Description
From Bookmarks Magazine Jess Walter, who steps back in history for his third novel, brings back an "utterly inventive" tale of crime and politics ( Washington Post ). Walter, whose previous books include Land of the Blind and a non-fiction account of the Ruby Ridge massacre, Every Knee Shall Bow , seems to have found his stride as a novelist. Critics praise the authorx92s ability to straddlex97or shatterx97the conceits of the mystery novel, while offering a sincere, at times hilarious, rumination on the challenges of citizenship and the price of freedom. Except for the Seattle Times x92s vote against the stream of consciousness chapters that delve into Reagan and Carterx92s minds, the pundits all agree: Citizen Vince is the real deal. Copyright © 2004 Phillips & Nelson Media, Inc. From Booklist It's October 1980, and laid-back loner Vince Camden never misses a morning making maple bars at the doughnut shop he manages in Spokane, Washington. And he rarely misses a night relieving locals of their bankrolls at an after-hours poker game, selling his hooker pals pot at cost, and running a lucrative credit-card theft ring. Vince has landed in eastern Washington via the witness-protection plan, and he is starting to like the simple pleasures, including receiving his first voter-registration card. So even when a hit man, a local cop, and Mob-boss-in-waiting John Gotti get Vince in their crosshairs, he keeps trying to figure out if he should pull the lever for Reagan or Carter. This tale of unlikely redemption works because of Walter's virtuoso command of character and dialogue--along with a wicked second-act twist. The novel is also a gritty love letter to Spokane and all the other second-tier cities where residents don't realize how good they've got it, and with its Capara-like spirit, it serves as a surprisingly satisfying antidote to the avalanche of cynical chatter emanating from this year's political campaigns and commentators. Frank Sennett Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved “(An) immensely entertaining crime thriller and wry social commentary.” — Chicago Tribune “Rich in robust characters ad wry dialogue, with agile prose, a big heart and a finely tuned plot.” — Seattle Times “A splendidly entertaining, thoughtful book ... Jess Walter continues to impress.” — Sunday Telegraph “What makes Walter’s third novel so enjoyable is Vince, a flawed but sympathetic character trying to find redemption.” — Library Journal 1st Place, General Trade-Jacket, New York Book Show — One day you know more dead people that live ones... Jess Walter is a writer with a rare talent for finding humanity and emotional truths in lives lived on both sides of the law. With his third novel, Citizen Vince, Walter has crafted a story as inventive as it is suspenseful -- an irresistible tale about the price of freedom and the mystery of salvation. It's the fall of 1980, eight days before a presidential election that pits the downtrodden Jimmy Carter against the suspiciously sunny Ronald Reagan ("Are you better off than you were four years ago?"). In a quiet house in Spokane, Washington, Vince Camden wakes up at 1:59 a.m., pockets his weekly stash of stolen credit cards, and drops in on an all-night poker game with his low-life friends on his way to his witness-protection job dusting crullers at Donut Make You Hungry. This is the sum of Vince's new life: donuts, forged credit cards, marijuana smuggled in jars of volcanic ash, and a neurotic hooker girlfriend who dreams of being a real estate agent. But when a familiar face shows up in town, Vince realizes that no matter how far you think you've run from your past . . . it's always close behind you. Over the course of the next unforgettable week, on the run from Spokane to New York's Lower East Side, Vince Camden will negotiate a maze of obsessive cops, eager politicians, and emerging mobsters, only to find that redemption might just exist in -- of all places -- a voting booth. Darkly funny and surprisingly hopeful, Citizen Vince is the story of a charming crook chasing the biggest score of his life: a second chance. Jess Walter is the author of six novels, including the bestsellers Beautiful Ruins and The Financial Lives of the Poets , the National Book Award finalist The Zero , and Citizen Vince , the winner of the Edgar Award for best novel. His short fiction has appeared in Harper's , McSweeney's , and Playboy , as well as The Best American Short Stories and The Best American Nonrequired Reading . He lives in his hometown of Spokane, Washington. Read more
Features & Highlights
- From the highly acclaimed new crime novelist: a story of witness protection, petty thievery, local politics, and murder―set against the turbulent backdrop of the 1980 presidential election
- It’s the fall of 1980, the last week before the presidential election that pits the downtrodden Jimmy Carter against the suspiciously sunny Ronald Reagan. In a seedy suburban house in Spokane, a small-time crook formerly from New York, Vince Camden, pockets his weekly allotment of stolen credit cards and heads off to his witness-protection job at a donut shop. A the shop he takes a shine to a regular named Kelly, who works for a local politician. Somehow he finds himself and the politician in a parking lot at three in the morning, giving the slip to a couple of menacing thugs. And then he crosses the path of a young detective―and discovers his credit-scam partner, lying dead in his passport-photo office with a Cheerio-size bullet-hole in his head. No one writing crime novels today tells a story or sketches a character with more freshness or elan than Jess Walter. Citizen Vince is his funniest and grittiest book yet.
