shorty is now a major motion picture directed by Barry Sonnenfeld and starring John Travolta, Gene Hackman, Rene Russo and Danny DeVito.Amazon.com Review
Nobody writes openings like Elmore Leonard. Case in point: "WhenChili first came to Miami Beach twelve years ago they were having one oftheir off-and-on cold winters: thirty-four degrees the day he met TommyCarlo for lunch at Vesuvio's on South Collins and had his leather jacketripped off." You need to know about this because you need to know whythere's bad blood between Chili Palmer and Ray Bones, the guy who stolehis coat and is now his boss--and has ordered him to collect $4,200 from adead guy. Except the guy didn't die; he went to Las Vegas with $300,000. SoChili goes to Las Vegas, one thing leads to another, and pretty soon he'sin Los Angeles, hanging out with a movie producer named Harry Zimm andlearning what it takes to be a player in Hollywood.

Get Shorty is classic Elmore Leonard: While other people write"crime fiction," Leonard's come up with a masterful social comedy thathappens to be about criminals (and other fast operators). He's a master ofsnappy dialogue and dizzying plot twists. The best parts of GetShorty move along so briskly you almost forget there's somebody with afirm control over the story. And you'll be rooting for Chili to get themoney, the girl, and the studio deal. --Ron Hogan ... Read more

Customer Reviews (58)

Don't ignore the book
Okay, you've seen the movie, which is pretty damn good, and Travolta as "Chili Palmer" is pretty cool, but DON'T IGNORE THE BOOK.Leonard is the master of character and dialogue and an especially keen observer when it comes to greed.Sure, Hollywood is an easy target, but he skewers the movie biz in his oh-so-unique way.If you can erase the film actors from your mind (never an easy task), try to read this book with a fresh eye.It's one delicious ride you won't regret taking.

Great characters in the Damon Runyon tradition
Another reviewer pointed out the Damon Runyon influence and it definitely is there and is indeed an enhancement to this classic crime novel. The small time loan shark, Chili Palmer is the principle character here and he well carries the story, yet is ably assisted by other indelible players such as horror film producer Harry Zimm, superstar actor Michael Weir, former scream queen Karen Flores, wise guy RayBones, and "investor Bo Catlett who's willing to kill if necessary in order to protect his investments.The author's knack for snappy dialogue and profound insight of what makes both major and minor hustlers tick bring these people to life and enables each to impact the plot which strongly affected by each individual's actions.And each of these characters each act and interact in front of a finely tuned Hollywood background which is as skillfully painted as Elmore Leonard's portraits of such cities as Detroit, Miami, Atlantic City, New Orleans, etc.If you're totally unfamiliar with Leonard, this is a great starting point, and if you have already discovered him, this is a must read to experience him in top form.

One more to my Elmore Leonard collection.
I am a huge fan of Elmore Leonard and have wanted to read this book for ages, since I've watched the movie a couple of times.Love it, absolutely love it and highly recommend.

Waste of time
"Get Shorty" is one of the worst books I've read.No suspense, no excitement, boring dialogue, uninteresting characters.I felt profound disappointment at having wasted my time reading it.

Taking Lives And Meetings In La-La Land
1990's "Get Shorty" is half Hollywood parody, half crime thriller in the usual Elmore Leonard vein. Ironically, while the famous movie adaptation got the crime story right somewhat at the expense of the show-biz angle, Leonard's book shines brightest when he's taking on movie making.

Chili Palmer is a self-described shylock who chases a debt runner from Miami to Los Angeles, just a few steps ahead of a dangerous mobster still sore at Chili for punching him out over a stolen coat years ago. There Chili falls in with schlock-making producer Harry Zimm and Harry's ex, scream queen Karen Flores. The three find themselves with a hot property they want to produce into a film, if only they can get star actor Michael Weir, short in size but long in stature, to play the lead.

The first time I read "Get Shorty", it seemed unusually confusing for a Leonard book, very non-linear in the way it unfolds. Reading it again, after having seen the movie, sorted a lot out. The maze-like storyline zags along nicely, the zingers are funnier, and the trademark Leonard voice really comes through.

"I'll make you a deal," Palmer tells one goon who's leaning on Harry for a piece of his dream project. "If you can get out of here before I take my coat off, I won't clean the floor with you, get your yacht-club outfit all messed up."

It's the Hollywood angle that really shines here, Leonard no doubt returning some favors. Weir, when we meet him, turns out to be a typically self-centered product of a culture whose main export is narcissism. At one point, an agent notes Weir is a notoriously risky casting choice because of his propensity for backing up on his commitments.

"I love him, but he's worse than Hoffman and Redford put together," she says.

Sure, the only shooting movie people do is with cameras and paint guns. Still, characters like Michael's agent are plenty ruthless, plotting the destruction of entire careers over lunch simply so their star can have a fresh script to toss away next week.

Another nice aspect to the book is the way it plays to the make-believe nature of the business in its very plot. Reality becomes a flexible thing in "Get Shorty", and in both directions, people talking about how to fix the ending of the movie idea they have even as they consciously relate that idea to the life they are living.

"Get Shorty's" main weakness is an underdone crime story, revolving around a bag inside an airport locker that's a MacGuffin for some backstabbing and bloodshed. The movie made this work by playing more for laughs. The book's version is funny, too, just not as much, with Chili a harder guy than the movie version.

What isn't a problem is Leonard's slightly gonzo take on Hollywood culture, a dream factory that mutates into something surreal and vindictive while remaining gaudy and bright. It's not a bad place to make a living, in the end. Just watch your head. ... Read more

Product Description
A collection of short stories by Stephen King. "Suffer the Little Children" is read by Whoopi Goldberg, "Crouch End" is read by Tim Curry, "Rainy Season" is read by Yeardley Smith, "Dolan's Cadillac" is read by Rob Lowe. Stephen King reads an introduction.Amazon.com Review
Many people who write about horror literature maintain thatmood is its most important element. Stephen King disagrees: "My deeplyheld conviction is that story must be paramount.... All otherconsiderations are secondary--theme, mood, even characterization andlanguage."

These fine stories, each written in what King calls "a burst of faith,happiness, and optimism," prove his point. The theme, mood,characters, and language vary, but throughout, a sense of story reignssupreme. Nightmares & Dreamscapes contains 20 shorttales--including several never before published--plus one teleplay,one poem, and one nonfiction piece about kids and baseball thatappeared in the New Yorker. The subjects include vampires,zombies, an evil toy, man-eating frogs, the burial of a Cadillac, adisembodied finger, and a wicked stepfather. The style ranges fromKing's well-honed horror to a RayBradbury-like fantasy voice to an ambitious pastiche of RaymondChandler and RossMacDonald. And like a compact disc with a bonus track, the book endswith a charming little tale not listed in the table of contents--aparable called "The Beggar and the Diamond." --Fiona Webster ... Read more

Customer Reviews (107)

The Brooklyn Bridge, Over and Over Again
In his introduction to this collection, Stephen King recalls being a credulous youngster who believed all sorts of things--from the reality of Santa Claus to Richard Nixon's plan to get the country out of Vietnam.He is still like this, and willingly accepts the recurring disappointments in exchange for the ability to believe in a story and bring it to life.In this collection, his third following Night Shift and Skeleton Crew, King believes into existence twenty-two stories--and one nonfiction piece--intended to scare the reader "...so badly you won't be able to go to sleep without leaving the bathroom light on."Some of them deliver all too well.

