Corner Boy

by Herbert Simmons

This novel tells the story of the violent rise and fall of 18 year old Jake Adams, whose Buick Dynaflow, custom-made suits and attractiveness to women are just some of the fruits of his job pushing dope for the Organisation. The epitome of smooth, he is revered by his peers, and respected by his elders, most of whom regard him as a clean-living and successful young stud. Whether he's dealing drugs, hanging out with his friends, rumbling with old enemies or juggling his complicated love life, Jake seems to take everything in his stride. But things start to fall apart when Jake is stopped by the local police with a white woman in his car...

Genres: Fiction

288 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1957

Reviews

[Cody]

End-of-Year 'Loose Ends Bother Me' Microreview in Three Sentences or Less:

Corner Boy should be a case study used to counter every protest that a book must grab its reader within x pages, or suffer the ignominy of relegation to the dread “DNF” or “TL;DR” shitpiles that litter this rathole. With one of the best slow-burn starts I’ve read (in that I was bored fucking witless for 30 pages—yep, guilty as charged), Simmons shifts gears and loosens the book from a tight character study into a wide-lensed, poly-threaded sprawl, introducing a growing cast of POVs and flooding the pages with a sulfuric stench that clings to everything human. A not-very-minor masterpiece, as fated to Doom as anything Bobby Liebling ever put his name to.

[Caroline]

2.5 , j'aurais aimé avoir quelque chose de plus abouti.