The Rat on Fire
by George V. Higgins
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A riveting, blistering novel about the shady side of the law and the business side of the Boston underworld by the one and only George V. Higgins. Jerry Fein is a small-time lawyer, occasional booking agent, and full-time slumlord. But he’s nobody’s fool. So when the tenants of his dilapidated buildings refuse to pay rent because of rats, Jerry knows just the man to help him—Leo Proctor, a professional arsonist, who can make a fire marshal look the other way for a little cash. But show more the heat is on over at the police station as well, and a couple of cops are suddenly feeling pressure from their superiors to produce tangible results, and something has got to give. Full of showboating politicians, hardnosed cops, and lawyers a little too familiar with both sides of the law, The Rat on Fire is another Higgins masterpiece and an unflinching portrait of the Boston crime world. show lessTags
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Emblematic Higgins: a dialogue-heavy story of fast-talking scumbags in underworld Boston. This novel moves at a more leisurely pace than some of his others but is still an excellent read for fans of his style.
El propietario de un lúgubre edificio de apartamentos de Boston cuyos inquilinos llevan tiempo sin pagar el alquiler en protesta por el penoso estado de la finca cree que prenderle fuego sería la manera más fácil de desahuciarlos. Pero la tarea no será fácil: los delincuentes encargados del trabajo tendrán que ingeniárselas para sobornar al inspector de incendios de la zona, y el ayuntamiento de la ciudad se ha empeñado en erradicar los casos de acoso inmobiliario.
Jan 22, 2014 (Edited)Spanish
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The late George V. Higgins was celebrated for his way with dialogue. His books presented various characters, usually Boston cops, lawyers and low lifes, talking about their careers committing or avoiding crime, and, whoosh, just like that, a whole book skyrocketed into the imagination. A handful of the Higgins treasures have recently been republished, and for readers with a craving to revisit show more the old master, or to introduce themselves for the first time, The Rat On Fire, is a good place to start. show less
added by VivienneR
Author Information
39+ Works 3,074 Members
George V. Higgins was a lawyer, journalist, teacher, & the author of 29 books, including "Bomber's Law," "Trust" & "Kennedy for the Defense." (Publisher Provided) Author George V. Higgins was born in Brockton, Massachusetts on November 13, 1939. He received a MA from Stanford in 1965 and a law degree from Boston College in 1967. Before becoming a show more full-time author, he was a lawyer who defended such clients as G. Gordon Liddy and Eldridge Cleaver, a newspaper columnist, and a professor at the State University of New York at Buffalo, Boston College, and Boston University. He is best known for his crime novels. He wrote his first novel at the age of fifteen, entitled Operation Cincinnatus, which he destroyed in the 1970s. Before his debut novel The Friends of Eddie Coyle was published, he wrote as many as ten books that he either discarded or were rejected by publishers. He also wrote non-fiction works such as The Friends of Richard Nixon which was an inside account of the Watergate trials and Wonderful Years, Wonderful Years, which examined his Catholic background. Higgins died in his home of a heart attack on November 6, 1999. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
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Common Knowledge
- Canonical title*
- La rata en llamas
- Original title
- The rat on fire
- Original publication date
- 1981
*Some information comes from Common Knowledge in other languages. Click "Edit" for more information.
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Statistics
- Members
- 105
- Popularity
- 304,737
- Reviews
- 2
- Rating
- (3.75)
- Languages
- English, Spanish
- Media
- Paper, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 13
- ASINs
- 3
