Product Description

Ranging from the Swinging Sixties to the Raving Nineties and with a cast that includes the machiavellian gangster Harry Starks, politicians, bent coppers, actresses and gutter journalists, Arnott's fictional portrait of cultural change and moral decay is at once sharply funny, relentlessly compelling, and frighteningly real.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #246697 in Books
• Published on: 2005-09-26
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 896 pages

Jimmy Boyle, Guardian
'Arnott's ability to powerfully resurrect an era is astonishing'

Review
PRAISE FOR THE LONG FIRM:

'Arnott's ability to powerfully resurrect an era is astonishing' (Jimmy Boyle, Guardian )

'The evocation of Sixties London is brilliantly done and the powerful, stylish writing hooks the reader from the first page' (Mail on Sunday )

PRAISE FOR HE KILLS COPPERS:

'Brilliant . . . You won't be able to put it down.' (Daily Telegraph )

'The story and its characters ride perfectly within the setting, to the benefit of both . . . You don't have to be a crime fan to enjoy Arnott's books, you just have to be interested in the lives of ordinary, fallible people.' (Independent on Sunday )

PRAISE FOR TRUECRIME:

'Sparklingly witty, immensely profound . . . It should be read as a matter of urgency.' (Guardian )

'Arnott pinpoints with devastating accuracy how today's world leads to the survival of the shallowest. His ear for low-life patois is as sharp as ever and the narrative proceeds at a cracking pace.' (The Times )

Daily Telegraph
'Brilliant . . . You won't be able to put it down.'

Customer Reviews

wonderful london-based crime thriller
I'm about to read Johnny Come Home for the gay book discussion group so I thought I'd read The Long Firm first. Wow! I was completely hooked and ended up reading the entire Trilogy in about ten days. Loved it! An excellent read, cracking pace, good dialogue, absolutely convincing characterisation and some good plot turns.Interesting mix of fact and fiction: boy has this author done his research.Like most gay men rent boys and fading sixties pop stars are a subject of fascination: add to that gay gangster Harry Starks, wonderful evocation of Soho back in the day and it's the perfect summer read, I finished the trilogy on the train back from Brighton Pride 2006.
Highly reccomended!

An enjoyable read
A wonderfully written and conceived book, that I had difficulty putting down. Maybe because it was all so plausible! The characters are well developed and some, of them are all too real as if we have all known someone like them during our own lives. Maybe because this is a result of the fact that the author draws on real events of the past to form the skeleton of the story he is telling. Whatever the reason the book reads well and the story moves along at a steady pace with no ridiculous twists or turns. I strongly recommend you read this book, and the two that follow it.