The Friends of Eddie Coyle: A Novel

The 40th Anniversary Edition of George V. Higgins' The Friends of Eddie Coyle opens with an introduction by Dennis Lehane, who's one of the greatest noir novelists writing today. To have Lehane praise the novel is no small thing; to have him cite it as an inspiration for the great Elmore Leonard sets the stage even more; but to have Lehane say, as he does here, that it's "quite possibly one of the four or five best crime novels ever written" sets expectations pretty astonishingly high for a newcomer to Higgins' iconic book. (Oh, and it turns out, the aforementioned Elmore Leonard? He thought it was the best crime novel ever written. No small thing, that.) Could the book live up to that introduction? Heck, could any book live up to that?Somehow, The Friends of Eddie Coyle does, largely by defying every expectation of what you think it's going to be. Yes, it's a crime novel, but it's one in which we see very little crime actually happen, and even what we get is often limited by our perspective. Yes, it plunges you into a Boston underworld of mobsters, made men, stool pigeons, and gun runners, but rather than giving us the drama of The Godfather or even the lived-in grime of The Sopranos, this colorful collection of hoods and rogues are ridiculously inept at times - self-involved, fearful, self-preserving, and ultimately less threatening than they are dangerous to each other.But more than anything else, what you don't expect about The Friends of Eddie Coyle is how much of the novel consists of nothing more than characters talking. There's little action in the novel, little narration; instead, Higgins lets his characters just talk to - and at - each other in rambling monologues, digressions, casual slang, and a constant stream of bluffs, brags, and confessions. It's a novel almost entirely constructed out of these conversations, with what plot there is largely unfolding in the background - and what's more, often behind the layers of deception coming out of the mouths of our characters, who are interested in nothing so much as they are preserving their own lives and looking tough in the progress.The result is a bit hard to describe casually, because this isn't the crime novel you expect. Yes, there's a story unfolding here - about bank robbers, a criminal desperate not to go to jail, a gun-runner, and some very paranoid mafia men - but that's hardly the point, nor is it the joy of the book. No, what makes The Friends of Eddie Coyle so great is living next to these characters and listening to their patter, all of which tells you more about them in seconds than any amount of narration ever could. If I tell you that a character says the following, don't you instantly know everything about their personality and worldview, without me saying another word?"I’m getting older. I spent my whole life sitting around in one crummy joint after another with a bunch of punks like you, drinking coffee, eating hash, and watching other people take off for Florida while I got to sweat how the hell I’m going to pay the plumber next week."Or what about this incredible monologue?“I heard a guy on television the other night,” Dillon said. “He was talking about pigeons. Called them flying rats. I thought that was pretty good. He had something in mind, going to feed them the Pill or something, make them extinct. Trouble is, he was serious, you know? There was a guy that got s*** on and probably got s*** on again and then he got mad. Ruined his suit or something, going to spend the rest of his life getting even with the pigeons because they wrecked a hundred-dollar suit. Now there isn’t any percentage in that. There must be ten million pigeons in Boston alone, laying eggs every day, which will generally produce more pigeons, and all of them dropping tons of s***, rain or shine. And this guy in New York is going to, well, there just aren’t going to be any of them in this world any more.” No, The Friends of Eddie Coyle isn't what you expect, and that can be a bit distracting at first. But it's pretty amazing in its color, its life, its wry humor, and its incredible voice, and there's no denying how simply rich, entertaining, and engrossing it is. That this book somehow lives up to that introduction? That's no small thing.

This book is considered a legendary example of hardboiled 1970s American crime fiction. Higgins is famous for his spare writing that focuses almost entirely on dialogue. He has a great ear. He's obviously a huge influence on wise-guy writing - Elmore Leonard comes to mind. Other writers of the era were lean and tough, but Higgins is pure. Compare this to Richard Stark's Parker series, for example: Higgins is tighter, harder, more a diamond in terms of craft. A lot of crime writers and hardboiled fans consider this one of the best works in the genre, ever. I enjoyed it - especially because I read it during a visit to Boston, where the novel is set - and I admired the style. But maybe I didn't love it. It's hard but it's also cold. The assembly of lowlifes is painted boldly but it was hard to develop any symphathy for Eddie Coyle or any of the others. Not that they were sympathetic guys, but I was left unmoved by the story's denoument. Higgins is a masterly writer and this book deserves to be read, but perhaps it's getting a little dated. That said, I do intend to check out a few more of his works. I recommend this for fans of hardboiled and spare crime novels, but I'm not sure if would have a broader appeal today.