Three of my favorites:

In "Dolan's Cadillac" we live through years of obsessive investigation and planning for revenge.A man traps the mob boss who ordered his wife's death and systematically covers up all evidence of his crime.Perfect.

If you could remove mankind's violent tendencies and bring about "The End of the Whole Mess" of murder and war, you would do it, right?Even if it wasn't the smartest thing to do.

In "Suffer the Little Children" we meet Miss Sidley, a teacher who has been taking care of children all of her adult life.One day her students begin acting strangely...so she takes care of them.

This book is highly recommended for Stephen King fans and readers who enjoy a well-crafted story that makes their brains squirm for a day or two after reading.

Expect the expected--and the unexpected
One of the many things I love about Stephen King as a writer is this--when you read one of his works (whether short story, novella, novel, or epic novel), you get exactly what you expect, along with a bit of what you don't expect. And that's one of the characteristics that make him such an entertaining and amazing author--he keeps building his repertoire and impressing you with talents that you didn't know he had. This collection of short stories allows King to showcase many of the talents you'd expect from him, as well as a number of talents he doesn't often get an opportunity to showcase in his novels. There's a revenge tale reminiscent of Poe's "The Cask of Amontillado" ("Dolan's Cadillac"), a story featuring creepy kids ("Suffer the Little Children"), stories about animated things that shouldn't be animated ("Chattery Teeth" and "The Moving Finger"), apocalyptic tales ("The End of the Whole Mess" and "Home Delivery"), an homage to Lovecraft ("Crouch End"), and what is probably one of King's best short stories, "The Ten O'Clock People"--all pretty standard, and well done, Stephen King fare. And then there's the unexpected--a teleplay ("Sorry, Right Number"), a Sherlock Holmes story ("The Doctor's Last Case"), a poem ("Brooklyn August"), and--the most pleasant surprise of all--a non-fiction piece about King's son's Little League team ("Head Down"), which resulted in an effect I never imagined a piece of Stephen King's writing would have on me: I cried. I will continue to sing the praises of Stephen King and insist that he is one of the most under-rated and under-appreciated writers around. Despite his massive popularity, he is often derided as a one-dimensional writer with no skill outside of his chosen genre--horror. "Nightmares & Dreamscapes" offers ample proof that that is not the case at all. Read it, and be surprised.

2 stars for Seller;5 stars for book
The book had many interesting short stories.I would recommend the book but not the seller, Thriftbooks.The book they sent me had pages out of order.For example, you're reading on page 342 and the next page is 382.The pages were mixed up throughout the middle of the book.All the pages were there but not in order.

Good fun, lots of chills
This collection is chock full of everything King aficionados love, and it'll easily hook the uninitiated.There are many different samples on display, from one of King's true oldies (a Castle Rock story originally published in a college literary magazine, and feeling its roots very deep...when the autumn pumpkins get loving detail, you know it's a young man's voice) to something he finished in about three days in the year this was published.They are, for the most part, very good, full of story and gab, which is what you expect from King.I especially liked 'Popsy', which is a sort of child abductor revenge fantasy meets vampire tale (parents everywhere are confronted with their greatest nightmare and must give a cheer at the end), 'Suffer the Little Children', which kept me up for HOURS later that night, 'Rainy Season', which walks the line between horror and humor very well (the only time King tips his hand is when he name drops 'The Lottery'...you'll see what I mean), and 'Umney's Last Case', since it's clever and I'll gobble up anything Raymond Chandler-esque.

There are actually only a couple of bumps in the road.King's Sherlock Holmes story is passable Conan Doyle, at best.If you want a BRILLIANT modern attempt, read Neil Gaiman's 'A Study in Emerald.'King probably gets a moderate grade because Holmes requires icy precision, subtle restraint and a wry, nimble style of writing, and King, much as I love him and much as he has great talent, is not especially gifted in those areas.(I could be wrong, but I think Holmes makes a pussy joke somewhere in there...reader, I cringed.)

Still, there is much to enjoy here.I won't give a blow by blow of everything I liked (which was a lot), and everything I didn't (which was a little.)Instead, I'll take on two stories, my favorite and the one I liked least.

Crouch End- King goes to Lovecraft country, and I absolutely didn't want it to end.Everything you love about King-- the sense of place and character, dialogue and dialect, rising sense of terror, and flat out crazy, tentacled monsters living under the city streets-- is here.It's also one of the best examples of story and mood working together, instead of fighting with each other.A young couple visiting London go to meet the husband's colleague in Crouch End.The moment they enter the suburb, I became unsettled.It got worse from there.The wife, who (spoiler) lives to tell the tale, notices the strange orange light, the claw-handed child, the people with rat heads (but she imagined it...?), the one-eyed cat who seems to become a vagrant under a bridge later.The woman's tale is interspersed with the kindly officers at the police station, who listen to her story and don't know what to make of it.The editing in this tale is very good, so that the action unfolds as you might see it on television or at the movies.I won't say what happens to the husband, or how it ends, but it's very satisfactory, very frightening, and also very creepy.I had to turn on the lights when I was done, and it was only afternoon.King's command of the British dialect in this is nearly always spot on, and he makes everyday things in the light of day appear sinister and evil.The plotting, writing, everything is good here.Happily, most of the collection falls into this area, though I think this is the best example of the book.

Home Delivery- Unfortunately, everything that is right about Crouch End is wrong about Home Delivery.The story starts out as some kind of Lifetime movie, with an incredibly mousy woman, unable to cope without a man.She once married a dashing sailor, you know, who showed her love, until...until he was drowned at sea.Now, weak minded and pregnant, she must face the void alone.And then the zombies eat the president.Not kidding.That's basically the next line.King's instincts here are wrong, between trying to play all this nonsense dead serious and the wall to wall folksiness of EVERY F---ING SITUATION.The down home charm is one of the reasons I like King, but if you were up in a space shuttle, watching space worms eat your compatriots' brains (don't ask, it'll make sense) and knowing you're next, would your last musings to the world via satellite be 'I did so like all of them, especially the fat guy who dug around in his nose.'Yeah, it's a British character.King's knack for the Brit dialect vanished on this one.Sometimes, it does seem like King will be folksy if it kills him.Then the pregnant woman fights the Ray Harryhausen (in my mind) sailor husband back from the grave, zombies you know.And the men of the island town machine-gun the whole graveyard.And the woman is happy that she'll have a home delivery.Probably the two greatest failings here were the decision to, as I said, play it straight, and the relentless down home chat.Honestly, Steve, I know you have an ear for dialogue.I BELIEVE YOU.

