Strip (Otto Penzler Books) [Hardcover]

Thomas Perry (Author)

Book Description

Series: Otto Penzler Books | Publication Date: May 13, 2010

A bracing and ingeniously cast L.A. crime novel from Edgar Award–winner Thomas Perry

 

An aging but formidable strip club owner, Claudiu “Manco” Kapak, is robbed by a masked gunman as he places his cash receipts in a bank’s night-deposit box. Enraged, he sends out half a dozen security men to find the witless culprit. Their search leads them to Joe Carver, an innocent but hardly defenseless newcomer who evades capture and sets out to make Kapak wish he’d targeted someone else. Meanwhile, the real burglar, Jefferson Davis Falkins, and his new girlfriend Carrie seem to believe they’ve found a whole new profession: robbing Manco Kapak. Lieutenant Nick Slosser, the police detective in charge of the puzzling and increasingly violent case, has his own troubles, including worries about how he’s going to afford to send the oldest child of each of his two bigamous marriages to college without making their mothers suspicious. As this strange series of events explodes into a triple killing, Carver finds himself in the middle of a brewing gang war over Kapak’s little empire, while Falkins and Carrie journey into territory more dangerous than they could have ever imagined.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. Half a dozen characters vie for primacy in this rambunctiously entertaining L.A. crime novel from Edgar-winner Perry (Runner). Aging strip-club owner Manco Kapak orders his boys to find the masked man who stole his cash receipts and take care of him. The boys settle on the wrong guy, L.A. newcomer Joe Carver, who decides to fight back. Jefferson Davis Falkins, the real thief, decides to continue to rob Kapak. LAPD Lt. Nick Slosser is mainly interested in keeping the peace—and keeping his two marriages a secret as well as figuring out how to pay for five kids at or nearing college age. Other meaty roles include Carrie Carr, who hooks up with Falkins and becomes a Bonnie Parker–like adrenaline junkie urging him to ever riskier deeds, and Spence, Kapak's trusted bodyguard and the only one smart enough to deal with Carver. Perry's exquisite timing and finesse provide near perfect endings to the multiple story lines and make this escapist reading at its best. (May)
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From Bookmarks Magazine

Many critics commented that the plethora of characters and subplots might have undermined Strip's power, but they all agreed that Perry's talent in weaving together seemingly loose strands makes the book an unqualified success. The intriguing, action-oriented characters--each with his or her own agenda--captivated reviewers, some of whom ended up rooting for even the bad guys. "The wonderful characters keep on coming," noted the New York Times Book Review. Although they start off as "familiar types ... once Perry lets them loose, they refuse to go back in the box." The action is packed, and the denouement is a small masterpiece. What more could readers want?

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 352 pages
• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt; 1 edition (May 13, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0151015228
• ISBN-13: 978-0151015221
• Product Dimensions: 9.7 x 5.6 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (43 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #168,489 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

THOMAS PERRY is the author of 19 novels including the Jane Whitefield series (Vanishing Act, Dance for the Dead, Shadow Woman, The Face Changers, Blood Money and Runner), Death Benefits, and Pursuit, the first recipient of the Gumshoe Award for best novel.
He won the Edgar for The Butcher's Boy, and Metzger's Dog was a New York Times Notable Book. The Independent Mystery Bookseller's Association included Vanishing Act in its "100 Favorite Mysteries of the 20th Century," and Nightlife was a New York Times bestseller. Metzger's Dog was voted one of NPR's 100 Killer Thrillers--Best Thrillers Ever.
Thomas Perry was born in Tonawanda, New York in 1947. He received a B.A. from Cornell University in 1969 and a Ph.D. in English from the University of Rochester in 1974. He has worked as a park maintenance man, factory laborer, commercial fisherman, university administrator and teacher, and a writer and producer of prime time network television shows. He lives in Southern California.  His website: www.thomasperryauthor.com

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

42 of 47 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Gangster Messes With The Wrong Man, May 2, 2010

By 

TMStyles (California) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Strip (Otto Penzler Books) (Hardcover)

"Strip" is a fine addition to Thomas Perry's work. As usual, his timing and characterizations are his greatest assets. He builds credible and believable characters both through effective back story and through their interactions within the story. Perry always presents authentic believable dialogue to streamline his pacing.

Manco Kapek is a small time gangster who owns several strip clubs but has a sideline activity laundering money for a bigger gangster. When he is robbed making an early morning deposit in a bank's night deposit box by a masked gunman, he angrily sends his henchmen out to find someone who is spending large sums of money and is so new to LA that he didn't realize he was robbing a mobster. When the name Joe Carver comes up a couple times, Kapek orders his men to exact revenge upon Mr. Carver.

Unfortunately for Kapek, Joe Carver is not a man to be trifled with and he quickly responds to the mobster's efforts to kill him by declaring financial and ultimately open war upon Manco. Meanwhile, the real petty thief, Jefferson Falkins, and his new girlfriend, Carrie Carr, decide that robbing Manco Kapek is so lucrative and easy that they do it again. Manco is furious not knowing who the real thief is but growing confident that he should never have messed with Joe Carver.

To this festering case of mistaken identity and a budding Bonnie and Clyde, add LAPD Lt. Nick Slosser, a smart-enough cop but one who lives on the edge as attested by his bigamy and the financial demands of two families. Nick suspects Kapek of several crimes and effectively pressures him throughout the novel. But is Nick strong enough to stay clean and do what is right? Perry provides interesting color with an assortment of minor characters including a handful of bodyguards and street women who play various roles in bringing the novel to its climax. Chief among these lesser characters is Spence, Kapek's bodyguard, confidant, and brains-behind-the-brawn. As the bodies begin to pile up and as double crosses develop in surprising characters, the reader is left to race through the pages to discover who is on who's side.

As the stories and characters finally begin to interweave and connect, Kapek realizes Carver is a man to avoid. Falkins realizes, too late, that Carrie has graduated from a gangster wannabe to a thrill seeking sociopath. Slosser begins closing in on Kapek. Kapek's men begin to doubt his leadership. That Perry can take all these, at times, disparate threads and weave them into a satisfying conclusion is a tribute because this reader was a little distracted by the back stories and various character developments that seemed to slow the pacing occasionally. At times, "Strip" seemed to be three separate stories that did not sufficiently interlace enough to provide the fast pacing that the novel demanded, for example, the Carver character would be lost altogether for several chapters. However, that being my only quibble, "Strip" is a recommended read.

22 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A minor diversion, May 20, 2010

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Scott (Chatsworth, CA, United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Strip (Otto Penzler Books) (Hardcover)

Thomas Perry has been such a good writer for so many years. "Metzger's Dog" is a riot. "The Butcher's Boy" and "Sleeping Dog" are masterpieces of the genre. And Jane Whitefield is a classic character, even though his last outing featuring her ("Runner") was a bit lightweight when compared to her earlier adventures.

This new book is entertaining enough, though not in the same class as his other "stand alones" like "Death Benefits" and "Dead Aim". It reads more like a movie script, and I felt the ending was too rushed, with a couple of revelations left unexplained. Again, fun, but not classic Thomas Perry.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars I Really Liked it! Light, Fun, Quirky, Different....GREAT ENDING!, May 27, 2010

By 

Fred L. Gronvall (West Chester, OH) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Strip (Otto Penzler Books) (Hardcover)

This is an excellent crime novel with a tip of the hat to Elmore Leonard. Perry creates unusual and interesting criminal characters and their exploits are fun to watch unfold. In the end things are wrapped up neatly and with an unexpected twist, justice doesn't exactly prevail....but let's say justice is done. This is one of Perry's good ones.