Too many people get lost along the way with a good crime novel is. Or even just a crime story in general. I think that's because there's an over abundance of police-procedural shows on television. And that's all most people get exposed to. Or maybe they pick up a John Grisham or (even worse, no offense) a James Patterson book, which are non-stop plot times infinity.This is the version that Raylan gives Tim.A good crime story, one with criminals leading the way, so rarely goes the way of the bing-bang-boom, plot-by-numbers plots that the police procedural shows do. And why would they? The cops need to get off their ass, follow those leads, interrogate the suspects, and solve the damn thing. The criminals just don't want to get caught, so they hustle, lay low, and lie.Unfortunately, for Eddie Coyle, he already was caught. An underworld gun-running lifer, Coyle got pinched running booze up in New Hampshire in a hot truck and faces sentencing for that case in a few weeks. Unless, of course, he gives up the goods on something big. Or so he's lead to believe by ATF Agent Foley. Coyle, a low-level gunrunner with an extra set of knuckles on his left hand thanks to the syndicate not being happy with his past work and just happening to have had an open desk drawer for Coyle's hand to rest in.Meanwhile, Coyle has his gun source, Jackie Brown (gee, I wonder who was influenced by this novel), who is also supplying M-16s to a crew of increasing active bank robbers, all while Foley has another source of intel, unknown to anyone else, of all the goings-on in the Boston underworld.The way the story plays itself out is nearly Shakespearean in its final tragedy. Much is made of the dialogue in the novel, so I won't go on and on about how good it is, but really, it's as a good as you'll read.That's something you hear a lot of: "The dialogue was so good, dude. I mean, like, bro, good." What does that actually mean beyond perhaps getting book recommendations from someone other than the anonymous person quoted? To have great dialogue, every line of it has to do at accomplish at least one of three things -- establish character, move the story forward, or create atmosphere. Nearly every line dialogue here does at least two of those, and more often than not, all three at the same time.But don't think this is just a stage play masked as a novel. Not at all. The first bank robbing sequence is as good of an action scene as you'll find in any work of fiction, crime or otherwise.And should you need any other endorsement, it's the book that Raylan Givens tosses over to Tim as he cleans out his desk in the final episode of Justified. A fitting gesture as Elmore Leonard called the novel the best crime novel ever written.Oh man, this is a good one. This is what good crime writing is.The Friends of Eddie Coyle by Goerge V. Higgins -- 5 out of 5 smashed knuckles.

George V. Higgins writes an incredible story but what sells it are the characters. The conversations bring you into the room with them.

I read the book as it is recommended as one of the must read ones.I found it very realistic in the way both the simple action runs but mainly for the dialogue which is very difficult to create unless you have real knowledge of the characters and slang they use.I did read any other book of this author but I found it fascinatingFor the reasons I gave.

Glued to your hand, to reed in one big gulp.Impossibile mettere giù: libro da leggere d'un fiato

Não conhecia o autor, mas gostei bastante. A narrativa é rápida e sem enrolação, a história é realista e interessante.

Have read the book every five years and still watch the movie.Robert Mitcham said it was his favorite movie.I am prejudiced as I knew George V.Higgins the best story teller using conversion.

Friends of Eddie Coyle is gem of a book. George H. Higgin's first novel. His knowledge of the police and the low-lifes from his own neighbourhood shines through in this story of Eddie Coyle and Jackie Brown. The dialogue is great and it's fun to read.If you enjoyed watching "The Wire" with it's snappy rhetoric and smart street talk, you'll love this style of voice as it leads you quickly along and into the story of snitches and gun dealers on the tough streets.