In For A Pound [Hardcover]

Richard Marinick (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 8, 2007

From the Boston Globe-Bestselling author of Boyos, comes another gritty, street-level tale of corruption, betrayal, revenge and redemption in the world of the South Boston Irish mob. Taut plotting, violent action, and a pitch-perfect sense of place propel tough PI Delray McCauley through this tour de force of South Boston noir.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Returning to the mean streets of South Boston, Marinick's taut, hard-hitting second novel (after 2004's Boyos)is the literary equivalent of getting assaulted by a gang of psychotic street thugs. Delray McCauley, a former Massachusetts state trooper, has just finished a three-year prison stint after being wrongly convicted of beating up an undercover DEA agent. Now working as a bartender in the area where he was born and raised, McCauley is equally hated by his former law enforcement comrades and by the local Southie boyos. So when he decides to help out an old friend in the Boston police department with a highly sensitive case involving a stolen safe from a prominent lawyer's office, he unwittingly makes himself the prime target for a chilling assemblage of sadistic hit men and cop-hating gangsters. While the gritty authenticity of South Boston's criminal underworld is an obvious highlight, it's the spot-on characterization and dialogue as well as the subtle existentialist theme that distinguish this bloody neo-noir thriller. Fans of authors like Ken Bruen, Jason Starr and Charlie Huston are in for a treat. (Dec.)
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Product Details

• Hardcover: 284 pages
• Publisher: Justin, Charles & Co.; First Edition edition (November 8, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1932112510
• ISBN-13: 978-1932112511
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.5 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,129,428 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars WARNING: Boston Harbor is Overflowing with Testosterone!, March 15, 2008

By 

Gary Griffiths (Los Altos Hills, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

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This review is from: In For A Pound (Hardcover)

And that's not a bad thing! Richard Marinick rips a raucous, bloody, and authentic tale of mayhem in "In for a Pound", his second novel of havoc on the mean streets of South Boston.

Delray McCauley is an ex-cop and ex-con, fresh out of prison after serving time for the proverbial crime-he-didn't commit, tending bar to make ends meet. When a safe with mysterious contents is stolen from a white-shoe law office, Del's former state cop boss asks Del to track it down, leading Del and the reader through an odyssey of corruption and blackmail as he butts heads with the Irish mob, small-time thugs, and a psychopathic killing machine who'd stroll through the scenes of "Apocalypse Now" as easily as D Street and Dorchester Avenue.

Marinick has apparently lived the life of which he writes, so the words and dialog roll naturally across the pages with street-cred and authority. The pace is quick and even, and if the characters are all cut from the same in-your-face, tough-guy cloth and the banter sometimes overdoses on macho, it makes for high octane entertainment.

Bottom line - a note to Dennis Lehane: Wake up! Kenzie and Gennaro are no longer the only act in "Southie" - Marinick's McCauley and Wainwright have them square in their sites and threaten to take down that turf, big time. Time to get back in the game, Dennis.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Lightning strikes twice ..., December 2, 2007

By 

Charlie Stella (Fords, New Joisey) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: In For A Pound (Hardcover)

As a writer, reading Rick's narrative is nothing short of humbling. His ability to bring home the bacon in portraying scenic background, introspection, mood, etc., is nothing short of masterful. Add to that his pitch perfect street/Southie dialogue and the long wait between his novels (his debut, Boyos, was/remains brilliant) proves patience is indeed a virtue. Marinick doesn't disappoint in this wonderfully sculpted tale of an ex-cop/ex-con's trials and tribulations trying to do the right thing. For those still hooked (as I am) on Marinick's Boyos mystique, In for a Pound maintains the spicy Southie flavor with Jack "Wacko" Curran (Boyos) and a host of other Southie characters (to include lawyers, politicos and a beauty PI our protagonist McCauley is falling for) that keep the flow of Marinick's street symphony moving at just the right tempo. Things still get rough on the ever gentrifying streets of South Boston and it's a beautiful thing to have Marinick's characters around to remind us--and how!

Simply put, Rick Marinick is the heir to George V. Higgins and In for a Pound is to Boyos what The Digger's Game was to The Friends of Eddie Coyle.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Exceeds expectations, February 28, 2008

By 

J. Hildreth (NY, NY) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: In For A Pound (Hardcover)

I enjoyed Boyos, but Marinick met and exeeded the challenge of his second novel. I was impressed enough I felt obligated to write something here! the prose is very clear and blunt. In Boyos there were some time jumps in the storyline that sometimes distracted me but not in this work. Wacko and his crew are nasty pieces of work, 'they wake up playing hardball everyday' I think is the quote. There are several opposing forces at work through the book and it is very clever how Marinick brings them all together at the end.