Prince of Thieves

The book was dispatched quickly and is how discribed on the site. The item was a very good price,and the books a great read. I would recommend this to others.

Better dialogueBetter plotlineBetter characterization

What’s not to like?

Great service, would definitely recommend

if thouhgt that this book was very good and according to the reviews i am gald that i purchased it.

"Charlestown, a blue collar Boston neighborhood, produces more bank robbers and armored car thieves than any square mile in the world." So begins Chuck Hogan's compelling novel "Prince of Thieves".The day after the 100th running of the Boston Marathon, Claire Keesey, a branch manager for a Boston bank, walks into her bank to start her day. And what a start it is! She is met by four men in horribly scarred masks and told to open the vault. She does this reluctantly, and in the midst of the robbery she is able to initiate the silent alarm. However, one of the robbers has a wire into the alarms and alerts the others. They finish taking the money; leaving the top layers of monies that are marked and take Claire as a hostage. On the way out one of the robbers beats the assistant manager thinking he was the one to set the alarm. All of this is registered in Claire's memory. Claire is released unhurt but with residual psychological damage.The robbers are four friends, born and brought up in Charlestown. Three have violent backgrounds and have spent time in jail. The leader is Doug MacKay. Jimmy "Jem" Coughlin and Freddy "Gloansy" Magloan are the toughies- Mirth or Menace they are called. Des Elden is the brain of the group, recruited by Doug. Des works for Nynex, a lineman who knows how to connect to anything and anybody. They all have a history, date the same girls, drink at the same Irish clubs, and all agree that the influx of young professionals into Charlestown is not a good thing. They are pricing the locals out of their mother's homes and succeeding where the British have failed- driving them out of their neighborhood.Doug MacKay, the leader can't get Claire Keesey out of his mind. She is lovely, intelligent and wouldn't back down until she was threatened. He develops a relationship with Claire and they fall in love. How can this work? These two so very different souls. Claire has no idea that Doug is one of the robbers and that is how the suspense builds. Into the midst comes FBI agent Adam Frawley, in charge of all bank robberies. He too becomes fond of Claire. Agent Frawley is smart and he is intent upon "getting his man". It is not until the robbers look at taking on Fenway Park, a magnificently dangerous opportunity that leaks and clues becomes apparent.Church Hogan has written a marvelous book. The characters are richly drawn and you can see them in your mind-the action, and the mystery all come alive. The old neighborhoods of Boston and Charlestown are engraved in memory. And to top it all off, we learn about effective, studious robbers versus lazy robbers. The "ins and outs" of the robbery world, so to speak. A book to be read in one sitting, if you can, it is hard to put down.Recommended. prisrob 05-28-13

This is probably Hogan's weakest novel. Don't get me wrong, he is a great crime writer ("The Standoff" is one of the all-time great debuts), but this is a more flawed work. It's start and finish are great, but too much of what's in-between is flabby and downright boring - the romance fails to convince and the lead characters are unconvincing. That said some of his supporting players (the 'villains' especially) and Hogan unwavering eye for detail and nuance keep the reader turning the pages.Chuck Hogan is a prodigiously gifted author and remains one-to-watch, but this isn't the best introduction to his bleak world. One for completists only.

Fun read that was hard to put down. Great story and made you want to turn the page. Look forward to his next book.

If you love the movie “The Town” you will absolutely love the book that inspired the movie. A must read, I would highly recommend purchasing this book.

Très bon roman.Très apprécié et je comprends pourquoi!

映画を観て本買いました。まだ途中ですが、面白いです。細かい会話など本ならではの楽しみですね。

First I would rate this book 4 1/2 stars out of 5I came across this book after watching the movie "The Town" with Ben Affleck. The movie was pretty good but usually the book is always better as there is more time to develop the story and the characters, and this was the case with this book.The story take place in Charlestown which is a neighborhood within Boston. This fictional story states that this place has the distinction of being the place with the most bank and armor car robberies. This is a predominately Irish-American neighborhood that is very tight knit where everyone is aware of their surroundings were everyone notices when there is a police stakeout. This area is ran by the irish mob and it follows for guys from the town who are life long friends that are good at doing holdups. They are meticulous but things take a turn when one of the crew finds himself falling for one of there victims and he has secrets to keep from his new love interest and keep it from the other members of the crew. This is a fast book and it is a little strange to watch the movie again after reading the book as you feel like they are jumping over things. Give it a read