Caught Stealing: A Novel
by Charlie Huston
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Book Reviews of Caught Stealing: A Novel
Book Review: Pretty ugly stuff
Summary: 2 Stars
Actually, the F word doesn't bother me; the animal torture did. The main character is indeed a self-absorbed jerk. I am certain there are plenty of real-life killers out there that like cats, and call mom once in a while. A better yardstick might be to take a look at what has happened to Hank's "friends" by the time you turn the last page. The writing is pretentious and vicious. And boring; I ended up skimming the last 100 pages. However, there are clearly some people who like this "flawed" hero stuff, so more power to them. I tossed the next two Huston works in the trash unread. Back to SJ Rozan, Sean Doolittle and Michael Connelly for me.Book Review: Like a Very Long Car Chase
Summary: 4 Stars
There's this guy named Hank who a bunch of people are trying to kill or maim for no apparent reason. So, most of the book is a tale of how they keep closing in on him and he keeps eluding them. The temptation is to ditch the book because all this chasing and eluding is getting monotonous, but the author is so creative and the dialog and characterizations are so compelling that you keep reading. Just like you would stare at a car wreck. But toward the end, there is a tremendous payoff for having hung in there. The book goes somewhere. It's all worthwhile. So, I'm now gonna read the rest of Huston's books. There, wasn't that easy?Book Review: Gripping Novel
Summary: 5 Stars
A gripping novel from the first page to the end. The violence is graphic, but fits with the characters involved. It is ye olde "guy accidentally gets stuck in the middle of a bad situation with very bad people," but I found it to be fresh and vibrant. I also loved the fact that the main character is trying to follow the travails of the New York Mets at the close of the season, while fighting to stay alive and figure out who are the good and who are the bad guys. Overall, an exciting read. By the way, my teenage daughter read the first few pages and decided to order her own copy from Amazon. I had gotten my copy from the library.Book Review: A homerun regarding a reluctant hitman
Summary: 5 Stars
I came across the Henry Thompson series, of which "Caught Stealing" is the first of the trilogy, by what turned out to be a fortuitous accident. Huston is a terrific writer, concise and totally engaging. The stories are quite violent but that befits the subject and the tone of the story. His character, Henry Thompson, grabs at you and compels you to root for him even as events force him into steps he could never imagine taking. Once I finished I was driven to finish parts 2 and 3 and found them as good as the first. Unless you like your stories very sedate, this is a great series, well worth discovering.Book Review: Hard to put down
Summary: 5 Stars
The premise of the book is the wrong place / wrong guy scenario's where the lead character is going to be on the run a lot. It takes place in and around New York and paints a complete suburban nightmarescape of bad neighborhoods surrounded by not so bad neighborhoods. The story is told from a narrative point of view which really servers to draw the reader into the frantic world of the protaganist. I've got to say that I really enjoyed living through the eyes of someone who is just in the wrong place at the wrong time. It's a fun fast read.