Bait [Mass Market Paperback]

Kenneth Abel (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1, 1995

Good cop-turned-drunk cop, Walsh agrees to help federal prosecutor Kate Haggerty get Mafia don Jimmy D'Angelo, who has ordered Walsh's death, and he enters a jungle of corruption, lies, and murder. Reprint. K. PW.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

After he strikes down the son of a Boston Mafia don while driving drunk, a former cop must help the police track down the mobsters who are after him in this debut.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

The best way to describe this debut novel is dark . Detective Jack Walsh thinks that his life has hit rock-bottom the night his partner is shot, but the incident only presages hard times to come. In response to his partner's death, Walsh begins to drink, and that's when his real problems begin--he kills the son of a mob boss in a car accident. Walsh finds himself under suspicion from the bereaved father's organization and the police department at the same time. Caught between a rock and a hard place, Walsh finds that his only escape is to stick his neck out even further (becoming bait) by agreeing to serve as a kind of informant on the underworld that is trying to kill him. Despite the novel's grim story line and gritty writing style, Abel does not overdo the violence. Recommended for public libraries where crime novels are popular.
- Jim Cunningham, Illinois Mathematics & Science Acad., Aurora
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback
• Publisher: Dell (March 1, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0440217202
• ISBN-13: 978-0440217206
• Product Dimensions: 7 x 4.2 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,434,437 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Good, character-driven cop novel, August 12, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Bait (Mass Market Paperback)

Abel's first at bat is a well plotted cop novel with complex character interaction. His writing is subtle (there comes a point in the book when you begin to understand where all the pieces he's laid before you are falling, and it's like WOW), but there's enough violence to keep things visceral. Check out his next, "The Blue Wall." It's even better than "Bait."

2 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Greatest Turn of 20th Century Fiction since that hack Joyce, May 23, 2000

By 

MLR (Gambier, OH) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Bait (Mass Market Paperback)

This is amazing! The story centers around Walch, good cop goes bad, simple story, right? With Abel's knack for twists, Bait ropes you in. Read it. Put down Ulysses. Read it. This is the new Noir! All hail Abel!

1 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Absolutely no action in this book!!, July 20, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Bait (Hardcover)

When reading the summary on the book jacket for this book I was expecting a real action oriented novel. Boy was I disappointed. There is absolutely nothing going on in this book. You get to hear a lot about Jack Walsh and his goofy brother. He meets some other goofy characters that help him along the way. Then you get to the big ending. Anyone who has ever read a suspense novel can figure out the ending in this book. Overall, not a very good book (but that's just my opinion). :-(