Still, snark ended, this is a very good, creepy read, excellent for curling up with on a dark night.Going through it, piece by piece, you see and understand how much love King has for the craft, how hard he works at it, and how much joy it brings him.It's bound to bring you happiness as well, even if it's the squirming, terrified kind of happiness.It'll do.

A Great RIde
I really enjoyed this book, its a lot like enjoying classical music. The moods, the tempo and the pacing of the stories is so enjoyable. The story that still freaks me out to this day is "Home Delivery" simply for the scene that takes place in the space shuttle!! King could have made a whole novel based on that scene. But he didn't and that is what makes him so good at the short stories. I think a good short story forces your mind to ask "what would have happened if the story kept on going"? Not that his novels do not do the same, but in the short story King is forced to put down the bare bones of the story. The other stories that blew me away were: The Night Flier, The Moving Finger, Crotch End and My Pretty Pony. My Pretty Pony shows the depth of King's thinking on the philosophy of time. The Ten O' Clock People is a nice story but to me it's just a ripe off of John Carpenter's They Live. All in all not a bad collection of stories. ... Read more

Product Description
THROUGH MOST OF THE 20TH CENTURY, ATLANTIC CITY WAS CONTROLLED BY A
POWERFUL PARTNERSHIP OF LOCAL POLITICIANS AND RACKETEERS. Funded by
payoffs from gambling rooms, bars, and brothels, this corrupt alliance reached full
bloom during the reign of Enoch “Nucky” Johnson—the second of three bosses to
head the Republican machine that dominated city politics and society.
In Boardwalk Empire, Nucky Johnson, Louis “the Commodore” Kuehnle, Frank “Hap”
Farley, and Atlantic City itself spring to
life in all their garish splendor. Author
Nelson Johnson traces “AC” from its
birth as a quiet seaside health resort,
through the notorious backroom politics
and power struggles, to the city’s rebirth
as an international entertainment and
gambling mecca where anything goes.
Boardwalk Empire is the true story
that inspired the epic HBO series starring Steve Buscemi, Michael Pitt, and Kelly
Macdonald, with a pilot episode written by Terence Winter (The Sopranos) and directed
by Martin Scorsese (Shutter Island). ... Read more

Customer Reviews (17)

Excellent Read!
I actually bought the book after watching the first episode of "Boardwalk Empire." The previews for the series intrigued me and after watching the premiere, I wanted to know more. I love how this book was well researched and written. I live about 15 miles from Atlantic City, so this historical account is really fascinating to me. I recommend this book to anyone interested in history, crime, or the television series!

The facts behind the "as based on" HBO series
The writer of the HBO series, Terence Winter (who also wrote the foreword for this edition of the book), was recently interviewed on public radio and explained how and why the HBO show deviates from many of the facts in the book "Boardwalk Empire." Last names were sometimes changed and certain information had to be imagined or created in order to allow the plot to veer away from the events in the book.

None of this takes away from the entertainment value of the series but potential buyers of this book will get an added perspective and accurate historical detail."Boardwalk Empire" is an excellent way to round out the very entertaining cable television series.

The book primarily covers the years from 1920-1970. Not surprisingly, Terence Winter (again, writer of the HBO series) also wrote many episodes of The Sopranos and director Martin Scorcese steps to the helm and directs the first and possibly many more episodes of the cable show ( but guest directors aren't uncommon for cable series). In the show, Steve Buscemi plays Nucky but Winter has admitted that James Gandolfini would have fit the actual body type and appearance of Nucky.

But back to the book "Boardwalk Empire."From prohibition to prostitution, the book doesn't pull any punches and is a detailed and accurate recreation of the history of Atlantic City. Nucky Johnson is shown as a strictly matter of fact business man. He provides what people want, primarily alcohol, gambling and sex. But if the public had wanted other things Nucky would simply have gone with public sentiment. His choices were based on what brought him the most profit -and it was as simple as that, although being in power was not so simple.

Having seen the first episodes of the series, I am able to compare both the book and television show. I'd urge you to buy the book. It made me yearn to visit Atlantic City in its heyday. Women dressed in their finest outfits before strolling on the actual boardwalk. I'd love to have revisited that time - if only to understand the thrills that drew people to Atlantic City.

Since I've now seen the series,it is impossible to write about "Boardwalk Empire" without comparing it to the film version. I have to admit that the HBO show recreates Atlantic City's mixture of people and often weird attractions, from side shows to palm readers -and it does make a difference seeing and hearing the combination of sights, sounds and dialogue.

"Boardwalk Empire" reveals how the area was a place where families came, with children enjoying themselves by day and adults venturing off to enjoy other pursuits at night. You won't get a truly balanced historical take on Atlantic City without reading the book and the series should motivate viewers to want to learn more about the history of Atlantic series. Reading "Boardwalk Empire" is well worth the time.

Boardwalk Empire
This was what not what I expected...it was so much better...it has everything.Great history...I learned a great deal about the history of Atlantic City and how the Empire was built....When I was told it was going to be turned into a HBO Series...I ordered HBO just for this show...I picked up the book and was hooked did not put it down until I had read the 1st 4 chapters and it was 3am & I needed to go to sleep..the 1st page hooked me when a wife of a man who had gambled all of the family paycheck the night before in a gambling house and went to see Mr. Johnson who said he would take care of the problem...it just got better as I read...If you loved the Sopranos you will love this even more...I also read some of the other "Sister" books about N.J. he has written...I recommend this book to anyone who loves to read some history and facts in a enjoyable way...I enjoyed this book so much & now look forward to the HBO series.

Not what I expected
by Emily Placido author of Julita's Sands: A Memoir

I read this book after seeing the ad for the upcoming HBO series, when I was at Book Expo America.I was so excited and began reading it as soon as I got home.Frankly, I was a little disappointed off the bat. It is very well researched with tons of information on the characters, but it sorely lacked the story about Atlantic City itself.There was no beacch or boardwalk history, which is what I was looking for. Hopefully the series fares better.

A mildy entertaining history of the graft and greed that built Atlantic City
This book is a necessary resource for those who are interested in the political history of Atlantic City. Johnson shows how corruption and protection rackets came to dominate the economy and politics of the city. Sporadic quotes from the characters involved in this history help to spice up the book. ... Read more

Product Description
A knock on Spenser's office door can mean only one thing: a new case. This time the visitor is a local lawyer with an interesting story. Elizabeth Shaw specializes in wills and trusts at the Boston law firm of Shaw & Cartwright, and over the years she's developed a friendship with wives of very wealthy men. These rich wives have a shared secret: they've all had an affair with a man named Gary Eisenhower—and now he's blackmailing them for money. Shaw hires Spenser to make Eisenhower "cease and desist," so to speak, but when women start turning up dead, Spenser's case goes from blackmail to murder.
           
As matters become more complicated, Spenser's longtime love, Susan, begins offering input on the case, analyzing Gary's behavior patterns in hopes of opening a new avenue of investigation. It turns out that not all of Gary's women are rich. So if he's not using them for blackmail, then what is his purpose? Spenser switches tactics to focus on the husbands, only to find that innocence and guilt may be two sides of the same coin.Amazon.com Review

Sue Grafton and Robert B. Parker: Author One-on-One
In this Amazon exclusive, we brought together blockbuster authors Sue Grafton and Robert B. Parker and asked them to interview each other.

