In London in the 1960s, the capital is swinging, but underneath the boomtown there's a dark underbelly. Meet Harry Starks: club owner, racketeer, porn king, sociology graduate and keen Judy Garland fan. Harry's business is fronting violence with rough charm and cheap glamour; putting the frighteners on, performing menace while desperately trying to jump the counter into legitimacy. Five characters tell five tales that combine in an extraordinary narrative, that is, both an explosively paced thriller and brilliantly imagined sociological and topographical portrait of sixties London.
In London in the 1960s, the capital is swinging, but underneath the boomtown there's a dark underbelly. Meet Harry Starks: club owner, racketeer, porn king, sociology graduate and keen Judy Garland fan. Harry's business is fronting violence with rough charm and cheap glamour; putting the frighteners on, performing menace while desperately trying to jump the counter into legitimacy. Five characters tell five tales that combine in an extraordinary narrative, that is, both an explosively paced thriller and brilliantly imagined sociological and topographical portrait of sixties London.
Rezensionen / Stimmen
'The Long Firm is more than an addition to the genre: it is both knowing, in a literary sense, and entertaining, and makes profitable use of its influences. Gracefully written, diligently and rewardingly researched, it is both exciting and funny. It takes the cliches of the genre and makes them sexy and freshly interesting' Observer 'Done so cannily that it virtually winks at you' The Sunday Times 'Very funny, oddly touching, and unobtrusively perceptive" Evening Standard 'Truly fascinating ... Arnott's ability to powerfully resurrect an era ... is astonishing. A great read' Guardian 'The Long Firm manages to hook you from the first. It is compulsive reading, powerful writing with an evocative feel for the bleaker side of the swinging Sixties' The Times 'Arnott's epic debut manages to weld the hip prose of James Ellroy to the dives of our capital ... to hark back to the Sixties, to a time when fashionable chicsters rubbed shoulders with East End gangsters ... to remind us that there is nothing more murderous than Englishness itself' Arena 'Arnott brilliantly captures the gaudy, glamorous, seedy and sordid side of the 60s underworld and show business society. A must-read' Elle 'I simply could put it down, couldn't stop until I'd finished it. It tooke me right back to the times and brought back the fear - the real cold fear - of the period' -- Terry O'Neill, 60s photographer 'Gripping ... slumming it doesn't get much better than this' -- Time Out 'Jake Arnott has created a gangster story every bit as cool, stylish and venomous as the London in which it is set, an English original as sharp and lethal as a Savile Row lapel' -- Independent on Sunday
'The Long Firm is more than an addition to the genre: it is both knowing, in a literary sense, and entertaining, and makes profitable use of its influences. Gracefully written, diligently and rewardingly researched, it is both exciting and funny. It takes the cliches of the genre and makes them sexy and freshly interesting' Observer 'Done so cannily that it virtually winks at you' The Sunday Times 'Very funny, oddly touching, and unobtrusively perceptive" Evening Standard 'Truly fascinating ... Arnott's ability to powerfully resurrect an era ... is astonishing. A great read' Guardian 'The Long Firm manages to hook you from the first. It is compulsive reading, powerful writing with an evocative feel for the bleaker side of the swinging Sixties' The Times 'Arnott's epic debut manages to weld the hip prose of James Ellroy to the dives of our capital ... to hark back to the Sixties, to a time when fashionable chicsters rubbed shoulders with East End gangsters ... to remind us that there is nothing more murderous than Englishness itself' Arena 'Arnott brilliantly captures the gaudy, glamorous, seedy and sordid side of the 60s underworld and show business society. A must-read' Elle 'I simply could put it down, couldn't stop until I'd finished it. It tooke me right back to the times and brought back the fear - the real cold fear - of the period' -- Terry O'Neill, 60s photographer 'Gripping ... slumming it doesn't get much better than this' -- Time Out 'Jake Arnott has created a gangster story every bit as cool, stylish and venomous as the London in which it is set, an English original as sharp and lethal as a Savile Row lapel' -- Independent on Sunday
Sprache
Verlagsort
Verlagsgruppe
Maße
Höhe: 17 mm
Breite: 106 mm
Dicke: 137 mm
Spieldauer
Gewicht
ISBN-13
978-1-84032-408-2 (9781840324082)
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Schweitzer Klassifikation
Jake Arnott was born in 1962 and now lives in London. He is the author of one novel, The Long Firm.
Jake Arnott was born in 1962 and now lives in London. He is the author of one novel, The Long Firm.
