188:"The driver", an emissary for the mafia, converses with a hitman named Jackie Cogan. Jackie has figured out who robbed the game, but even though he understands Markie was uninvolved, he believes Markie should be murdered in order to restore confidence amongst the local mobsters. After murdering Markie, Jackie meets with Mitch, another professional hitman, to prepare for the assassinations of Russell, Frankie, and Squirrel. Jackie becomes frustrated with Mitch's flagrant lechery and alcoholism, and convinces Driver to arrange Mitch's arrest.
240:"exalt crime at the expense of criminals". In the novel, cars are a common motif, appearing at the beginning of numerous chapters. Higgins pairs drivers with cars that match both their socioeconomic status and how they want to project themselves. In one instance, a character compares "driving a Chrysler 300F at
280:, wrote that the novel's appeal was "the seamy nether-world of the savage seventies" where none of the characters can be considered good. The newspaper said the novel was challenging to read with its extensive use of slang, and it also found the role of women and of prisons to be underdeveloped. Author
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Higgins employs numerous conversations embedded with extensive slang to illustrate events rather than to write of them happening. A book on
American culture said, "A grand master of tactical digression, allows his narrative, containing the criminal design, to wind twistingly around a series of set
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by paying two men to rob his poker room; although he later openly admits his involvement to various criminal figures, he suffers no retaliation. In the fall of 1974, a man named Johnny "Squirrel" Amato plans to rob Markie's next poker game, anticipating the mafia will blame Markie for the heist. He
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Russell is arrested on a drug possession charge; meanwhile, Jackie confronts
Frankie and agrees to spare him his life, on the condition he reveal Squirrel's whereabouts. Jackie murders Squirrel before murdering Frankie; he then meets with Driver to collect his fee. Driver refuses to pay Jackie in
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pieces in which the action is suspended, often for chapters at a time, while the gangsters talk about sex and marriage, who goes out for coffee, their weight and root-canal work." One instance of
Higgins's slang is the word "paracki" to refer to
155:, Cogan is a hitman who targets the person responsible for a card-game heist. The person is identified through a second heist and pursued by Cogan, who works for an anonymous benefactor who also has a non-criminal role in society.
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Jackie Cogan, a enforcer/hitman for the New
England mob. He is married and keeps his mob activities separate from his personal life, although his wife is aware of his work. His boss is Dillon who returns from
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Diego
Gambetta, writing about communication between criminals, says Cogan "establishes his bona fides with others by invoking common acquaintances" with dialogue such as:
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Russel, an unstable, heroin addict thug, who robs liquor stores and clinics. He has a side gig stealing and breeding dogs. He was in prison 10 years prior to the novel.
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enlists
Frankie, a former business associate, and Russell, an unstable heroin addict, to perform the robbery. Upon completing the crime, Russell travels to Florida.
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Markie
Trattman is the proprietor of a criminal poker ring operating in a New England neighborhood. He decides to orchestrate an
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said of the novel, "Higgins's approach is evidential. He doesn't judge. He is as unassertive as a court stenographer."
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Johnny 'Squirrel' Amato, a local mobster who employs
Frankie and Russel to knock over the card game.
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141:. The novel was Higgins's third novel centered on crime in Boston neighborhoods, following
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to having sex with a beautiful woman". Cars are also places where characters are killed.
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251:"Who are you? I've never seen you before and now you are telling me all these things."
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Frankie, a low level thug, just out of prison where he met his partner Russel.
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254:"I am just a guy. Very few people know me. Oh, yes. China Tanzi knows me."
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374:Codes of the Underworld: How Criminals Communicate
464:Havoc in the Hub: A Reading of George V. Higgins
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399:Encounters with American Culture: 1973–1985
376:. Princeton University Press. p. 275.
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401:. Transaction Publishers. p. 118.
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192:full, and Jackie demands his payment.
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422:Dalzell, Tom; Victor, Terry (2007).
496:American novels adapted into films
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16:1974 novel by George V. Higgins
315:Bailey, O.L. (31 March 1974).
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317:"No Innocents in This Jungle"
19:For the film adaptation, see
397:Prescott, Peter S. (2006).
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506:Novels about the Irish Mob
426:. Routledge. p. 137.
234:The Friends of Eddie Coyle
205:The Friends of Eddie Coyle
144:The Friends of Eddie Coyle
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137:is a 1974 crime novel by
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372:Gambetta, Diego (2011).
491:American crime novels
462:Wolfe, Peter (2007).
232:and its predecessors
511:1974 American novels
501:Novels set in Boston
466:. Lexington Books.
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161:Killing Them Softly
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21:Killing Them Softly
322:The New York Times
273:The New York Times
473:978-0-7391-2151-1
433:978-0-415-37181-0
408:978-1-4128-0589-6
383:978-0-691-15247-9
238:The Digger's Game
149:The Digger's Game
139:George V. Higgins
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111:978-0-394-49057-1
89:Publication place
47:George V. Higgins
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261:paraldehyde
485:Categories
456:References
447:Wolfe 2007
424:Vice Slang
360:Wolfe 2007
348:Wolfe 2007
336:Wolfe 2007
300:Wolfe 2007
196:Characters
182:inside job
267:Reception
170:Brad Pitt
69:Publisher
225:Analysis
53:Language
56:English
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242:80 mph
125:762621
43:Author
288:Notes
151:. In
97:Pages
73:Knopf
64:Crime
61:Genre
468:ISBN
428:ISBN
403:ISBN
378:ISBN
236:and
176:Plot
147:and
119:OCLC
106:ISBN
84:1974
100:216
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307:^
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23:.
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