Sue Grafton is the New York Times-bestselling author of the beloved Kinsey Millhone mystery series, which continues to delight millions of readers across the globe. Read on to see Sue Grafton's questions for Robert B. Parker, orturn the tables to see what Parker asked Grafton.

Grafton:During your career, you've generally worked as a solo writer. Aside from your collaboration with Raymond Chandler (quite dead), how did you enjoy the experience of writing with your wife, Joan? I notice a long break between Three Weeks in Spring, which was published in 1978, and A Year at the Races, which was published in 1990.

Parker:Joan is an idea person more than a writer. She has done a lot of uncredited thinking for me. But Three Weeks in Spring, about her first bout with breast cancer, was a special case. And A Year at the Races, also nonfiction, was about our initiation into the world of thoroughbred racing. I have found it wise for me to write and Joan to think (egad, what if it were the other way?), but I have also found it wise not to speak for her. I liked working with her. In fact, I like pretty much everything with her.

Grafton:I notice in your bibliography that you wrote a nonfiction book called Parker on Writing. I'd be interested in reading it, but I decided I couldn't afford the $499.99 the book is selling for online. How do you feel about a reprint? (P.S. This is not a sly hint that you should send me a copy….)

Parker: Parker on Writing is a collection of random items loosely about writing that Herb Yellin at Lord John Press collected into a finely manufactured limited edition. Herb is a friend, and given what he paid, I can convincingly say it was affection not money that captured me. I feel fine about a reprint…. If I have an extra I will send you one, but I'll have to look—it’s quite possible that I don't.

Grafton: I'm curious about your experience in writing Chasing the Bear: A Young Spenser Novel. What prompted you to write about Spenser's early life? Did you learn things about him you hadn't known before?

Parker: My publisher, agent, and wife all wanted me to try a YA novel. I did three, culminating, at my publisher's request, with Chasing the Bear.Since I knew a great deal about Spenser's adulthood, it was mostly a matter of jacking up the adulthood and sliding a consistent childhood under it. YA novels are hard because you know a great deal that you can't use.

Grafton:I saw the movie Appaloosa last night on DVD, and while I haven't had a chance to read the novel and study the two side by side, I got the impression that the movie was close to what you had in mind. Will you write about Virgil Cole and Everett Hitch again? You did seem to leave the door open to that possibility.

Parker: I’ve written two sequels to Appaloosa (Resolution and Brimstone) and am finishing up a third (Blue-Eyed Devil). Ed Harris did a wonderful job, I thought, with the movie. It is as close as it could possibly be to the book, and those parts that had to be added are hard for me to tell from my own stuff. Harris is genius, as is Viggo [Mortensen]—they nailed the characters and the relationship. You can also take Ed Harris's word—in your own adventures in Southern California you may have noticed how infrequent that is. Incidentally, Bragg's lawyer in the courtroom scene was played by the great Daniel T. Parker.

Grafton:How do you spend your time when you're not writing? Hobbies? Leisure activities? I'm not very good at having fun, but I'm hoping you are. Please advise.

Parker: My friend John Marsh once remarked, "I hate fun." I concur. Mostly, I just live my life, which turns out to be fun. I work out, box with a trainer, watch ball games, go out to dinner with Joan. You've met Joan. We’ve been married fifty-three years. Now that's fun.

---

... Read more

Customer Reviews (103)

Always a Pleasure
It's always a pleasure to read a new Spenser Novel.
The series regular characters have become welcome friends.
I was saddened to learn of Robert Parker's death . . . he will be missed.

My First Spenser Book-I liked It
This was my first experience into Spensers' world and I didn't think it bad at all.By the reviews I see both good and bad, I didn't know what to expect.Okay had this been my 30th something and a lot of the same dialogue-perhaps I would look at it differently. I enjoyed perhaps the laid back slower paced of Spenser-more dialogue than action in this one but I was amused at the banter between he and Susan and Spenser and Hawk as well as others.I had finished a very dark book about a serial killer and the horrid things done to young women so I was looking for a lighter storyline and this sure fit the bill.I can see if I had read 36 books before this one on how smart and beautiful Susan is and perhaps some of the same dialogue then can understand some of the other reviewers. Since it was my first one (and may now go back and read some of the older ones)I actually will have to say I enjoyed it.

As I read it I pictured Robert Urich who played Spenser and I liked the series on TV and I liked Mr. Urich-maybe that was some of the appeal of this book to me remembering Mr. Urich who lost his fight with cancer. I met him once when he made a movie in our area-in fact MGM leased one of our cars and it was in the movie.Our car-the star! HA!

Back to the book here!I enjoyed the short chapters and it was a book I was interested in enough to read every word-I am a notoriuos skimmer if a book bogs down or there is too much information. I had read some of the Jesse Stone novels but hadn't ventured into Spenser.Mr. Parker is a different kind of author and I like variety so know I can go back and read one of his when I need a break from some of the heavier darker ones.

I do enjoy a book with a good mystery yet can give you a chuckle or two and felt this one did both.Whether you liked this book or not I feel we lost a talented writer in Mr. Parker.May he rest in peace-he has left a legacy of many books for us to enjoy-or not.

Very Interesting Book
"The Professional" is a very well written book. It is a fast read and hard to put down. The dialog is minimalist, but it works. All in all, a very good book. This was my first "Spenser" novel and it showed you don't have to have read the rest of the series to get it.

Quick but worth it
I really enjoyed this book. It was a quick read, filled more with dialogue than discriptions but the dialog was written so well that you didn't need it.

His Calling

Don't waste your time or hard earned money
I have never read one of Mr Parker's books before so maybe this one was not a good one to start with.I have to admit that I was seduced by the fact that is was a New York Times bestseller.The story starts off interesting with the 4 married women that have been blackmailed by a "serial lover" but then then it goes downhill from there.The plot gets lame, predictable and boring and lacks a climax. He spends time introducing characters that you never hear about again.This was 8 hours of my life that I'll never get back. ... Read more

Product Description
Harry Arno, a Miami bookie who wants to retire to the Italian Riviera, becomes the fall guy in an FBI sting and is suddenly on an intercontinental run from lawmen and gangsters alike. Amazon.com Review
In the world of Elmore Leonard novels, cops and criminals get by with agrudging respect for each other's capabilities:

Harry had been arrestedby Buck Torres a half-dozen times or so; they knew each other pretty welland were friends. Not socially, Harry had never met Buck's wife, butfriends in the way they trusted one another and always had time to talkabout other things than what they did for a living.

Customer Reviews (20)

Classic Leonard
US Marshal Raylan Givens has to be Elmore Leonard's favorite hero.The author has brought him back in several books (and Givens has even come to life in the recent TV series "Justified.")In PRONTO, Givens is on the trail of a self-destructive bookie who's been skimming from the mob, and a contract has been taken out on the man's life.The action shifts from Miami to the Italian Riviera and what could be better than putting classic Leonard lowlifes in Italy?The joy is in watching the bookie, the hitman, and the lawman interact and in drinking in the spot-on dialogue.

