Caught Stealing

It took little more than a decade or so for teen baseball star Hank Thompson to become "Sailor," an alcoholic bartender in lower Manhattan. Paul's Place, the bar where he works, is as seedy as the neighborhood that surrounds it. But this is the life Hank has embraced. Then things begin to go downhill when he agrees to care for his neighbors' cat. Narrating in the first person, reader Christian Conn becomes Hank and completely captures the tone and texture of this novel's people and places. From melancholy mom to crooked cop, Conn's narration projects the problems of Hank and his friends. However, this outstanding work is not for everyone. Liberally laced with street talk, the story could be too much for some. T.J.M. ¥¥¥ (c) AudioFile 2005, Portland, Maine

March 15, 2004
There's no end to Hank Thompson's troubles. Once a star high school baseball player, he's now reduced to tending bar at a neighborhood dive on Manhattan's Lower East Side. During his long life-skid, Thompson has picked up a drinking problem, a pair of bad feet, lots of debt and little ambition. But for Thompson, hero of Huston's dark, hard-driving debut, the worst is still ahead. It begins when Thompson agrees to cat-sit for his neighbor, a dubious character named Russ. Within a few days, Thompson is ambushed by a pair of Russian thugs who beat him so badly he has to have a kidney removed. While he's recovering, he discovers a key tucked under the liner of the cat's carry box. This turns out to be a crucial bit of information, as he realizes when the Russians return, led this time by a dirty police detective, and demand to know what Russ left with Thompson besides his cat. When they're spooked by a fire alarm, Thompson escapes long enough to get his hands on the stash everyone's after: $4.5 million in cash. But of course, his troubles aren't over. Bodies pile up at a dizzying rate but the mayhem is riveting, despite a few credibility gaps. Huston shows a masterful command of first-person narration, deftly chronicling Thompson's gradual slide from victim to avenger ("I'm tellin' you, Hank, watchin' you, it's like watchin' a egg get all hard-boiled. No shit"). The story moves with the speed of the best chase novels, and Thompson possesses a self-deprecating spirit that will keep readers rooting for him even as he edges closer to the point of no return.