Long Firm [Audiobook] [Hardcover]

Jake Arnott (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 17, 2001

In London in the 1960s, the capital is swinging, but underneath the boomtown there's a dark underbelly. Meet Harry Starks: club owner, racketeer, porn king, sociology graduate and keen Judy Garland fan. Harry's business is fronting violence with rough charm and cheap glamour; putting the frighteners on, performing menace while desperately trying to jump the counter into legitimacy. Five characters tell five tales that combine in an extraordinary narrative, that is, both an explosively paced thriller and brilliantly imagined sociological and topographical portrait of sixties London.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

"What's breaking into a bank compared with founding one?"

Bertolt Brecht's provocative question opens Jake Arnott's first novel, The Long Firm, and sets the scene for its memorable exploration of the London underworld in the early 1960s. Five very different characters tell their five very different stories about "Torture Gang Boss" Harry Starks, a man who likes to keep both Bertrand Russell and Physique Pictorial on his coffee table. His lover and kept boy, Terry, recalls him as a man who "liked to break people" but also a "frightened little child," while according to the Tory lord who frequented his erotic functions, Starks is "lower-class tearaway." In the eyes of his various criminal and starlet peers, Mad Harry is a depressive with a diabolical mind, one who likes to "stage manage the fear." The radical young sociologist who teaches him in prison marks him down as a product of working-class subculture, a living critique of capitalism. When, however, he asks Harry what he makes of Gay Liberation, he doesn't quite get the expected response:

"Well," he said with a gleam in his eye. "Someone once called Ronnie Kray a fat poof. Ronnie took the top of his head off with a Luger. That's my sort of Gay Liberation. Though, to be honest, I think it was the fat part what got to him. Ron's, well, touchy about his weight."

Harry Starks is the beginning and end of The Long Firm, a compelling showman who embodies the brutal realism and impossible dreams at the heart of Arnott's vision of London low life. The glamour, and the corruption, of that life drive this story, but Arnott manages to weave cliché into enigma, myth into inquiry, thereby revitalizing our well-worn images of the mad, bad, and dangerous to know. As Starks would put it, keeping Brecht's question before the readers' eyes, "It's all about the economy of power." --Vicky Lebeau --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly

British actor Arnott debuts with an extraordinarily rich thriller, a character study based on gangster life in 1960s London. Raw and often disturbingly detailed, the story is a piercing examination of the life of Harry Starks, an unforgettable villain who controls the rackets in the West End through menace, brutality and his own particular brand of tough love. Each of the book's five sections explores a different character's often harrowing episodes with Starks. Terry, a club-hopping pretty boy, is kept as a lover, slave and assistant by Starks, but when Terry gets uppity, Starks strikes. Teddy Thursby is a drunken, financially ruined member of the House of Commons whose homosexuality becomes a chip in one of Starks's high-stakes blackmail schemes. Jack the Hat is a pill-popping thug used by Starks for the dirtiest of jobs, while another employee, fading starlet Ruby Ryder, is kept in charge of Starks's pornography ring. Lenny, a university sociologist who befriends Starks, winds up in a gangster shootout, as murderously hot-blooded as his kingpin pal. Readers familiar with the saga of the Kray brothers will recognize the milieu. Some brief scenes of torture and wanton violence require a strong stomach, and yet there are many tender moments that show Starks's humaneness and vulnerability. A leader loyal to his friends and a softie for a pretty face, he's nonetheless an iron-willed disciplinarian when he's been betrayed. He's also a man of considerable intellectual depth who can discuss complex philosophy with clarity and simplicity. Starks's many associates are as original and fully developed as he is. They all populate a story of remarkable originality that stretches far beyond the conventional crime drama in both style and substance. Agent, Gelfman-Schneider. 25,000 first printing. (Sept.) FYI: The Long Firm will be a five-part BBC miniseries.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover
• Publisher: Hodder Audio (May 17, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1840324082
• ISBN-13: 978-1840324082
• Product Dimensions: 5.5 x 4.2 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.9 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (23 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #9,331,312 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The great story of a minor villain, June 10, 2001

