goodgriefstief's review
2.0
It took me a long time to get into this book. It finally caught me almost 100 pages in, lost me again for a while, and only sporadically piqued my interest. The only reason I finished it fairly quickly is because I'm way more excited to read my next book. My biggest complaint (almost put the book down after a few pages) is Mamet's use of dialogue. While the dialogue itself is fine, every single line ends with "he said" or "said so-and-so." I think I can count on one hand the number of times he tries a different phrasing. It became infuriating for me...
The story was just ok. Not the page turning thriller I was expecting.
The story was just ok. Not the page turning thriller I was expecting.
candecast's review
2.0
Somehow this book didn't cook for me. It got off to a good start and then went nowhere. I love books about mobsters and the Heyday of the of the Roaring Twenties. But Mamet misses the mark! The dialogue alone drove me nuts. Guess I'll need a Studs Lonigan fix or start watching The Untouchables reruns!
clambook's review
3.0
I wish I liked this better than I did. Mamet on the gangster-and-newspaper world of Chicago in the Twenties should be a slam dunk, but I found the writing way too mannered and self-conscious and the story not very engaging.
squidbag's review
5.0
Nobody's people talk like Mamet's people; this reads like he had a lot of research and notes left over after Untouchables and he used to to write this brilliant and completely engrossing book about prohibition-era Chicago and all that that entails. To be released in February, so pre-order that shit now.
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