The Friends of Eddie Coyle [Hardcover]

Product Details

• Hardcover
• Publisher: Knopf c1970, 1971; First edition (1970)
• ASIN: B001E33QPI
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (22 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #6,980,958 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

40 of 42 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good read, great dialog..., January 8, 2001

By 

Erik J. Larsen (st. paul, mn) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Friends of Eddie Coyle: A Novel (John MacRae Books) (Paperback)

I read a list by James Ellroy where he listed Higgins as one of his major influences, so I bought this one. I was pleasantly surprised.

The story is very simple, the dialog is incredibly lifelike and readable. The characters are very real and the story is believable. Its not really a mystery as much as it is a story about some criminals and what they think and feel.

Warning, though. Don't buy this if you like the 'high concept' plots of Grisham and Patterson. This is a very simple story about real people and real criminals. If you're an aspiring writer of crime fiction, definitely check it out especially the dialog.

26 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars streetwise dialogue, October 13, 2000

By 

Orrin C. Judd "brothersjudddotcom" (Hanover, NH USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Friends of Eddie Coyle (Paperback)

Eddie Coyle is a low-level Boston hood, supplying mobsters with handguns. He earned his nickname, "Fingers", after one gun deal went poorly & he had his hand slammed in a drawer, giving him an extra set of knuckles on his left hand. Once in a while the mob throws him some more lucrative work, but on the last such opportunity he was arrested in New Hampshire illegally trucking liquor. Now he faces three to five years in prison and as he says: "Well, ...I got three kids and a wife at home, and I can't afford to do no more time, you know? The kids're growing up and they go to school, and the other kids make fun of them and all. Hell, I'm almost forty-five years old."

The only way Eddie can avoid prison is to trade information & he's soon caught in between the Feds, his gun dealer & the Mob. George V. Higgin's debut novel (now almost thirty years old) is notable for it's streetwise dialogue and the nearly Shakespearean sense of tragedy (well, at least, Billy "Sonnets" Shakespeare) that surrounds Eddie.

GRADE: A

21 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars the friends of eddie coyle, December 28, 1999

By 

anonymous - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Friends of Eddie Coyle (Paperback)

Possibly the best account of real life crime, gangsters, and cut throats ever written...a rare insight into the real world of low level criminals, proving "There is no honor amongst thieves"...having been born, raised, and lived in the neighborhoods depicted in this novel, I can honestly say..."This story is all too real relative to Boston area criminals and their alleged loyaties...this book is a masterpiece...