By 

Stephen Dedman (Bayswater, WA Australia) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Long Firm (Paperback)

THE LONG FIRM is an excellent crime novel with an unconventional approach. It tells the story of London crime boss Mad Harry Starks from the first-person viewpoints of several of his associates through the 1960s and 70s: his rent-boy turned house-boy Terry; closeted politician Lord Thursby; aging freelance villain Jack the Hat; failed sex-symbol and minor actress Ruby Ryder; and finally, socialist criminologist Lenny. Arnott's description of scams such as 'the long firm', demurrage, airport rackets and pornography smuggling is fascinating, and so detailed that it feels almost autobiographical. He has also done a superb job of capturing the seedy side of London in the '60s.

When we first meet Harry, he is singing "there's no business like show business" while heating up a poker to torture a former lover, and despite his charm and his attempts to seem respectable, we never forget how dangerous Harry really is. The plot mostly concerns Harry's attempt to build up his own empire in the shadow of the Kray twins, with some assistance from a corrupt vice squad detective who wants to see all of London's porn business run by one firm. Occasional touches of humour lighten the sleaziness, but can't dispell it, and the book never becomes a comedy. Even if you're not normally a fan of crime fiction, but are looking for a well-written character-driven novel, THE LONG FIRM is well worth reading.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Peek at the Brit underbelly is bloody entertaining, February 3, 2000

By 

Cityview (Des Moines, Iowa) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The LONG FIRM (Hardcover)

In "The Long Firm," British author Jake Arnott tries to do for London what crime writer extraordinaire James Ellroy did for L.A. Label the results "Ellroy lite," which isn't a bad thing. Using swinging '60s London as a backdrop, Arnott creates a fast-paced gangster story filled with cool characters and memorable violence. The central character, Harry Starks, is a gay, Jewish goodfella who wants to be seen as a respectable businessman. He wears Saville Row suits and hangs with fringe celebrities and retired athletes. He also is prone to dark moods and even darker actions. Harry's story is told by five characters whose lives intersect with his. Terry, a young gay hustler, is Harry's kept boy until he falls out of favor. In a nasty torture scene, he receives a very real tongue-lashing. Lord Teddy Thursby has a drinking problem. His homosexual tendencies land him in Harry's circle, where he becomes mired in a shady scheme in Nigeria. Jack the Hat is a boozing, pill-popping loser who thinks he has it made when Harry recruits him to head a profitable scam involving airport luggage handlers and parking lot attendants. Ruby Ryder is a B-movie actress who makes the mistake of falling in love with one of Harry's boys. Lenny, a young criminologist, is seduced by Harry's deviant charm. As in Ellroy's novels, real people from the period - Judy Garland, the Kray brothers - move through Arnott's story. "The Long Firm" was a best seller in England last year. (The BBC is doing a series based on the novel.) Harry Starks won't make Harry Potter's trans-Atlantic splash, but this British bad boy's tale should be a hit with fans of gangster fiction.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Offer You Can't Refuse, October 30, 2004

By 

Owen Keehnen (Chicago) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Long Firm (Paperback)

The Long Firm is a gripping novel of the 1960s London crime syndicate headed by gay mobster Harry Starks. Arnott's juxtaposition of the two elements (the mob & homosexuality) provide a truly uncommon combination and tension that's utterly fascinating. The atmospheric work is amazing as well. The underground scene vividly comes to life, is driven by a solid plot, peopled with excellent characters (especially Harry himself), and given great period touches...and it even includes a guest appearance by Judy Garland. The Long Firm is a bold and successful literary undertaking that really delivers on it's promise...and makes the reader an offer he/she can't refuse. Seedy, sensational, and a truly unique gay historical/cultural treat.