The Crook Factory [Hardcover]

Dan Simmons (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1, 1999

It is the summer of '42 and FBI agent Joe Lucas has come to Cuba at the behest of J. Edgar Hoover to keep an eye on Ernest Hemingway, who has recklessly decided to play spy in the Caribbean. Lucas has been instructed to somehow gain the great writer's trust and friendship, but all the agent's cool intellect and training have left him unprepared to withstand the human whirlwind known as "Papa."

Hemingway has assembled a spy ring that he calls the "Crook Factory"--including an American millionaire, a twelve-year-old Cuban orphan, a Spanish jai alai champion, a priest, and a fisherman, among others--to play a dangerous game of amateur espionage. Then, against all odds, Hemingway uncovers a critical piece of intelligence, and the game turns deadly for himself, Lucas, and for untold innocents.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In previous novels, Simmons has cast John Keats as an intergalactic emissary (Hyperion) and Mark Twain as an occult adventurer (Fires in Eden). His new excursion in fictional literary biography?and first nonfantasy since Phases of Gravity (1989)?is a gutsy speculation on Ernest Hemingway's exploits in wartime espionage, much of it apparently based on fact. In 1942, Hemingway petitioned the American embassy for help in establishing a counterintelligence outfit he called "The Crook Factory," designed to investigate Nazi activity in his adopted home of Cuba. Joe Lucas, a dedicated if unimaginative young FBI agent, thinks he has been assigned to humor the well-connected writer but soon discovers that Hemingway and his crew of colorful sycophants have stumbled on a Nazi spy nest abuzz with activity. Someone is channeling information through the island's intelligence underground, all of it implicating a host of historical celebrities. The more deeply Hemingway's team probes, the more Lucas is persuaded that the Crook Factory has been deliberately set up as an expendable military subterfuge. As vividly depicted by Simmons, pre-Communist Cuba is an exotic locale whose volatile wartime intrigues are comparable to those of the cinematic Casablanca. It's the perfect milieu for Hemingway, whose larger-than-life evocation must be accounted one of Simmons's sterling literary achievements. The macho figure he cuts here is the stuff of countless Life magazine photos, and his development as Joe's friend and mentor is handled with intelligence and dignity. No one will mistake the novel's immersions in the numbing, repetitive detail of secret service operations for Papa's own concise prose. But the web of conspiracy Simmons spins, the zesty characters it entangles and its intricate cross-weave of fact and fiction distinguish this celebration of the Hemingway centenary.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

This delightfully spry novel offers a fictionalized account of Ernest Hemingway, who during the 1930s set up a U.S. government-sanctioned intelligence network, a.k.a. the Crook Factory, in Cuba with a cadre of fishing buddies, waiters, prostitutes, and other unlikely operatives to apprehend Nazi infiltrators. Simmons (The Rise of Endymion, LJ 9/15/97) very cleverly takes one of the actual players, remembered only as Lucas, and morphs him into Joe Lucas, an FBI agent sent by J. Edgar Hoover to keep tabs on Ernesto. The plot quickly evolves into a real page-turning espionage story, complete with corrupt police officials, double agents, secret codes, and multiple murders. Without falling into hero worship, Simmons offers one of the best fictional portraits of Hemingway available. The writer is intelligent and tough but at the same time a hotheaded and reckless amateur. Though Hemingway is the hook, this would be an equally intriguing story without him. Fun reading for both Hemingway aficionados and spy novel enthusiasts.
-?Michael Rogers, "Library Journal"
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 448 pages
• Publisher: William Morrow; 1st edition (March 1, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0380973685
• ISBN-13: 978-0380973682
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.6 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (54 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #949,189 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Dan Simmons was born in Peoria, Illinois, in 1948, and grew up in various cities and small towns in the Midwest, including Brimfield, Illinois, which was the source of his fictional "Elm Haven" in 1991's SUMMER OF NIGHT and 2002's A WINTER HAUNTING. Dan received a B.A. in English from Wabash College in 1970, winning a national Phi Beta Kappa Award during his senior year for excellence in fiction, journalism and art.
Dan received his Masters in Education from Washington University in St. Louis in 1971. He then worked in elementary education for 18 years -- 2 years in Missouri, 2 years in Buffalo, New York -- one year as a specially trained BOCES "resource teacher" and another as a sixth-grade teacher -- and 14 years in Colorado.

