The Takeover

Richard Wormser

За особеностите на екземпляра

Състояние:: Добро
Забележка:: Дребни забележки, следи от времето.
Език:: Английски
Наличност:: 1 бр.

За изданието

Издателство:: A Fawcett Gold Medal Book
Град на издаване:: Greenwich
Година:: 1971 г.
Език:: Английски
Страници:: 191
Корици:: Меки
Категория:: Трилъри
Ширина (мм):: 105
Височина (мм):: 180
Дебелина (мм):: 15

Howeever, though this is a book about corruption, the mafia only play a tangential role. The story here is about Jerry, the city marshall and the small group of men with whom he works who basically control a city and by extension the midwestern state it is in. They have converted the boilerroom of the city hall into an informal but highly select meeting room where they decide who will win which election, who will get which contract and how much they will skim off of it. These guys are corrupt, but from the protagonist's viewpoint (which is not uncynical), they do a pretty good job of running the town. They allow some crimes like gambling (including a big policy racket) and prostitution to exist, under their control, but have succeeded in keeping drugs and the mafia out and the streets safe. Jerry's unofficial job is as the guy who actually goes out and gets a lot of things that need to be done done. He greases palms, hands out fat in the right places and gets favours in return. He is the right hand man and favourite of the unstated boss Hank Masters. The problem arises when their attorney general in the state capitol dies suddenly of a heart attack. His over-eager and reform-minded assistant will by law take over the position temporarily and has a real chance of getting it for the next four years, which would cause all kinds of trouble for the gang in the boiler room. It's Jerry's job to try and undermine the guy (who also turns out to want a piece of the pie, but too big of one and in a way that would be disruptive to the status quo). In dealing with this problem, Jerry starts to realize that he has slowly morphed into the main man.