Caught Stealing

I’ve always been a fan of the ordinary guy faced with extraordinary circumstances story; Grisham’s novels come quickly to mind. The formula allows the average guy or gal reading the book an instant connection to the hero. There are usually bad guys, an unwinnable scenario, and the hero must work in areas far outside his comfort zone, usually becoming a better or more balanced person in the end. I am a sucker for that story, no matter how many times I read variations on the theme.

Charlie Huston’s [Caught Stealing] presents a variation I’ve never read before. Sure, it starts out familiar enough: Hank Thompson, once a baseball phenom, broke his leg trying to stretch a double into a triple, and now wastes his days as a bartender show more with a better than average drinking problem. The extraordinary circumstances present themselves when two Russian thugs pull him across the bar and beat him senseless for no obvious reason. But here’s where Huston takes a different route. Hank doesn’t make any of the usual choices; he doesn’t do the right thing, he doesn’t do the honorable thing, and he doesn’t come close to the smart thing. As the forces against Hank mount, he consistently seems to choose the worst, most stupid path. And though Hank makes choices to survive, his path certainly doesn’t make him a better person, just a better, more capable murderer and criminal.
Huston’s sardonic voice and keen eye for the criminally malevolent made for a searing read. A warning: This book is not for those with delicate sensibilities; the language is filthy, the characters are corrupt, and there are no morals or messages waiting for you at the end of the road. But, if your game, Huston writes unusual and compelling characters and delivers a pulsating story.

Bottom Line: Gritty and dirty. Good at what it sets out to be: a thriller without a heart of gold. show less

I have complained many times about books that don't have a plot. When characters just react to situations, and are not driving the events, it bothers me. I do not enjoy those books. However, this author figured out how to entertain me in that situation: have the lead character get the snot beat out of him. Caught Stealing is a very violent book. The first half to three quarters of the book had the main character trying to figure out what is going on, but really didn't have a clue, and neither did the reader. I thought the plot wasn't all that original when it finally was revealed, but having some explanation to all the beatings made me feel better about enjoying the book. There was some humor/funny lines thrown in that I enjoyed. I am show more reading another book by this author, The Shotgun Rule, where unfortunately, there is no comedy. show less

Consider how you'd feel if you agreed to look after a neighbor's cat while he's away to visit his sick father. In the process of washing the blanket, you find an odd shaped key in the cat basket and leave it alone.

The next thing you know, you're at your job as a bartender, when 2 Eastern Europeans come in, order a drink, spit it all over your bar counter and then proceed to systematically beat you up. Life just goes downhill from that point.

You pass out, find yourself in a hospital where you're informed that you had a kidney removed because it ruptured as a result of the beating, returning to your apartment, you find a bunch of thugs going through your neighbor's apartment, you are again beaten up by different thugs and someone with a show more police connection.

How does one go from having a happy if aimless life to running from the first 2 thugs, the police, more thugs and being wanted for murder. Yes, there is murder ... multiple murders of your close friends and other strangers who happened to get in the way of the thugs. Why does everyone want this key? What does it unlock? And how do you avoid getting yourself killed? Oh and by the way, your neighbor comes back and wants his cat back.

I really hated what they did to the cat, and I'm just surprised it wasn't more traumatized and still liked humans.

If you like very raw and violent thrillers, this is one for the shelves. show less

Don't read Huston's stuff if you have an objection to gritty and violent thrillers. This particular one has it in spades—from the moment bartender Hank Thompson gets dragged across his bar and beaten for no apparent reason, until the final pages which aren't cliché happily-ever-after, the story is a fast and raw encounter between a relatively average fellow and a world he's unequipped to handle. That's what makes Huston's stuff interesting: it feels more real than those stories where the ordinary protagonist suddenly discovers he's incredibly adept at outwitting criminals who have spent their lives moving in that world.

An explosive read that demands a soundtrack. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jrwjiO1MCVs

Here we go!

Henry--Hank, to his friends--is just chilling in New York City, working his bartender gig, working his way up at the bar, and slowly pickling his liver. Hank is a genuinely nice guy: he gets along with his neighbors, does the odd job for the super, calls his California parents regularly, lends money to his friends and even--and this is astonishing--doesn't ask for it back.

I've been caught stealing
once when I was 5
I enjoy stealing
It's just as simple as that
Well, it's just a simple fact.
When I want something, man
I don't want to pay for it.

Hank stole for a brief period in his youth, after a tragic accident ruined his golden boy status. Now show more he's just a guy getting by. All that changes after neighbor Russ prevails upon Hank to watch his cat while Russ goes back to Minnesota to visit his dying father. Hank reluctantly agrees, becomes temporary owner of Bud, and everything starts to shift into overdrive.

I walk right through the door
And I walk right through the door.
Hey all right! If I get by, it's mine.
Mine all mine!

