Cogan's Trade

George V. Higgins

Orion, 2012 - Assassins - 216 pages

"Jackie Cogan is an enforcer for the New England mob. When a high-stakes card game is heisted by unknown hoodlums, Cogan is called in to 'handle' the problem. Moving expertly and ruthlessly among a variety of criminal hacks, hangers-on, and bigger-time crooks--a classic cast of misfits animated by Higgins's hilarious, cracklingly authentic dialogue--Cogan gets to the root of the problem and, with five consecutive shots from a Smith & Wesson thirty-eight Police Special, restores order to his corner of the Boston underworld."--Publisher's description.

What people are saying

LibraryThing Review

User Review  - datrappert - LibraryThing

Like his classic THE FRIENDS OF EDDIE COYLE, perhaps 90% of this book consists of dialogue. There is no back story. Everything the reader knows is revealed through the characters’ conversations. But ...

LibraryThing Review

User Review  - SanctiSpiritus - LibraryThing

Mario Puzo gives us eloquent and artistic proses when unfolding a story of the Mafia, and underworld. George V. Higgins gives you the grit, the hard-boiled inner-workings of low on the totem pole true ...

About the author

George V. Higgins was assistant DA in Boston before becoming a defense attorney and then a full-time writer. Described as 'the Balzac of Boston' and 'the poet of Boston sleaze' he wrote over thirty books, including a handful of lowlife masterpieces constructed almost entirely of pitch-perfect dialogue. He died in 1999. Cogan's Trade is the book behind the major motion picture Killing Them Softly starring Brad Pitt.

Bibliographic information

• Title: Cogan's Trade; killing me softly
• Author: George V. Higgins
• Publisher: Orion, 2012
• ISBN: 1409137538, 9781409137535
• Length: 216 pages