Cogan's Trade is a top-notch 'hard boiled' crime novel. Crackling dialogue, mordant humour, and unremitting tension drive the suspenseful stakes of the game higher in Boston's precarious underworld of small-time mobsters, crooked lawyers, and political gofers.
The film Killing Them Softly, starring Brad Pitt, based on this crime masterpiece is due to be released in cinemas in the UK September 2012. See a trailer for it below.
Jackie Cogan doesn't advertise what he does. But when the New England mob have a mess they need cleared up, they know who to call. Markie Trattman runs a high-stakes card-game under their protection.
When the game gets raided by a couple of no-name hoodlums, Jackie’s out of pocket. Unless of course he set up the heist himself. Either way the mob’s got a problem. To restore credibility and keep things running smooth, they need to find out who’s behind the heist – and then justice must be seen to be done. Which is where Jackie comes in. The trouble is, this is one game with lots of players, including an out-of-town hitman, a sleazy attorney, a professional dog-stealer, and enough hoods, hangers-on and high-rollers to really make Jackie earn his dough.
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.
