The Agent

Rating:
Summary: This book isn't good
Review: Come on people; a "literary thriller" should still be readable, with discernible plot and some nodding acquaintance with reality. This book has none of these things. It is entirely dialogue-driven, which is fine, but nobody talks that much and so well. I could go on, but bottom line is that as much as I had heard about Friends of Eddie Coyle and looked forward to reading it, it was good but not great. This book is just plain bad. Face it--if "George D. Higgins" and not "George V. Higgins" was on the cover, it wouldn't have made it past an editor's desk.

Rating:
Summary: the good, bad, and dirty dealings of big time sports
Review: His 29th book, The Agent is all Higgins. Master of the literary thriller, he turns his eye for detail and his ear for dialogue to the high powered, high dollar world of sports agenting. If you care to learn this trade, just nod and fasten your seat belt, you're in for a swift education. Located in Boston, the good, bad and dirty dealings of big time sports where one hand pats the back as the other lifts the wallet, the reaching words of sincerity, the glowing warmth of the father figure and the comfy sense of security are all bigger than life when Alexander Drouhin come into yours. Football, baseball, basketball and hockey talent from all walks of life line up to hear what the great man cando with their lives: planning their future, assuring unlimited financial security and creating utopia. Never have so many made so much; greed is the way of life and America is the entertainment capital of the world with sports as the main attraction. Is this the way it works? It sure is. Who is the bad guy; the owner, the general manager, the agent or the client? Who can tell, they are contiually changing before your eyes. How do we sober-up and release from jail the NFL's leading rusher to make his role-model date at the YMCA camp? That's easy. How do we keep a NBA star out of the evening TV news after throwing his wife out the second story window of their home? That's a bit tougher, but can do. And along the way there is a murder to solve. This story is as currant as this morning's sports page. Higgins doesn't allow us to set in one spot very lonl. Good company for a lonesome night.

Rating:
Summary: A treatise on sports agency disguised as a murder mystery.
Review: I was very disappointed with this book. The majority of the story was a description of the trials and tribulations of a high flying sports agent and his insufferable clients and employees. It seemed that all at once the author decided that there was a murder to solve and only one chapter left to do it. It read more like an expose than a fiction novel.

Rating:
Summary: no good
Review: I'm a long time fan of Higgins' work and I don't think that The Agent is the best of the batch. But that's not to say that it is not a very good book. My suspicion is that it was written as an effort to broaden his audience. I hope it does. It's easy to read and moves quickly. In some of Higgins' other books, a conversations between two people could last a hundred pages. That demands a bit more attention from the reader. (And offers a greater reward in the end.) Anyway, The Agent is definitely worth reading. Even though it's not the best Higgins, it's still better than most other offerings in or out of the genre.

Rating:
Summary: Terrific novel
Review: I'm not a sports fan, but I found this book enthralling, well-written and generally terrific. Higgins spends a lot of time on the sports world as seen through agents' eyes, and even though you couldn't pay me enought to make me watch a hockey or basketball game, it was fascinating. Just as John McPhee in the nonfiction arena can write about oranges, or geology, or taking out the trash, and by his prose skills make it fascinating to the general reader, so too Higgins pulls off the same thing in this novel. I have been a fan of his since 1972 when his first book, The Friends of Eddie Coyle, was published. He writes a lot and rarely disappoints; he certainly does not do so here. Any reader who enjoys a good story, excellent prose and first-rate dialogue will enjoy this book tremendously; if you're a sports fan, you will have an additional dimension added to your enjoyment.

Rating:
Summary: Better , but still relatively disappointing.
Review: Looks like everyone's been a fan since "Friends of Eddie Coyle". Problem is, since say,"Cogan's Trade", the dialogue has so far outstripped the narrative that the plots are hard to follow, and, even more importantly, the conclusion is left up in the air. That's a real problem with this effort, too. Narrative returns, but exits shortly thereafter. And it seems like Higgins gets to the last chapter and decides, "I'd better finish this right now." Nevertheless, I always look forward to a new Higgins book. ("Swan Boats at Four" is a definite exception). Maybe it's the Woody Allen phenomenon: I keep hoping Woody will be funny again, and that George will write another "Eddie".

Rating:
Summary: This book isn't good
Review: Looks like everyone's been a fan since "Friends of Eddie Coyle". Problem is, since say,"Cogan's Trade", the dialogue has so far outstripped the narrative that the plots are hard to follow, and, even more importantly, the conclusion is left up in the air. That's a real problem with this effort, too. Narrative returns, but exits shortly thereafter. And it seems like Higgins gets to the last chapter and decides, "I'd better finish this right now." Nevertheless, I always look forward to a new Higgins book. ("Swan Boats at Four" is a definite exception). Maybe it's the Woody Allen phenomenon: I keep hoping Woody will be funny again, and that George will write another "Eddie".