Great writer - bad book - , like reading a comic book
This writer is good , must of been in a hurry when he wrote this - you should be able to return it and get your money back,Just felt like reading a comic book. This is the book you can put down

couldn't put it down
This is for fans of the TV hit "Justified".This book ends where "Justified" begins.If you like that show, you'll love this book and the adventures of Raylin Givens..the no-nonsense US Marshall.This book is a fun, entertaining read.It leaves you wanting more.I'm a Leonard fan for life.

Alas, poor Harry
It does seem like main characters named Harry are inclined to be less than Honest Joes who get themslves in jams by their own fault.Harry Arno, a bookmaker who's been skimming off of his corpulant boss for years now is set up by the feds to trap the big fish.U. S. MarshallRaylan Givens, in the tradition of stereotypical Texas Rangers or even the Lone Ranger with the double motive for tracking Harry down to compensate for his having lost him as a captive some years previous and also to thwart hitman "the ZIP", pursues Harry and his girlfriend from Miami Beach to Rapello, Italy.In other words, this is the fast moving, humorous and violent yarn one has come to expect from Elmore Leonard and will be no disappointment to his fans.

Changing Your Home Doesn't Change Who You Are
Harry Arno the bookie has to escape mob guys and the cops by fleeing to Italy, but of course they follow him there. The foreign setting was a nice change for Leonard, though it lost its way in the middle. Moving things to Italy really saved this one. All characters were well drawn, especially the straight-shooting Raylan, who should get his own movie or TV show (hear that, McCloud?). Some of the plot got a little convoluted, thus the long middle, but Leonard does a fine job as always of wrapping things up nicely. This could have been a third shorter, plot-wise. The details about Sicilians, mob life, girlfriends, and everything from the Foreign Legion to Ezra Pound would have to stay of course. Leonard is just too good at that stuff to lose it. ... Read more

Product Description
4 cassettes / 6 hours
Read by critically acclaimed actor Joe Mantegna

"...a powerful, moving novel that probes the heart of man's most heartless activity--war."
--Clay Gowran in the Chicago Sunday Tribune

"I also learned that in spite of all the training you get and precautions you take to keep
yourself alive, its largely a matter of luck that decided whether or not you get killed. It
doesn't make any difference who you are, how tough you are, how nice a guy you might
be, or how much you may know, if you happen to be at a certain spot at a certain time,
you get it."
--James Jones, letter to his brother, Jeff Jones, from Guadalcanal, January 28,
1943

"So this is Guadalcanal," a man at the rail said, and spat tobacco juice over the side.
"What the f' you think it was?F'ing Tahiti?"

These are the men of C-for-Charlie Company - "Mad" 1st/Sgt. Eddie Welsh, S/Sgt.
Don Doll, Pvt. John Bell, Capt. James stein, Cpl. Fife, and dozens more just like them -
infantrymen in "this man's army" who are about to land grim and white-faced on an atoll
in the Pacific called Guadalcanal. This is their story, a shatteringly realistic walk into hell
and back.

In the days ahead some well earn medals; others will do anything they can to get
evacuated before they land in a muddy grave.But they will all discover the thin red
line that divided the sane from the mad . . . and the living from the dead . .in this
unforgettable, brutal portrait that captures for all time the total experience of men at war.

Amazon.com Review
An old Midwestern saying goes, "There's only a thin redline between the sane and the mad." War seems to stretch that linealmost to the breaking point. James Jones's classic World War II novelrecounts with brutal honesty the stories of the men of C-for-CharlieCompany as they struggle to hold on to their honor, their sanity, andtheir lives on Guadalcanal. Actor Joe Mantegna turns in an ableperformance, his voice expressing a roller coaster of emotions (thoughhis Welsh accent may require some patience). Whether or not you agreewith Jones that war is the "most heroic of all human endeavors," thisrecording will move you. (Running time: 6 hours, 4 cassettes)--C.B. Delaney ... Read more

Customer Reviews (84)

The grim butchery of warfare in WII Guadalcanal
James Jones was one hell of a writer. His book The Thin Red Line demonstrates a mastery of the craft by telling essentially the same story through the eyes, hands, wounds ands deaths of many different men as World War Two raged in the South Pacific. In the middle of fierce fire fights, his characters reflect, almost emotionally detached from the merciless deaths they encounter on the grim butchery of warcraft:

"This was war? There was no superior test of strength here, no superb swordsmanship, no bellowing Viking heroism, no expert marksmanship. This was only numbers. He was being killed for numbers."

This brutal and graphic account, based on Jones own experiences as an Army Sergeant in combat at Guadalcanal, is easily one of the best books about war and the senselessness that overcomes the men who wage that war.

WW II in the Pacific
This is a must read for WW II readers.Delivered as promised in good condition.

good book, poor formatting
I'm enjoying the book but those who buy the Kindle edition should know that all paragraphs are double spaced. The publisher apparently made no attempt to proofread it so all paragraphs and also many quotes are formatted oddly, just enough to interrupt the reading.

I suggest that you download a sample first to see if the formatting errors cause you concern.

So So War Book
So here is my review for The Thin Red Line.This book is basically about an extended series of battles on Guadalcanal.Most of the men have never seen combat before this and are rightly terrified.The author goes from man to man exploring each ones fears and thoughts.This could've been a good thing except for the fact that there are like twenty guys that he does this with.It just gets overbearing at times, at a lot of times.Also, none of the characters was particularly likable.At best, I found myself just tolerating them and at worst, hating them.They are either arrogant, cowards, selfish, whiny, or any number of unappealing character traits that completely define them.Something else I did not understand was the overt homesexual theme that ran throughout the novel.I didn't know that so many U.S. soldiers engaged in guy on guy action just because there were no women around.It seemed awkward to me and, though I wasn't there, I found myself doubting whether it really happened to the extent that it did in the story.This book pulls itself along like a snail and except for the battles, nothing else remotely interesting happens.Like I said, you see what each man is thinking, and then you see that man get gunned down.And you don't even care.The author does do a good job of describing the battle scenes themselves, but I found myself not really understanding what they were doing as far as strategy goes.I just concentrated on the combat and not the tactics themselves.I forced myself to finish this book because I was on a war-novel binge and this was supposed to be a good one.Now I wonder why I even bothered at all.Approach with caution.

