The Rat on Fire
Published on 17. January 2013
Book
Paperback/Softback
224 pages
978-1-4091-3754-2 (ISBN)
Description
'Higgins...has arranged the conventions of the crime novel into something new: oblique, bleak and often graveyard funny' SUNDAY TIMES
'Every American crime writer of the past 30 years owes a debt to George V Higgins. Higgins is the daddy. Read him and rejoice' Val McDermid
'Higgins deserves to stand in the company of Chandler and Hammett as one of the true innovators in crime fiction' Scott Turow
When the tenants of Jerry Fein's dilapidated buildings refuse to pay the rent on account of the rats, Jerry drafts in arsonist Leo Proctor to take care of the problem. After all, the place is insured and the fire marshall's back is turned, so what could go wrong?
'Every American crime writer of the past 30 years owes a debt to George V Higgins. Higgins is the daddy. Read him and rejoice' Val McDermid
'Higgins deserves to stand in the company of Chandler and Hammett as one of the true innovators in crime fiction' Scott Turow
When the tenants of Jerry Fein's dilapidated buildings refuse to pay the rent on account of the rats, Jerry drafts in arsonist Leo Proctor to take care of the problem. After all, the place is insured and the fire marshall's back is turned, so what could go wrong?
Reviews / Votes
Higgins deserves to stand in the company of Chandler and Hammett as one of the true innovators in crime fiction -- Scott Turow Higgins is almost uniquely blessed with a gift for voices, each of them ... as distinctive as a fingerprint. * NEW YORKER * The dialogue is everything, Runyonesque, dripping with lovely sewage * OBSERVER * Every American crime writer of the past 30 years owes a debt to George V Higgins. Higgins is the daddy. Read him and rejoice -- Val McDermidMore details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Orion Publishing Co
Product notice
Paperback (UK-B)
Dimensions
Height: 198 mm
Width: 129 mm
Thickness: 14 mm
Weight
200 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-4091-3754-2 (9781409137542)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
George V. Higgins
The Rat on Fire
E-Book
01/2013
Orion (an Imprint of The Orion Publishing Group Ltd )
€3.99
Available for download
Person
George V. Higgins was a lawyer in the Massachusetts Attorney General's office, in the Organized Crime section and the Criminal Division, and an Assistant United States Attorney, in Boston. He then founded his own private practice, defending Watergate conspirator G. Gordon Liddy and Black Panther Eldridge Cleaver. Described as 'the Balzac of the Boston underworld', he wrote more than twenty novels, including a number of lowlife masterpieces constructed almost entirely out of pitch-perfect dialogue. He died in 1999.