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Title: Clockers by Richard Price ISBN: 0-06-093498-0 Publisher: Perennial Pub. Date: 03 July, 2001 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.41 (22 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: An unconventional murder mystery with street credibility
Comment: Clockers is a murder mystery, complete with suspense and a twist ending, cloaked in an unconventional, raw street setting. The novel possesses more street-smarts than any other book I've read, fiction or not. The dialogue, internally (i.e., in the characters' own heads) and externally, was tough and vibrant, and employed street vernacular which rang credible without sounding clichéd. Many authors tell tales of drug dealers and ghetto crimes, but rare is the account from a drug-dealer's point of view. A troubled, intelligent, calculating drug-dealer, no less, who considers the repercussions of his every move.
All of Clockers' characters were realistically flawed, able to invoke both sympathy and disgust. Strike, the ulcer-stricken dealer, was in constant turmoil as he struggled between trying to earn enough from his illicit trade to get out of it, and attempting to help others avoid being dragged into the same web. Rocco, the homicide detective and delinquent family-man, had a love-hate relationship with his work, and sought a mission through which to justify his continued involvement in the force. Victor (Strike's brother) was an honest, hard working black man who had risen above the allure of the street life around him, but wrestled with his own demons and internal sense of justice. Everyone's paths met with the murder of a lesser character, at which point the cat and mouse game was afoot.
Lesser, but no less interesting plot lines abound: Strike's education of his would-be apprentice, Tyrone; Strike's efforts to free himself from an unhealthily dependent relationship with drug kingpin Rodney; and Rocco's schoolboy interest in being shadowed by a cocksure filmmaker with an interest in a police picture. Also fascinating and seemingly credible were the lessons in police and ghetto-civilian dealings: crooked cops being paid for protection; dealers ratting on one another to escape arrest; and unlikely, yet highly effective, working relationships between cops and dealers born from years of coexistence. Lastly, the issues broached by Clockers are current by today's standards, including AIDS, the questionable efficacy of drug busts, and the shiftlessness of ghetto kids who turn to pushing in the absence of concerned adults.
Rating: 5
Summary: Utterly brilliant
Comment: I normally read the likes of Dale Brown, Tom Clancy, Clive Cussler and so on; this was something totally different. It was superb and highly engrossing; Richard Price has obviously done his research well. I loved the movie, but the book is much better. The main difference here is that Rocco Klein, the hardworking hassled cop is the good guy and Strike is the protagonist. As the mystery unfolds as to why Victor Dunham confessed to a drug-related murder the cop thinks Strike committed, the ending will surprise you no end. Well done Richard Price; this is a classic book by anyone`s standards.
Rating: 4
Summary: Gritty and Honest Fictional Portrayal Of Drug Dealer's World
Comment: Richard Price's "Clockers" is a gritty, honest, brutally realistic portrayal of a young drug dealer trying to go straight, set in a bleak urban landscape of a fictional New Jersey city (In reality it is Jersey City, since Price mentions real streets in his gripping narrative.). Strike, the young dealer, is a mesmerizing protagonist, neither hero or villian, trapped by dire circumstances in his drug-infested, criminal world. Rocco, a delinquent husband and father, is a lackadaisal detective who finds new strength and appreciation for his work after trying to untangle a complex web of clues related to a bloody gangland-style homicide inside a local restaurant suspected of having strong ties to drug dealers such as Strike. Although I am quite impressed with Price's bleak tale, I can award it only four stars since it falls short in literary quality to some of the best work written in a similar vein by the likes of Elmore Leonard, William Gibson and Jonathan Lethem.
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Title: Freedomland by Richard Price ISBN: 0440226449 Publisher: Dell Pub. Date: 11 May, 1999 List Price(USD): $7.99 |
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Title: Samaritan by Richard Price ISBN: 0375411151 Publisher: Knopf Pub. Date: 07 January, 2003 List Price(USD): $25.00 |
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Title: Blood Brothers by Richard Price ISBN: 0395977738 Publisher: Mariner Books Pub. Date: 15 April, 1999 List Price(USD): $12.00 |
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Title: The Wanderers by Richard Price ISBN: 0395977746 Publisher: Mariner Books Pub. Date: 15 April, 1999 List Price(USD): $13.00 |
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Title: Ladies' Man by Richard Price ISBN: 039597772X Publisher: Mariner Books Pub. Date: July, 1999 List Price(USD): $12.00 |
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