- Mass Market Paperback: 368 pages
- Publisher: Ballantine Books; New title edition (Oct 26 2004)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0345439422
- ISBN-13: 978-0345439420
- Product Dimensions: 10.5 x 2.4 x 17.4 cm
- Shipping Weight: 181 g
- Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #445,001 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Details |
Product Description
From Publishers Weekly
After two less-than-stellar outings (The Tutor; Last of the Dixie Heroes), Abrahams is once again at the top of his game in this wildly inventive, captivating caper. Make that several capers-this novel's multiple plot threads and unlikely assortment of characters carom off each other like so many carnival bumper cars. In typical fashion, Abrahams places a gaggle of ordinary folks in what gradually become distinctly unordinary scenarios, with an ever-so-creepy edge. In Arizona, divorc‚e Helen MacIsaac (Mackie) takes up stripping to make ends meet. Meanwhile, her 17-year-old daughter, Lianne, hooks up with a wrangler at nearby Ocotillo Ranch, the site of her dad's latest get-rich-quick scheme. Back east, Nick Loeb, a writer whose latest crime caper isn't up to snuff ("of course, that was only the opinion of Publishers Weekly") finds an unlikely muse in Mary Jane Krupsha, an amateur critic on Amazon.com. Suggesting that Loeb get some on-the-job experience, she takes him to the Mexican border town of Agua Fria, where her ex-husband is captain of detectives. And where do you suppose Mackie is honing her ecdysiast routine? In Agua Fria, of course, at a boate called Buckaroo's, which boasts "a towering sign with two red nipples in the os." Meanwhile, back at the ranch, the wrangler is enlisting Lianne's aid with a proposed bank hold-up in-of course-the busy burg of Agua Fria. And we haven't mentioned Mr. Samsonov, the owner of Buckaroo's, who's friendly with some nice Russian mafiya fellows, and who's taken a shine to dancer Red (aka Mackie). The author's up-to-the-minute pop-culture references lend an easygoing immediacy, and his wry humor is spot on-when one character wants to borrow a cell phone, he's answered, "Mind waiting a bit? Off-peak starts in three minutes." Off-peak, however, need not be a concern to readers of this bravura thrillfest.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
Book Description
“Peter Abrahams is my favorite American suspense novelist.”
—STEPHEN KING
“Mackie dreaded the mail.” From this simple beginning, Peter Abrahams opens the curtains on a mesmerizing world down on the Mexican border, a world of complex and passionate people whose ambitions will lead them on a relentless collision course, a desert world that rises to the mythic in Their Wildest Dreams. The suspense will grab you and not let go, the surprises will shock you, but in the end it will be the wonderful characters who linger in your mind.
Characters like Mackie Larkin, a suburban mother desperate for money, who finds she can earn it as a stripper; Kevin Larkin, her ex-husband whose get-rich-quick schemes left her with a mountain of debt, and who now dreams up an even better one; Lianne, their beautiful, impulsive teenage daughter, for whom almost anything, even bank robbery, is possible; Jimmy Marz, the wrangler she loves, who gets a dangerous onetime offer that could take him to the life he’s always wanted; Buck Samsonov, the charismatic strip-club owner building a southwestern empire in the lawless style of a 19th-century robber baron; Clay Krupsha, a twenty-first-century captain of detectives in a border town where no crime is what it seems; and Nicholas Loeb, a struggling mystery writer whose encounter with an unstable muse entangles him in a web of true crime more mysterious than anything he imagined.
Utterly original, multilayered, and marked by the gripping suspense, sharp wit, and fascinating psychological insights for which Peter Abrahams has been acclaimed, here is a major work—a riveting story of modern-day desperadoes living their wildest dreams.
From the Hardcover edition.
Inside This Book
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First Sentence
Mackie dreaded the mail. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt
Mackie dreaded the mail. Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt
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Customer Reviews
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Most helpful customer reviews
2.0 out of 5 stars
Mildly amusing,
By A Customer
This review is from: Their Wildest Dreams (Hardcover)
Well, this is not Dostoevsky, no need to use your brains when you read this piece of work. Mildly amusing. Poorly developed charachters. The portrayal of Mr. Samsonov is way over the top,where did he dig up such a character? All in all, readable but mind numbing.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Fast, Fun and Clever!,
By
This review is from: Their Wildest Dreams (Hardcover)
The pace of this book is much quicker than Mr. Abrahams' previous efforts. Additionally, he does a masterful job of injecting subtle, self-deprecating humor into the main character, Nick Loeb. I thought the author's utilization of Amazon.com's book review feature was particularly clever. The dialog is sharp and realistic, with many surprises along the steadily developing plot. I have read several of this author's previous books, enjoying The Fan and The Tutor. I found Revolution #9, The Perfect Crime and Lights Out to be a bit slow and tedious. This novel is definitely Mr. Abrahams' most entertaining effort to date.
4.0 out of 5 stars
Character rich increasingly fast paced novel,
By
This review is from: Their Wildest Dreams (Hardcover)
Several stories of varied characters converge in a literally explosive climax in this extraordinarily well written novel. On the Mexican US border outside of Tucson, lives Mackie Larkin, a divorced housewife who dreams of owning a dance studio but after a failed real estate deal, desperately needs money just to make ends meet. Her daughter, Lianne falls for an older man who works at the same ranch her father does. Nicholas Loeb is a mystery writer who travels to rural Arizona to get hands on experience in law enforcement. Buck Samsonov is a crime lord who runs a couple of strip joints in the region. All their paths converge in this very clever crime novel. The question is who will be on top in the end.After a slow start the plot becomes increasingly fast paced once we get to know each of the characters and their separate problems. Alternate chapters are used initially to reveal the individual characters. Part of the change in momentum occurs when the characters' lives converge making the separation by chapter no longer necessary. The characters, a major strength of the work, are all original creations. The conclusion is a bit problematic and unrealistic. However, this one is well written and very much worthy of a reader's time.
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