His last four years in teaching were spent creating, coordinating, and teaching in APEX, an extensive gifted/talented program serving 19 elementary schools and some 15,000 potential students. During his years of teaching, he won awards from the Colorado Education Association and was a finalist for the Colorado Teacher of the Year. He also worked as a national language-arts consultant, sharing his own "Writing Well" curriculum which he had created for his own classroom. Eleven and twelve-year-old students in Simmons' regular 6th-grade class averaged junior-year in high school writing ability according to annual standardized and holistic writing assessments. Whenever someone says "writing can't be taught," Dan begs to differ and has the track record to prove it. Since becoming a full-time writer, Dan likes to visit college writing classes, has taught in New Hampshire's Odyssey writing program for adults, and is considering hosting his own Windwalker Writers' Workshop.
Dan's first published story appeared on Feb. 15, 1982, the day his daughter, Jane Kathryn, was born. He's always attributed that coincidence to "helping in keeping things in perspective when it comes to the relative importance of writing and life."
Dan has been a full-time writer since 1987 and lives along the Front Range of Colorado -- in the same town where he taught for 14 years -- with his wife, Karen. He sometimes writes at Windwalker -- their mountain property and cabin at 8,400 feet of altitude at the base of the Continental Divide, just south of Rocky Mountain National Park. An 8-ft.-tall sculpture of the Shrike -- a thorned and frightening character from the four Hyperion/Endymion novels -- was sculpted by an ex-student and friend, Clee Richeson, and the sculpture now stands guard near the isolated cabin.
Dan is one of the few novelists whose work spans the genres of fantasy, science fiction, horror, suspense, historical fiction, noir crime fiction, and mainstream literary fiction . His books are published in 27 foreign counties as well as the U.S. and Canada.
Many of Dan's books and stories have been optioned for film, including SONG OF KALI, DROOD, THE CROOK FACTORY, and others. Some, such as the four HYPERION novels and single Hyperion-universe novella "Orphans of the Helix", and CARRION COMFORT have been purchased (the Hyperion books by Warner Brothers and Graham King Films, CARRION COMFORT by European filmmaker Casta Gavras's company) and are in pre-production. Director Scott Derrickson ("The Day the Earth Stood Stood Still") has been announced as the director for the Hyperion movie and Casta Gavras's son has been put at the helm of the French production of Carrion Comfort. Current discussions for other possible options include THE TERROR. Dan's hardboiled Joe Kurtz novels are currently being looked as the basis for a possible cable TV series.
In 1995, Dan's alma mater, Wabash College, awarded him an honorary doctorate for his contributions in education and writing.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A genre bending tour de force, September 21, 1999

By 

J. Kirk "joekirk" (Las Vegas, NV USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Crook Factory (Hardcover)

Focusing on an unexplored corner of Hemingway's life, Simmons combines a spy story with an historical novel which I read straight through. He creates characters we can identify with and care about at the same time that he acquaints us with a fully textured portrait of Hemingway and insights into J. Edgar Hoover and his FBI. Simmons is one of the few writers that can create a compelling story in any genre he chooses. I have read every book he has written. Crook Factory is of the same caliber as the others I put at the top of his work: Phases of Gravity, Hyperion, Summer of Night, and Children of the Night. FBI agent Joe Lucas, the story telling main character, is someone I want to know more about. Cameo appearances by Ian Fleming, Gary Cooper, Ingrid Bergmann and Marlene Dietrich set just the right atmosphere for a stylish spy story. And the action scenes are riveting. I highly recommend this book.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Simmons' Best, March 31, 2000

By 

Bruce R. Cordell (Seattle, WA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Crook Factory (Hardcover)

I'm a fan of Dan Simmons. His standout books, for me, are Hyperion, Carrion Comfort, and Crook Factory. Crook Factory edges the others out. Sure, I like my sci-fi hard, and I suppose a book like this, based in 95% fact, has the realism I crave. But it's more than that. This book is gold. It achieves perfect congruence. It persists in the mind long after the final words. Heck, it made me want to learn Spanish, read Hemingway, and become a novel writer, to boot. I wish one out of 10 books I read were as good as Crook Factory.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This book is filled with crackerjack writing..., February 26, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Crook Factory (Hardcover)

(from "The San Antonio Express-News," Feb '99) Writer sui generis Dan Simmons refuses to be pigeon-holed. His first novel ("Song of Kali," a psychological thriller) garnered a World Fantasy Award. Horror novels like "Carrion Comfort" and "Summer of Night" earned awards and admiration from peers like Stephen King and Dean Koontz. And his critically acclaimed, award winning quartet of SF ("Hyperion, "The Fall of Hyperion," "Endymion" and "The Rise of Endymion") are perennial bestsellers that have cemented his reputation in that genre. Not one to rest on his laurels, Simmons new novel, "The Crook Factory," explores an entirely different genre: literary espionage. Like those before it, this book is filled with crackerjack writing, a page-turning plot, and characters which will haunt the reader long after the book is finished. Joe Lucas, an amoral special agent in the FBI, finds himself assigned to a case that seems designed as punishment. FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover has tasked him with keeping tabs on an amateur spy network in Cuba. The network has been coined "The Crook Factory" by it's ringleader - none other than Ernest Hemingway. Completely unaware of Hemingway's stature and celebrity as a writer (he doesn't read "make believe" books), Lucas' perspective and growing awareness of Hemingway is offered through fresh, unspoiled eyes. Upon reaching Cuba, Lucas is thoroughly unprepared for what he finds. In Hemingway, he discovers a braggart who embellishes upon every life story, and a writer who, despite an awareness of his own talent, constantly questions his own worth. And after joining up with Hemingway's eight-man spy network, Lucas discovers a spiderweb of machiavlleian schemes involving the intelligence agencies from three different countries that could affect the outcome of World War II. Worse, Lucas learns that Hemingway's "crook factory" has uncovered a vital piece of intelligence which puts all of them in mortal danger, and calls into question the loyalty of operatives in his own agency. Unsure of his sources (or who might be behind the American side of the conspiracy), Lucas partners with Hemingway in a perilous venture to get to the bottom of the mystery. Gary Cooper, Marlene Dietrich, and a host of others make appearances in this story. What's more, as Simmons testifies in an afterword, ninety-five percent of the events are true. But in the end, what resonates deepest are the characters: Joe Lucas, who goes through a moral and emotional transformation; and, most especially, Ernest Hemingway. Capturing an historical persona within in the confines of a novel is no easy task. But Simmons does an incredible job. Readers will come away from this book feeling as if they actually lived alongside the great writer. Part spy novel, part history lesson, and part thriller, "The Crook Factory" is ample proof that the talents of Dan Simmons can't be constrained by any genre. (from "The San Antonio Express-News," Feb. 1999)