Thin Red Line is the ultimate historical fiction novel


The story follows members of Jones's beloved C-for-Charlie company, who ascend the beaches of Guadalcanal to fight the Japanese. I'll admit, it was hard for me to get past the first chapter or two. But for some reason, after Charlie Company arrives and begins to explore the land, Jones's writing seemed to change, and he was able to completely drag me in. It was after this point that the book became personal, I didn't leave home without it, and finished it in about a week. The reason it becomes very personal is because Jones magnifies each character individually. We see their reactions to the horrors around them, which often turn out to be veryuncomfortable for the reader (sexuality is a stand-out theme here). Unlike the recent film version, the novel centers mostly around Fife, a solitary, shy soldier who has an especially hard time adjusting to the violence and lifestyle of war. Witt (the main character in the movie) does appear here, and he's an interesting character, but he comes and goes. There are handfuls of other characters that you come to know and love (or hate). I knew from the beginning that everything the author said and explored would have to be believable because he went through the ordeal himself in the 25th Infantry Division. With that in mind, the way Jones jumped seamlessly from character to character, sharing their true thoughts and actions, was incredible. I've never experienced anything like it. There was nothing at all about the book that dissapointed me; in fact, I plan to read it again. My only regret is that I saw the movie first, and while the two are similar, they shouldn't be compared at all.

Since completing it, it's now hard for me to believe this book was written all the way back in 1962. James Jones comes off as a genius, a modern genius. Created into two movies, I don't think anyone should dream of going without reading this book, unless you're someone who has a hard time stomaching very dramatic themes. Jones explores issues of sexuality, violence, death, brutality, loneliness, homosexuality, and a variety of other serious emotions that do create a disturbing novel. An amazingly-written book. ... Read more

Product Description
U.S. Marshall Raylan Givens is out to pasture in Palm Beach County, cooling his heels after shooting a wiseguy in a Miami restaurant. Boss' orders are to keep Raylan out of the U.S. Attorney's sight for awhile. But when old acquaintance Harry Arno disappears, it's strictly personal when Raylan sets out to find the missing bookie and satisfy the implacable Joyce, a woman with Harry on her mind and Raylan in her bed.

Riding the Rap

Harry is closing his books after being shut down by the feds. The master manipulator who had scammed the wiseguys and got away with it is officially Out of Business. But first he has to collect an overdue debt, and calls in "retired" bounty hunter and Latin Lover Bobby Deo, aka Bobby the Gardener, best-known for pruning plants and people. If anybody can find his man -- and collect -- it's Bobby. But Harry's salad days are over when Bobby digs up the Debtor, who offers him a slice of a really big score: a foolproof hostage-taking scheme, kidnapping big-bucks losers on the wrong side of the law. Beginning with Harry.

Elmore Leonard scores again in Riding the Rap, with dead-eye wit, razor-edged dialogue and heart-stopping suspense that has earned him bestselling popularity and critical acclaim as "the greatest living writer of crime fiction." -- The New York TimesAmazon.com Review
In this sequel to Pronto, Harry Arnohas retired from bookmaking but is still closing out some of hisoutstanding debts. But then his collection agent, an ex-con by thename of Bobby Deo, goes to pick up $1,800 from Chip Ganz and ends upgetting hired for a hostage-taking operation (like kidnapping "in away," Chip tells him, "only different. A lot different.") When Harry'staken by his own man, it's up to United States Marshal Raylan Givensto track him down, in the same methodically relentless fashion hetracked Harry that time he ran off to Italy. Throw in a henchman namedLouis Lewis with plans of his own and an attractive young psychicnamed Reverend Dawn, and you've got yet another crime story that'llkeep you on the edge of your seat--occasionally chuckling toyourself--straight through to the finish. (And bonus points to loyalLeonard fans who can spot the crossover elements from Rum Punch and Maximum Bob.)--Ron Hogan ... Read more

Customer Reviews (35)

The return of Raylan Givens
In this sequel to PRONTO, Leonard brings back his favorite hero, US Marshal Raylan Givens.Leonard creates a collection of realer-than-life crazies, oddballs, and losers, deftly mixes them together, and comes up with another winner.The man never fails to please.

Great for what it is...
...light, quick, entertainment reading that's always well written, stylish and effortlessly absorbing.I finished it in less than a day.

One does not pick up an Elmore Leonard book hoping to find Dostoyevsky.You don't want to read too many of his books at one time because after a while they quickly feel repetitive; but once every month or two is just about right.Would be great for a transcontinental flight.

Taking Responsibility
Riding the Rap by Elmore Leonard

Even though I never read crime thrillers, I read the first chapter of this novel as a short story in the New Yorker and thought it was one of the best things I'd ever read. Not only does Leonard have the perfect ear for a certain kind of dialogue, but his talents extend to description, plot and even purpose.
The story just trips along, light in tone but building sympathy for the good guys, and for the bad guys--not sympathy, but a kind of humorous condescension, knowing as we do that they're going to lose.
Actually, there is a sympathetic moment for one of the crooks, who suffers with dignity a death in the family, when it turns out he is being wrongly suspected of a crime for racist reasons. But no worries: Rayland Wayans, the hero, gets it all sorted out. He's the perfect modern cowboy lawman: cool, terse, and stoic.
He makes a point--on which the title is based--about taking the consequences of one's actions; thus, the crooks he catches learn it's not personal.
Profoundly, Wayans himself must ride the rap: although he is as brave and virtuous as a person can be, he does use a gun for lethal purposes in the line of work, and this fact alone costs him the affections of someone important. Worse, he risks all to rescue a worthless man who turns out to be his rival in romance. It's his job.
But you leave the story feeling that all's right with the world, however unfair things may look. The book does a beautiful job of contrasting those who think life's not fair, and can't be reconciled, with those who get it. Here's Wayans explaining things to two carjackers and a third criminal:
"I don't take what you did personally. You understand? Want to lean on you. Or wish you any more state time'n you deserve. What you'll have to do now is ride the rap, as they say. It's all anybody has to do."

Misses the top mark, but still darn good
Having read ROAD DOGS, I picked this one up to catch the introduction of psychic Dawn Navarro.Unfortunately, I found her disappoingly ambiguous, but the other characters such as U.S. marshall Raylan Givens, Harry Arno, and the three bad guys...Chip Ganz, Bobby Deo, and Louis Lewis.Dialogue and characterization is good here, but the story seem to wander nd become much longer drug out than necessary.This is an entertaining enough story, but not up to the standard of OUT OF SIGHT, GET SHORTY, and ROAD DOGS.

