Queenpin [Kindle Edition]

Megan Abbott (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Edgar-finalist Abbott (Die a Little) delivers a sharp, slender, hardboiled tale of a protégé's schooling by a notorious, been-there-done-that moll. The first time the unnamed 22-year-old female narrator lays eyes on Gloria Denton, her first thought is I want the legs. The setting is the Club Tee Hee, an indeterminate Las Vegas–L.A. nowhere where the kid is doing the mobbed-up books, and Gloria comes in every few weeks to count Jerome's vig. The kid absorbs very entertaining lessons in how to dress, move, behave, and how to pick up, transport and distribute payoffs and winnings—until she falls for sweet-talking gambler Vic Riordan. Abbott is pitch-perfect throughout: Gloria Denton, still turning heads in her 40s, is as hard a moll as any, and the kid is a beautiful combination of foil and tool as she strives to emulate her role model. The collision, violent and inevitable, rips away the facade of glitz and glamour, and leaves their low-end edifice starkly exposed.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

Working from her story in the anthology Damn Near Dead (2006), noir's reigning crown princess delivers a royally entertaining rumination on toxic female friendships set in the harsh neon underbelly of early-1960s Las Vegas. The tale of an avaricious assistant to a Virginia Hill-style Mob courier unfolds so cinematically it's difficult not to picture it onscreen--perhaps pitched as The Grifters meets Casino, with Sharon Stone and Scarlett Johansson under the leering direction of Quentin Tarantino. "Gloria's girl," they call her when she's corralling payoffs from casino managers, fixing odds at the track, and doling out pad money to the cops. But she's out for a glorious score, and the taste of a gem heist she sets up only makes her ravenous for more. It's too bad that head for nasty business is paired with a body built for even nastier sin--and a heart foolish enough to go out to Vic Riordan, a self-destructive gambler nearing his final spin of the wheel. It'd be nice to get a better glimpse of her motivations, but this is a sleek, slick, seductive treat. Frank Sennett
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Format: Kindle Edition
• File Size: 238 KB
• Print Length: 194 pages
• Page Numbers Source ISBN: 1416534288
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster; Original edition (June 5, 2007)
• Sold by: Simon and Schuster Digital Sales Inc
• Language: English
• ASIN: B000RH0CG8
• Text-to-Speech: Enabled
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #279,149 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)

More About the Author

MEGAN ABBOTT is the Edgar-winning author of the novels Die a Little, The Song Is You, Queenpin and Bury Me Deep, which was nominated for six awards: the Edgar Award, Hammett Prize, the Macavity, Anthony and Barry Awards and the Los Angeles Times Book Prize. Her writing has appeared in Wall Street Noir, Detroit Noir, Best Crime and Mystery Stories of the Year, Phoenix Noir, Storyglossia, the Los Angeles Times Magazine, The Believer, Queens Noir and the LA Noire Anthology.

Her upcoming novel, The End of Everything, comes out in July 2011.

Born in the Detroit area, she graduated from the University of Michigan with a B.A. in English Literature and went on to receive her Ph.D. in English and American literature from New York University. She lives in Queens, New York City.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fabulous Noir, October 2, 2007

By 

Gayle "brighttyger" (California) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Queenpin: A Novel (Paperback)

Die A Little is still my favorite, but this book is a sleek dark rocket. I could not put it down. When my husband read Die A Little, he said he loved it, and would read anything else Megan Abbott wrote, but that he wished James M. Cain had done a pass over it. He got his wish in this book. Lean and mean, but still displaying Abbott's own poetic voice, Queenpin is a knockout noir, taut and twisted, neon surface glitter hiding subterranean depths.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Noir Has A New Fan!, March 26, 2008

By 

Sue Ann Jaffarian "Mystery Author" (Los Angeles, CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Queenpin: A Novel (Paperback)

I have never read much noir, but "Queenpin" was recommended to me by Christa Faust, who wrote the wonderful and gritty "Money Shot," which I also loved.

"Queenpin" blew me away. From the opening line, Abbott takes you into the depths of her main character's mind, heart and soul and holds you hostage for the entire book.

I echo the comment made by another reviewer here: I want to read a prequel featuring Gloria Denton!

I'm hooked!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Meg Abbott proves that women can be as tough (and as weak) as men, October 10, 2009

By 

Elizabeth Ray (Stockton, NJ United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Queenpin: A Novel (Paperback)

A young and naive bookkeeper/accounting student is taken under the wing of Gloria Denton, a long-time mafia player who is looking for a protege. The narrator becomes Gloria's girl and trusted apprentice. Unfortunately, she falls for Vic, a losing gambler who owes money to the wrong people - people who are associated with her employer. Ultimately she must choose between Vic and Gloria.

Queenpin takes a stereotypical hard-boiled plot and turns it upside down - the women in Megan Abbott's world are ruthless, but one is ultimately brought down by a sexy loser. Abbott's writing is concise, and the story she tells is dark and violent enough to stand with her male noir counterparts.