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‘The best gangster novel since The Godfather‘ Stephen King
Joe Coughlin is untouchable. Once one of America’s most feared and prominent gangsters, he now moves effortlessly between the social elite, politicians, police and the mob. He has everything he could possibly want; money, power, a beautiful mistress, and anonymity.
But in a town that runs on corruption, vengeance and greed, success can’t protect Joe from the dark truth of his past — and ultimately, the wages of a lifetime of sin will finally be paid in full . . .
Chilling, heart-breaking and gripping, this is the most complex and powerful novel to date from Dennis Lehane, writer on The Wire and author of modern classics such as Shutter Island, Gone, Baby, Gone and The Given Day.
Joe Coughlin is untouchable. Once one of America’s most feared and prominent gangsters, he now moves effortlessly between the social elite, politicians, police and the mob. He has everything he could possibly want; money, power, a beautiful mistress, and anonymity.
But in a town that runs on corruption, vengeance and greed, success can’t protect Joe from the dark truth of his past — and ultimately, the wages of a lifetime of sin will finally be paid in full . . .
Chilling, heart-breaking and gripping, this is the most complex and powerful novel to date from Dennis Lehane, writer on The Wire and author of modern classics such as Shutter Island, Gone, Baby, Gone and The Given Day.
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Reviews
A pure, hard example of the gangster genre, its moments of violence gleaming like sun-bleached bone . . . it's the moral conflict raging within Coughlin that makes this book so satisfying
A masterpiece by the crime writer's crime writer, this is the finest novel of the year with a spare, stark edge that cuts into your very soul . . . No one captures menace quite as elegantly as Lehane, nor understands the mob better . . . Boardwalk Empire on speed
Dennis Lehane just keeps getting better . . . a lost America of sharp suits and sharpshooters brilliantly to life
Lehane's tough, muscular prose captures the era well; and his dialogue brings to life the inhabitants of its underworld
This is not just brilliant period crime writing but brilliant writing full stop
This is noir with added value: Lehane is terrific on family ties and at conveying the buzz of a city powered by immigrant labour of often dubious legality
Sophisticated, literary and barbed enough... it makes this book a sentence-by-sentence pleasure. You are in the hands of an expert. And you'll know it
The best gangster novel since The Godfather. Terrific story, shattering conclusion
This is a book that should put [Lehane's] name right up there where it belongs, right up there alongside Doctorow and Dreiser
Echoes of The Godfather abound, but between the mob showdowns you are reminded too, of literary novels tracing a man's inexorable advance towards death . . . impressive