Good, but not great
Ellmore Leonard can't be beat for character development and pacing, but he's asleep at the wheel on this one. Good to see Raylan Givens in action again. He's even more confident in this book. The bad guy, Chip Ganz, wasn't completely believable, but his no good sidekicks were. Lots of cross/double cross action. I'm ambiguous about the psychic character (which is probably how the author meant her to be). ... Read more

Product Description
Travel through Chicago's neighborhoods and suburban communities both past and present with an eye on the passion and the people behind Chicago hot dog stands. With a preface by Joe Mantegna, star of stage, screen and television and a a foreword by Chicago's famed news anchor, Bob Sirott, the book focuses on how these hot dog stands can get into your soul.The first edition of the book proved not only to be a fun read, but kind of a year book of sorts that many folks have taken to their favorite stands for an autograph with the hope of making their own hot dog stand memories. In keeping with that, our Collector's Edition perpetuates that approach by including a Chicago-style hot dog stand directory with nearly 200 Chicago-area listings and over 100 more out of town Chicago hot dog ambassadors listed by state. The second edition also features neighborhood, suburban and national maps as well as many additional stories, pictures, and updates.With more than three-quarters of a century of hot dog love and lore to build on, the book also takes a glimpse at what's hot now and expected in the near future.Dragging It Through The Garden is the look and taste of the Chicago-style hot dog with yellow mustard, white chopped onions, green relish, red tomato slices, a pickle spear, a couple of sport peppers, and a dash of celery salt, and you're ready to go. Nowhere on that list will you find ketchup, and as Chicago White Sox Chairman, Jerry Reinsdorf, said on a recent television show called The Club - Thou shalt not put ketchup on a hot dog. So, have one with everything, sit back, and enjoy the book. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Chicago style hot dogs - need I say more?
I still remember when my new wife took me to her favorite hot dog place where she had grown up in Monroe, Michigan. It was an old drive-up and it was off season so the owner came out to take our order. I told him that I wanted a hot dog with everything except peppers. The man looked at me like I had just sprouted a second head. I looked at him, and then I looked at my wife. She told me that "everything" there meant chili, onions and mustard. How strange. Well, I grew up on Chicago style hot dogs, and they are still my favorite - piccalilli, onions, tomato wedges and mustard...and definitely no ketchup!

Well, this fascinating book is about Chicago style hot dogs and the stands that sell them. (And Portillo's, which isn't a stand but strives for that Chicago feel.) A lot of history is given, and it's a fascinating look at the best hot dogs in the country. I enjoyed this book, and I think that if you grew up in the Chicago area, you'll enjoy it too!

By the way, I didn't take a star off for it, but my one and only complaint against this book is that it does not include my favorite stand - Parky's Hot Dogs in Forest Park. Twice a year, I load the family into the car, and drive the hour and a half to get the best hot dogs I have ever eaten. And the greasiest fries - I know, you are saying "Ewwww!" But, they are the best fries I have ever eaten. ... Read more

Product Description
The Godfather is the Mafia leader Vito Corleone, a benevolent despot who stops at nothing to gain and hold power. Set in Long Island, Hollywood and Sicily, this is a story of a feudal society within society which does not hesitate to consolidate its power.Amazon.com Review
The story of Don Vito Corleone, the head of a New York Mafiafamily, inspired some of the most successful movies ever. It is inMario Puzo's The Godfather that Corleone first appears. AsCorleone's desperate struggle to control the Mafia underworld unfolds,so does the story of his family. The novel is full of exquisitelydetailed characters who, despite leading unconventional lifestyleswithin a notorious crime family, experience the triumphs and failuresof the human condition. Filled with the requisite valor, love, andrancor of a great epic, The Godfather is the definitivegangster novel. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (399)

Yes, it is better than the movie
I did not expect this to be so good. It's not a literary masterpiece -- in fact, the writing is laugh-out-loud bad in places -- but it's got a great plot and it holds up surprisingly well compared to the movie. There are far more details in the book that add depth and background to the characters and scenes in the movie. This is a guilty pleasure kind of a read, but anyone who likes crime thrillers should enjoy this. Puzo's pacing and plotting makes up for the turgidity of his writing. There's a genius to every move in the Corleones' war, and an explanation for a lot of character actions, that's lost in the cinematic version.

I can't really explain my love for this book. It's way outside my usual genre and frankly, it's kind of schlocky, but I have to give it five stars because I enjoyed it so much. It'd definitely worth reading if you've only seen the movie.

A look inside the Godfather's head.
Up until a few months ago, I didn't even know there was a Godfather novel.The book gives the reader a whole different perspective on Vito Corleone.The book takes you inside the Godfather's head and allows the reader to have a greater appreciation for the character.

The Godfather of novels?
You have most likely seen the movie. You most likely loved it.

If you haven't read the book, you must. Like all novels adapted to film, the original is better. And this is the prime example of it. Puzo makes you fall in love with the characters, with 'bad guys' in the mafia. It's hard to write a review for such an achievement in literary history. All I can say is, read it. It is amazing.

THe Wonderful Corleone Saga!
by Emily Placido, author of Julita's Sands: A Memoir

I read this powerful book many years after seeing the film.The movie is one of my favorites and I was leery about reading the book after loving the movie so much. I was not disappointed!This book is absolutely terrific!! It takes the reader from the beginning of the Corleone Saga when Vito leaves Sicily and comes to America.The story weaves together the two stories from the films, The Godfather, and The Godfather 11, with much more detail. There are things explained in the book that are not quite fleshed out in the movie, like where the name Genco Oil came from, and intimate details about Sonny. There are parts that aren't even mentioned in any of the movies, but that are important to the storyline. Mario Puzo's writing is real, down to earth, typical Italian American speech patterns. It is easy to read and keeps youglued to the pages. MAfia stories are always a hit but this one is the biggest hit of them all!

Read the book!
As much as I love Francis Ford Coppola's movie adaptation of this book as well as its sequel--let's not get into the misbegotten Godfather III--I've always felt that his vision was not exactly Puzo's.Though set mainly in New York, the movies havea northern Californian feel for me.The Corleone compound is on Long Island, but it feels more like a Napa Valley vineyard.Many of the settings lack the requisite East Coast grit, and the Mafiosi speak and behave with the gravitas of Borgia courtiers.Don't get me wrong.Godfather I and II are great films, but if you want to know how the real Mafia behaves, this is not prime source material.(Scorsese's mobsters are more on the money.)Puzo had a hand in the film version of his blockbuster, working on the screenplay with the director, and it's hard to imagine that he wouldn't have been pleased with the result.But if you want to experience Don Corleone's saga with authenticNew York attitude, read the book.Puzo managed to achieve Shakespearean drama without sacrificingthe reality of day-to-day life in organized crime.The book is often passed over as a mere pot-boiler that was transformed into a great film, but Coppola undoubtedly recognized the elements of a grand story when he read the book.If you've seen the films but haven't read the original, by all means do yourself a favor and pick up a copy.You won't be disappointed. ... Read more

Product Description
Marlowe's about to give up on a completely routine case when he finds himself in the wrong place at the right time to get caught up in a murder that leads to a ring of jewel thieves, another murder, a fortune-teller, a couple more murders, and more corruption than your average graveyard.


From the Trade Paperback edition. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (50)

good stuff
It's nice to read a mystery novel without all the blood and violence that are part of today's fiction. The writer's ability to create the suspense and keep the reader interested is what makes good novels. This is GOOD!

What great writing is all about
This is the best book I have read in ages. I don't read everything start to finish. I like to be taken in, and to finish a book, I usually feel compelled to do so. This book had me eagerly flipping page after page. I couldn't wait to find out what would unfold next. It was the highlight of most of my recent days. Chandler's failed career as a romantic poet shows admirably in this prose. It's really beautiful, to the point, and not pretentious at all. It was fun. The pace was quick, and you are trying to put the pieces together with Marlowe as he brings you along. I don't usually read mysteries. With Chandler, I at least plan to read all of his. This is better than the best noir films. If you dig noir films and literature, read this book. (It's also clear why so many people idolize Marlowe from this one, a man's man if there ever was one...

