Kat with a K

Review: The Friends of Eddie Coyle

The Friends of Eddie Coyle by George V. Higgins
Genre: Crime novel
Pages: 183
Rating: 7.6

I read this because Slate told me to, and . . . I'm not sure I got it. I don't know. I mean, it was interesting, and well-written, but where Patterson says the reader will be "blissfully disoriented," I was more just disoriented and not entirely convinced I had to be. I agree that the "purposefully shadowed" style produced some great writing, but it also kept me from getting attached to any of the characters and therefore from really caring what happened. But - well, I'd still say it's worth reading, if you like crime fiction, and its style is obviously an influence on contemporary authors like Henry Chang. And it's definitely worth reading if you're familiar with the Boston area, because really, how often do you open a book to find the bad guys hanging out in Nahant, of all places?