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Title details for Defending Billy Ryan by George V. Higgins - Available

Defending Billy Ryan

#3 in series

by George V. Higgins
Adams Morgan
Audiobook
1 of 1 copy available
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1 of 1 copy available

Jerry Kennedy has been aptly described by his ex-wife as "the classiest sleazy criminal lawyer in Boston." Now, Jerry must defend the man that no one else will: Billy Ryan. The longtime commissioner of public works has cut one shady deal too many. Even Jerry harbors no illusions about the man's corruption. "If they didn't have Billy for selling the apple to the serpent who peddled it to Eve," he figured, "it was because the serpent refused to testify against him. Professional courtesy and all that." Jerry also knows that the government can always get a public official if it really wants to—particularly when a plea-bargaining crooked state legislator named Jack Bonaventre is in good voice. The drama that follows in and around the courthouse is vintage Higgins, suffused with the stylish prose and sparkling dialogue for which he is known.

  • Creators

  • Series

    Jerry Kennedy

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    May 9, 2006

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9781481558808
      • File size: 211163 KB
      • Duration: 07:19:55

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • Publisher's Weekly

      August 31, 1992
      Higgins ( The Friends of Eddie Coyle ), once a Boston lawyer, is known for his talky novels. In the third Jerry Kennedy tale, his narrator-hero's speech is wonderful--he's a crackling, supple raconteur. Following a bruising, impoverishing divorce in early 1986, the veteran Kennedy's law practice is moribund until Massachusetts Superior Court Justice Colin Ryan asks him to defend his father, the state's public works commissioner from time immemorial, against charges of corruption. Everybody knows Billy Ryan has been skimming at the public trough for years, but now an ambitious prosecutor has found a state representative who is willing to testify against him in court. Kennedy's story slips between 1986 and the present (readers must pay close attention) as he tells how things get done in the Bay State: lawyers, politicians and Mafiosi scratch backs in various ways, and they talk and talk and talk, colorfully and gloriously. Higgins's subtle examination of Boston Irish society is as acute as any by John O'Hara or Louis Auchincloss, but funnier. (Irish Alzheimer's? ``You forget everything but your grudges.'') Billy's wake and funeral are delicious. Author tour.

    • AudioFile Magazine
      Narrator Don Feldheim plows through the text with a utilitarian style which does nothing to help listeners define and distinguish characters. T.J.M. (c)AudioFile, Portland, Maine

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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