Agent [Paperback]

George V Higgins (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 10, 2000

Lieutenant Francis Clay is drawn into a sleazy cut-throat world obsessed with money, fame and power when successful sports agent Alexander Drouhin is murdered. A crime novel from the author of A CHANGE OF GRAVITY and WONDERFUL YEARS, WONDERFUL YEARS.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Sports agents are infamous for battling each other, team owners, mega-corporations, and the overpaid athletes they represent in an attempt to profit from their clients' images. Agents are more reminiscent of a Coen brothers' creation than of Tom Cruise's lovable character in Jerry Maguire. Super agent Alexander Drouhin, a handsome, ruthless slickster, and his motley support team are no exception. They inhabit a cutthroat world obsessed with money, fame, and power, so when Drouhin is found with a couple of .44 slugs in his head, everyone's a suspect. As usual, dialogue master Higgins concentrates more on character development than plot--a focus he justifies by granting sleazy agents, bitter athletes, and weary cops mouthfuls of gritty dialogue: "'The hat,' Drouhin said blankly. 'I seldom wear a hat.' 'That's what I mean,' Corwin said. 'I've never seen you wear one in, never seen you wear one out, but always after you've been in there's this humongous pile of rabbit shit on top of my desk.'" --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly

A riveting look at the world of big-time sports provides veteran storyteller Higgins (A Change of Gravity) another opportunity to show off his skills at writing the most addictive dialogue since John O'Hara. Alexander Drouhin is a 62-year-old Boston lawyer at the top of the heap of sports agents. Business brings in millions a year, and Alex?juggling athletes, team owners, general managers and the press?lives a princely life. Alex has two ex-wives, two distant daughters, an almost live-in boyfriend (undiscovered yet by the tabs) and near-insatiable greed. A third of the way into the book?after he neatly extracts a budding NFL star from a possibly messy scandal?Alex is found dead in his palatial country estate. Massachusetts State Police Lieutenant Frank Clay, a recent widower, must unravel the puzzle. Through Higgins's trademark dialogues (or monologues), and without many visual clues, the reader gleans vivid depictions of his prolix characters, with glimpses of the horrors of modern celebrityhood, pro gambling and pro sex in a suburb of Boston. There are plenty of cops-and-lawyers stories and wicked, offhand humor. Drouhin's boyfriend never appears, but if that's a flaw, it's minor. (Is it possible the maestro can't do an antique dealer's voice?) The talk may go on a bit, but it is to be hoped that Higgins never makes a long story short. Author tour.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: No Exit Press (January 10, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 190198284X
• ISBN-13: 978-1901982848
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.4 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,399,960 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars the good, bad, and dirty dealings of big time sports, September 17, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Agent (Hardcover)

His 29th book, The Agent is all Higgins. Master of the literary thriller, he turns his eye for detail and his ear for dialogue to the high powered, high dollar world of sports agenting. If you care to learn this trade, just nod and fasten your seat belt, you're in for a swift education. Located in Boston, the good, bad and dirty dealings of big time sports where one hand pats the back as the other lifts the wallet, the reaching words of sincerity, the glowing warmth of the father figure and the comfy sense of security are all bigger than life when Alexander Drouhin come into yours. Football, baseball, basketball and hockey talent from all walks of life line up to hear what the great man cando with their lives: planning their future, assuring unlimited financial security and creating utopia. Never have so many made so much; greed is the way of life and America is the entertainment capital of the world with sports as the main attraction. Is this the way it works? It sure is. Who is the bad guy; the owner, the general manager, the agent or the client? Who can tell, they are contiually changing before your eyes. How do we sober-up and release from jail the NFL's leading rusher to make his role-model date at the YMCA camp? That's easy. How do we keep a NBA star out of the evening TV news after throwing his wife out the second story window of their home? That's a bit tougher, but can do. And along the way there is a murder to solve. This story is as currant as this morning's sports page. Higgins doesn't allow us to set in one spot very lonl. Good company for a lonesome night.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Higgins at his best-again!, March 7, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Agent (Hardcover)

I have been a fan of George V.Higgins since "The Friends of Eddie Coyle." I have a copy of every book he's written, including two really hard to obtain books, "Style vs Substance" and "Sins of the Fathers," the latter published only in England. This is a writer who cannot be topped. "The Agent" is a fascinating look at a world I have read about often, that of sports agents, but Higgins has made crystal-clear what this field is like. His characters are wonderfully described, his dialogue as crisp as ever, and his story line just flows. I love sports and this book has given me an inside look at the behind-the-scenes machinations of agents and owners. One reason I definitely enjoyed this book is that, unlike "A Change of Gravity(Not one of his better efforts), "The Agent" reads very well. Even though he has had an occasional dip in quality (and those have been extremely rare), George V. Higgins is the only author of whom I can say: Buy his work. You won't regret it.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Terrific novel, January 22, 1999

By 

D. C. Carrad "augustabookman" (Augusta, GA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Agent (Hardcover)

I'm not a sports fan, but I found this book enthralling, well-written and generally terrific. Higgins spends a lot of time on the sports world as seen through agents' eyes, and even though you couldn't pay me enought to make me watch a hockey or basketball game, it was fascinating. Just as John McPhee in the nonfiction arena can write about oranges, or geology, or taking out the trash, and by his prose skills make it fascinating to the general reader, so too Higgins pulls off the same thing in this novel. I have been a fan of his since 1972 when his first book, The Friends of Eddie Coyle, was published. He writes a lot and rarely disappoints; he certainly does not do so here. Any reader who enjoys a good story, excellent prose and first-rate dialogue will enjoy this book tremendously; if you're a sports fan, you will have an additional dimension added to your enjoyment.