Twenty-year-old Russell Newhouse, a quick-witted scholar and skirt-chaser, has New York’s organized crime scene thrust upon him by a man called Shushan “Shoeshine” Cats, who interrupts a meeting of a Brooklyn Jewish men’s society where Russell is serving as secretary. Shushan is in need of a favor and promptly takes Russell under his wing. What ensues is a classic boy-meets-mob story: part noir, part comedy, part epic. Kestin’s richly layered characters, a monstrously obese German organized crime attorney named Frit von Zeppelin, a Jewish Texan who speaks in malapropisms, a dentist who anglicizes or Yiddishizes his name depending on his mood are straight out of Dickens; his vivid attention to the details of place, New York, and time, 1963, is like poetic journalism; and his snappy, concise prose and dialogue is on par with Raymond Chandler.
'THE IRON WILL OF SHOESHINE CATS just may be the best book you never read. Think The Godfather on laughing gas, or Catch-22 with guns. It's also as good a novel about life in the 60s as you'll ever pick up. Witty, sexy, thrilling, and all story. You can't put the damn thing down. If you're still one of the blessed who reads for pleasure, get this book, because it's a pleasure to read.' -- Stephen King 'A vibrant, hilarious addition to the genre of mob tragicomedy...his snappy, concise prose and dialogue is on par with Raymond Chandler.' -- Publishers Weekly 'In this smart and surprisingly poignant gangster story, Hesh Kestin peppers the stew with an unusual blend that's part American Graffiti, part Sopranos and part The Chosen.' -- Julie Salamon, author of The Devil's Candy and Hospital
Title: The iron will of shoeshine cats
Subtitle:
Contributors:
By (author)
Hesh Kestin
ISBN 13: 9781444756104
ISBN 10: 1444756109
Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton General Division
Imprint: Mulholland Books
Publication Date: 10/04/2012
Place of Publication:
London,
United Kingdom
Edition:
BIC Subjects:
Modern fiction
Dewey Classification:
813.6
(DC23)
NBS Classification: Crime & Thriller
Format: Paperback
Height: 198mm
Width: 129mm
Thickness: 22mm
Weight: 220g