Strangely, it's not long after that a couple of Russian-like thugs beat Hank nearly senseless. Nearly, because he actually finishes the "senseless" part of it by drinking away the night after the thugs take off. He wakes up peeing blood, but knows from experience that his kidney is probably just bruised. Luckily, he has a doctor's appointment scheduled (his feet are just killing him), so when he passes out from shock, the doctor quickly gets him to the hospital and to surgery. Shortly after, he's minus one kidney and heading home, vowing to change his life--no more booze, no more bartending. Although it's hard to go cold-turkey, so he calls his dealer to get a little grass to smooth the transition. Even though the kidney-shaped hole in his side is just killing him, he heads out to do his laundry. Being the nice guy that he is, decides to toss in the cat's blanket as well (see how nice he is?).

My girl, she's one too.
She'll go and get her a skirt
Stick it under her shirt.
She grabbed a razor for me
And she did it just like that.
When she wants something,
She don't want to pay for it.

Returning from the laundromat, he sees the thugs that beat him having a pizza across the street from his place. Sliding up the stairs, he then notes strangers outside his apartment door. Perhaps they are connected? His missing kidney urges him on. He really wants to call the police, but he's got that big bag of dope sitting on his table, so he employs skills developed as a teenage thief to sneak down the fire escape and into his apartment. Stuff happens, and if you aren't in the mood for violence, you need to put the book down right now because it's about to get physical. For me, the level of casual violence and death was a detractor.

She'll walk right through the door
Walk right through the door.
Hey all right! If I get by, it's mine.
Mine all mine!

What follows is pretty much The Fugitive only with an alcoholic almost-baseball star instead of a doctor, and with gangsters instead of marshals. But you get the idea. I have to applaud Huston, he actually makes the plot seem plausible, with a protagonist that essentially wants to do right, only right isn't very clear when the bad guys change the rules all the time. Still, Hank gamely keeps trying, even when the curveballs come fast and loose.

We sat around the pile
We sat and laughed
We sat and laughed and
Waved it into the air!
And we did it just like that
When we want something,
We don't want to pay for it.

Huston has a gift for writing, no doubt. But ultimately, the book feels like a movie script for a wry, post-modern heist. Crystal clear visuals. Fast paced. Characters out of casting 101, even with their oh-so-clever quirkiness (Russians in track suits! Black guys wearing cowboy gear!) A protagonist trying to save his skin--and a cat--gets a pass for almost any behavior. Hell, I'd probably even watch that movie. But I missed Huston's subtle humor, his pokes at cultural mores, his vivid sense of place and character--everything I loved in the Joe Pitt books.

We walk right through the door
Walk right through the door
Hey, all right! If I get by, it's mine,
Mine, mine, mine, mine, mine, mine...

The best parts for me were the subway scenes, and Hank's clever use of New York culture. But honestly, the song is a lot more fun.

Three (stolen) stars, not four, because I have a decent anti-theft system.

In parting, a couple of quotes with trademark Hudson humor:

"There's one beer left and it keeps staring at me. I get tired of trying not to stare back so I put it in the john where I won't see it or hear it."

"They cram into the elevator, making cracks in French about drunk Americans. Fucking French classes. I wish I'd taken Spanish."

Cross posted at http://clsiewert.wordpress.com/2013/04/04/caught-stealing-hank-thompson-1-by-cha... show less

Henry "Hank" Thompson used to be high school baseball star but after breaking his leg that dream was over. He now lives a mediocre life, working in a bar in lower East side Manhattan. When his neighbor, Russ, leaves town for a few days he asks him to watch his cat, Bud. When he finds a key hidden inside the cat carrier he doesn't think about it until the next day when he is nearly beaten to death by a couple of Russians. Before long the police turn up but they aren't all they should be either.

The story proceeds at a breakneck speed and it reminded me a lot of a Quentin Tarantino movie. The book is exceedingly violent and both Hank and the cat, Bud, feature in torture scenes. Eventually, a huge stash of money comes into play and Hank show more turns from a victim to a criminal himself.

I did enjoy parts of the story and the author did a great job with his characters. Hank is a master of sardonic humor and the last third of the book is very fast-paced. I really loved Bud, the cat. I would only recommend this book to someone who enjoys dark gritty noir. show less

Shades of Jim Thompson...or Hunter S.?: This is one of the best first novels I've read in a long time. The author has created an interesting character who's not a particularly bad guy, but who gets into a predicament through no fault of his own, and is pulled down in a spiral of violence, greed, and betrayal that just keeps going at a rocket-ship pace.

Henry "Hank" Thompson (a name picked perhaps as an homage to Jim?) was once a high school baseball prodigy, his career ended before it ever started by a broken leg. He drifted into crime, dropped out of college, drifted to New York City with a girl who promptly dumped him, and wound up tending bar in a grungy place and living in a tiny, crappy apartment. His biggest worry, now, is that show more his job is killing his feet, and he's in debt. He drinks too much and smokes the occasional joint.

Then his neighbor from across the hallway leaves his cat with Hank for the weekend while he goes to visit his sick father, a pair of outrageous Russians in bad-taste tracksuits beat him up so badly the doctor has to remove one of his kidneys, and suddenly everyone's trying to kill him, or at least interrogate him about things he doesn't understand. They all seem to be looking for something he doesn't have.

This is an excellent first novel. The author is sure with his plot and characters, and though there are a few things that are at least sort of unbelievable, it's a good story and it moves right along. I would recommend this book to anyone interested in this sort of story. show less