- Paperback: 208 pages
- Publisher: Vintage; First THUS edition (Feb 4 2003)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 1400031192
- ISBN-13: 978-1400031191
- Product Dimensions: 20.3 x 13.2 x 1.4 cm
- Shipping Weight: 227 g
- Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #1,216,257 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Details |
Product Description
From Publishers Weekly
This slim retro-look paperback by crime master Vachss (Only Child; Pain Management) delivers the guilty pleasure of a dime novel, which means that although it is a few writerly steps up from a Dick Tracy comic, the emphasis is on action. Characterization is handled with a few deft strokes. As usual, Vachss, a lawyer who represents children and once directed a maximum-security prison for violent youth, suffuses his story with compassion for children and a razor-sharp outrage at their abusers. Here, Vachss takes us inside the mind of Eddie, a young man who has survived a string of incarcerations with his innocence seemingly intact. Dismissed as an idiot by a few seedy characters, he is prized for his loyalty and his unsurpassed ability behind the wheel by the big-time heist artist J.C. When he isn't customizing vehicles for the biggest heist of J.C.'s career, Eddie is happily ensconced in the barn behind J.C.'s cabin hideaway, watching videos that feature getaway driving. Enter J.C.'s girlfriend, Vonda, who just can't leave Eddie alone. Taking advantage of J.C.'s frequent overnight trips to work out the details of the big job in the offing, Vonda gets cozy with Eddie, confiding details of her abusive relationship with J.C. She becomes Eddie's secret girlfriend and inspires him to new heights of daring as a getaway driver. The surprise ending is so abrupt that it will cause most readers to jam on the brakes and wonder where the road went, but it's smooth sailing right up to the edge of the cliff.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Booklist
Vachss takes a break from his popular Burke series to type a tribute to the Gold Medal pulp paperbacks of the 1950s and 1960s. Though it's a present-day noir like the Burke books, it's lighter in tone and steers clear of their dark subject matter. Eddie, the narrator, is a quiet, not-too-bright loner who loves to drive cars. Joyriding and a few stints in juvenile prisons lead him to hard time and hardened thugs who see potential in his single-minded loyalty--when Eddie's out front in the car, he waits until his partners come out, whether the cops are coming or not. After a few different gangs and adventures, he finds himself partnered with a tough ex-con planning the ultimate noir cliche: one last big score so they can all retire. This novel has all the standards, including stand-up guys, manipulative dames, double-crossing partners, and an aura of predestined failure that hangs over the proceedings like cigarette smoke in a waterfront bar. But Vachss gives it a nice twist by telling the tale from the point of view of the dim guy instead of the sharpster with all the angles. Except for a few slip-ups where Eddie uses too-nice wording ("a spring rain was slanting down"), or is almost too clueless to believe (he's never rented a video), it works. This should be a pleasant detour for both Vachss followers and fans of the genre. Keir Graff
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Inside This Book
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First Sentence
Every outfit needs a getaway man. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt
Every outfit needs a getaway man. Read the first page
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Concordance
Browse Sample PagesConcordance
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt
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Customer Reviews
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Most helpful customer reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars
Far From A One-Tracked Story,
By Untouchable (Sydney, NSW Australia) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Getaway Man (Paperback)
From a very early age Eddie only ever had one dream and that was to be a driver. This is the story of how he realised that dream and how he came to earn the respect of his peers, which was one of the few things in life he valued. It seems that it didn't matter how good or bad someone was according to Eddie, if they complimented him on his driving, then they were okay in his book.Eddie makes a very interesting character. He was a mixture of extreme naivety when it came to common emotional issues, but he had an instinctive cunning when it came to survival. It gives him a much deeper level of complexity than was first apparent and is one of the great strengths of the book. I found this to be a very quick read and is modelled off the old pulps of yesteryear, both in external appearance and in content. The writing is succinct and to the point and the story moves along at great pace before reaching a shattering conclusion.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Jim Thompson would be proud,
By
This review is from: The Getaway Man (Paperback)
Fan of tough-guy, noir-esque fiction? Enjoy the bleak, cynical tough-guys popularized by Chandler, Thompson and Willeford? Vacchs pays homage to all of them in _The Getaway Man_.Eddie gets his start stealing cars but soon finds his true calling. Driving getaway cars for armed robbers. His reputation grows after a stoic performance during a bank heist gone bad. After release from prison, he hooks up with a solid career criminal, J.C. Naive - but completely dedicated to his craft - Eddie soon finds that his new pals come with a complicated set of questions. I believe Jim Thompson would have thoroughly enjoyed _The Getaway Man_ and I look forward to Vacch's continued efforts in a pulp fiction revival.
4.0 out of 5 stars
Vachss Returns with a Good One!,
By Ann M Eadie (Jacksonville, Florida United States) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Getaway Man (Paperback)
His best since Shella. The Burke books were getting to be repetitive and Vachss a paraody of himself. This is good old time crime novelfun, although Vachhs does not in some child abuse and vigalante vengeance to keep up appearnces, covers some "same ol'" ground here and there, and the ending you could see coming half-way through the book (it's almost like an extended version of some of his patent "twist" short stories). Still, Vachss is back. I was afraid he'd lost his touch there for a while...
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