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Product Description
Loaded
`This is a top read with a breezy style that unweaves like a good
pub story'
pub story'
GQ
`It's only lately people have started calling him the greatest
British hard-boiled writer. Him and Jack, the original hard men'
British hard-boiled writer. Him and Jack, the original hard men'
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
15 of 15 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
You probably saw the film first like I did and that's what has drawn you to the source novel. This doesn't add much depth to what you have already seen but Carter gains a childhood and we learn more about his brother Frank. There are less grand locations than the film (set in Newcastle)and its not as concise. Its real strength lies in its depiction of seedy, grotty life, not just that of the porn king but also of the council estate, boarding house, working men's club and damp Saturday afternoons listening to the football results. Carter moves in the circles of rich and poor, where the rich are just working class folks who made it big through vice. It is a bleak world and offers no hope, no solutions, just Carter resetting the equilibrium.
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Although the film "Get Carter"is well known and has achieved a high degree of cult status,the original novel and its author,Ted Lewis,have been sadly neglected."Get Carter"(originally published as "Jacks Return Home" in 1970)is a classic of the genre and is as close as any British writer has come to creating crime fiction,unmistakably British but as hard edged as the best of American fiction in the same genre.The eponymous hero,Jack Carter,returns to his native Doncaster to bury his estranged brother who has died in suspicious circumstances.Jack,we soon discover,is a hard man,enforcer for London gangsters Gerald and Les Fletcher who obviously Lewis loosly based on the Krays or Richardson gangs of the early 60s.Told in the first person,the prose and dialogue is terse but incredibly incisive.Lewis effortlessly evokes the period in which he was writing through description of decor and industrial decline.The north is presented as a faded wasteland with an undercurrent of seedy private clubs and "blue movies".Likewise the charactors are convicing and easily fleshed out with one of Carters cynical observations"She wasn,t bad looking.The only thing being she looked exactly what she was;a singing-room belle"or "His expression was meant to be full of amazement.All that happened was his right eyebrow moved an eighth of an inch toward his cap"for example.The closer Carter gets to the truth the seedier the circumstances become,building up to an explosive climax.Bearing in mind that the majority of people have seen the film before reading the book,having Michael Cane as the narrator adds to the enjoyment to be had from this real gem of a book.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
A cracking read from start to finish.Jack returns home to Scunthorpe(not Doncaster as outlined on the back cover)to bury his dead brother,and to find out who killed him.Excellent gritty thriller from Ted Lewis,worth reading time and time again.
As Jack would have said 'Dont get mad.....Get even!!!!
As Jack would have said 'Dont get mad.....Get even!!!!
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Gutsy and grittily paced classic story of regional criminals
The film of the book while more widely known is interestingly not as good as the book in conveying criminality at the regional fringes. Read more
Published on 14 Mar 2006 by Siriam
''WITH ME, IT'S A FULL TIME JOB''
I read this book after seeing the film staring the excellent Michael Caine.
Despite a few glaringly obvious changes, it is a gripping read and presents an authentic picture of a... Read more
Published on 18 Feb 2001
Entertaining Mix of Grit and Glamour
The story is well written, and strikes a good balance between the sort of testosterone-based attitude that makes books like this readable, and what one would imagine to be a... Read more
Published on 14 Nov 2000
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