Zingers Galore
For me the main pleasure of reading this novel derives from wisecracks zinging on almost every page.Here are a couple, plucked randomly:

The coffee shop smell was strong enough to build a garage on.
A bogus heartiness, as weak as a Chinaman's tea, moved into her face and voice.

And here is another one, a shot at Hemingway, as Marlowe explains a corrupt cop why he keeps calling him by that name: "A guy that keeps saying the same thing over and over until you begin to believe it must be good."

Hemingway may not be a great writer -- I'm not a big fan -- but he was a far better one than Chandler.That little charming fish story of his alone has (rightfully) much greater literary acclaim than all of Chandler's works put together.

Still, Raymond Chandler is a pleasure to read.He has a tremendous gift for storytelling.The wisecracks, the colorful characters, and the snappy dialogue make reading this novel, as well his other ones a pleasant experience, especially on lazy, boozy weekend afternoons.Nothing wrong with that.

Addictive...
I read mostly at night in bed and I'm tired because I could not put this book down.I kept looking ahead for convenient places to stop, but blew right by them instead.The combination of Chandler's pace and piquancy is simply irresistible.

Farewell, My Lovely isn't the most believable of books, but just like The Big Sleep, it doesn't matter.Indeed, there's a tongue-in-cheek charm that peeks out quite often from behind the hardened facade.Chandler excelled at caricature.He danced on the edge of parody.But, he did it so exquisitely well that he detracted not a whit from the earnestness of the story.

A paroled con comes back to LA in search of the woman he loves.Philip Marlowe, our protagonist, stumbles into the plot thus derived.Conspiracy and murder follow among the landmarks of the Los Angeles area.There's a magnetic pull to 40's-era LA and Chandler takes full advantage of it.Farewell, My Lovely is quintessential, it is provocative, and, in places, shamefully vulgar.And, still, I recommend it highly, because it is worth every bit of 5 stars.

One of the most brilliant narrative voices in the annals of literature
With the exception of Charles Dickens, has any writer has more influence on narration than Raymond Chandler?Dozens and dozens of writers -- not always crime writers -- have tried to sound like Philip Marlowe.Dozens of movies have featured Philip Marlowe-like narrators, including the theatrical release of BLADE RUNNER, where Rick Deckard sound nothing so much as a 21st Century updating.And perhaps there have been even more parodies.Either way, we all know what detective narrators are supposed to sound like, and we know this because of Raymond Chandler.

Raymond Chandler did not invent hardboiled detective fiction.He essentially took Dashiell Hammett's invention and focused nearly all his attention on prose style, character, and detail.There is an almost tactile quality to many of his stories, to the extent where you feel you could almost reach out and wipe the dust off a desk with your finger.There is, also, an almost wanton disregard of plot.If you read Raymond Chandler for plot, you are misreading him.I'll admit that in several of his novels I'm still unclear what happened.But who cares?The brilliance is in the texture, the detail.Take smell.Read virtually any other detective, crime, mystery, or hardboiled novel and look at how often other writers mention smells and then look at Chandler.He is constantly telling you what places smell like, whether mesquite or sage or sandalwood or whatever.Chandler wrote with heightened senses.I frankly can't get around to caring that his plots aren't very tight because other things absorb all my attention.

FAREWELL, MY LOVELY is one of my favorite Chandler novels, perhaps only behind THE BIG SLEEP and his flawed masterpiece THE LONG GOODBYE.It featured many of his most memorable characters, especially the doomed Moose Malloy, and many of his most unforgettable scenes.Because of Chandler's ability to sketch a scene in such astonishing detail, there are scenes in his books that are as easy to visualize as it is a scene in a movie.He is that vivid and precise in his depiction.A great example is Marlowe's visit to Mrs. Florian in his search for Velma.It would be a person of very poor imagination who didn't get a strong sense of what her house looked like, smelled like, felt like.

This is also one of his best books because it is one of the most tragic.The end of the novel feels almost like the end of Hamlet, with nearly all of the major characters either dead or at least shattered.And like with most of Chandler, there isn't an overly nice resolution of the mystery, whereby the detective magically makes everything nice and tidy and correct.Marlowe gets to the bottom of things, but often what he finds when he gets there is an abyss.And speaking of Chandler's influence, can one imagine the end of Raymond Polanski's CHINATOWN without Marlowe?

As a side note, there have been two very good film versions of FAREWELL, MY LOVELY.The first was made by RKO while Chandler was still alive and was originally released with that title.It tanked at the box office, mainly because it starred former Warner Brothers boy crooner Dick Powell.His style of musical had gone out of style and no one wanted to see what they assumed was a musical.So RKO renamed it MURDER, MY SWEET, which obviously could not be a musical, and re-released it.It was a box office success and was crucial in launching the second half of Dick Powell's career, this time as a serious dramatic actor.Chandler himself was horrified at the casting of Powell as Marlowe, but later proclaimed that he thought Powell was outstanding in the role.By the way, the person that Chandler himself thought would have made the ideal Marlowe was Cary Grant.The second version of FAREWELL, MY LOVELY was released in 1975 with Robert Mitchum as Marlowe.With apologies to Humphrey Bogart, Mitchum is my favorite Marlowe.He was a tad too old for the role, but apart from that he absolutely nailed the cynicism and latent nobility of Marlowe.My only regret is that Mitchum didn't begin making a string of Marlowe films when he was 35.As it was he was too old in his second appearance as Marlowe in a bizarre version of THE BIG SLEEP set, of all places, in London. ... Read more

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The Plug N Play travelpaks are audiobook packages thatcome with two audiobooks, 2 batteries, a personal cassette player anda headset.Each package contains everything necessary to listen toaudiobooks.The Godfather travelpak contains both The Godfather byMario Puzo and read by Joe Mantegna as well as Frank Sinatra: AnAmerican Legend written and told by Nancy Sinatra.The Godfather isthe epic story of organized crime in the 1940's, but it is also theintimate story of the Corleone family, drawn together and ripped apartby its position at the core of the mafia in America.Still shockingmore than a quarter-century after it was first published, TheGodfather is a modern classic, presented her in an all new listener'sedition.4 cassettes 8 hours abridged.read by Joe Mantegna

Frank Sinatra: An American Legend: With the help and full cooperationof friends, family and associates, Nancy Sinatra has compiled anincredible, in depth look at the life of this fascinating performer.Listen to Frank himself on the subject of Ol' Blue Eyes, alongside thegreats who have always surrounded him from his early days on the radiowith Tommy Dorsey; entertaining troops with Bob Hope; on stage withSamamy Davis Jr. and Bing Crosby; and even a rare recording on thesubject of politics with John F. Kennedy.2 cassettes 3 hoursabridged ... Read more

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Private Collection, NOT an ex-library copy, "Hugger Mugger," (Mystery), by Robert B. Parker, Read by Joe Mantegna, Unabridged, Books On Tape, hard shell case, 4 cas, 6 hours of listening, cassettes/case like new. ... Read more