I loved the simplicity of the story and the care of the writing in this book.
A man commits a crime and plans to disappear and never be found. This book is so easy to track because it follows the main character through his many efforts to not draw the attention of the authorities, which is not easy in this day and age of electronic breadcrumbs and video surveillance everywhere. He settles in a small town, renting a space on Sugar Street, and tries to keep a low profile, but the low-life characters he comes across—a byproduct of efforts to stay off the grid and deal strictly with cash transactions—make that difficult. The characters (ranging from his landlord to a bad cop) are rendered with precise authenticity.
I found this novel to be an engaging and fast read.
'Part of the power of Sugar Street lies in its style . . . in the prose you can feel the adrenaline of [the protagonist's] initial flight wearing off , his life shrinking down to a couple of city blocks . It's brilliantly done' Guardian
'A deft punch of a novel from Jonathan Dee . . . [he] creates a true page-turner out of simple materials and the result is a troubling and stimulating look at real American life - at the fix that materialism plus the information state has got us into. It's also very funny' George Sanders
I have tried Elmore Leonard books in the past and stalled. Not with this book, in which Leonard made a very bright mark for his reputation as a master crime novelist. This is Leonard at his best.
A tough-minded married couple witnesses a crime near the start of this tale and spends the rest of the pages avoiding a professional hitman and his bumbling associate from taking them out.
Someone once said, “Elmore Leonard writes dialogue like he invented it.” It’s absolutely true of this book. I highly recommend it.
The King of Cool returns with another thrilling tale of crime capers.
Arman 'The Blackbird' Degas is a professional hitman: one shot, one kill. But when he's carjacked by ex-con Richie Nix, he finds himself with a lethal partner.
Nix is on his way to shake down a realtor and the Blackbird is along for the ride. But they don't count on Carmen and Wayne Colson getting in their way. Exposed as eyewitnesses, the Colsons are placed in witness protection but soon discover the program contains as many predators as the underworld they're hiding from. But can they outrun the…
Ms. Highsmith's reputation preceded her with The Talented Mr. Ripley and this title, both of which have been made into movies. I say this book is her best novel, a work of literary art about two men who meet on a train, one a conman, the other susceptible to the influence of a bad actor.
This novel is cleverly, clearly, and tensely written and masterfully structured. Highsmith illustrates the power one human being can exert over another through the force of personality.
The classic thriller behind the Hitchcock film, and Highsmith's first novel - soon to be remade by David Fincher, director of Gone Girl, with a screenplay by Gillian Flynn.
By the bestselling author of The Talented Mr Ripley and Carol
The psychologists would call it folie a deux . . .
'Bruno slammed his palms together. "Hey! Cheeses, what an idea! I kill your wife and you kill my father! We meet on a train, see, and nobody knows we know each other! Perfect alibis! Catch?'''
From this moment, almost against his conscious will, Guy Haines is trapped in a…
Lolita Firestone visits Sedona, Arizona, and establishes the Center for Cosmic Consciousness, a gathering place for the community's spiritually motivated.
When small groups of men from African countries on the U.S. terrorism watchlist come to Sedona to attend the Cosmic Center's weekend workshops, the CIA takes notice and embeds one of its agents. Lolita Firestone's life takes on a new direction when she has a private meeting with Omar Moustafa, an international playboy and the son of Egyptian president and dictator Osama Moustafa.
Unbeknownst to the dictator, son Omar has impregnated Lolita Firestone. The Egyptian people and the wider Middle East, initially enthusiastic about bringing back the Pharaohship, are inflamed when they discover Omar has had American sex and chosen a U.S. resident to become their queen.
