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The PATRIOT GAME.
For Pete Riordan the assignment is both simple and find the IRA leader who's running around the US trying to be guns. (Nobody knows his name and nobody knows what he looks like.) There is one possible two Massachusetts politicians are trying to bring off an early pardon for Mikey-mike Magro, currently in prison for murder. And Magro is known to very proficient at finding guns for sale.
256 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1982
About the author
George V. Higgins
75 books263 followersGeorge Vincent Higgins was a United States author, lawyer, newspaper columnist, and college professor. He is best known for his bestselling crime novels.
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
March 11, 2023
My favorite Higgins character was Digger Doherty. This book is a sequel to The Digger's Game. My new favorite character is a wisecracking politico named Seats Lobianco. This book is stuffed with banter and mockery -- not just from Seats. The powwow between Monsignor Fahey and Bishop Doherty (Digger's brother) is savage.
The Troubles in Northern Ireland have boiled over into Boston and Agent Riordan is trying to prevent the commie Provos from getting ARs. The story is mostly about preventing crime (gunrunning and murder), so there isn't much physical action. But the verbal maulings are more than satisfactory.
With Higgins, you normally have to winnow-out the plot from the digression-laden dialogue. Not so much here, Higgins gives us plenty of actual narration.
The Troubles in Northern Ireland have boiled over into Boston and Agent Riordan is trying to prevent the commie Provos from getting ARs. The story is mostly about preventing crime (gunrunning and murder), so there isn't much physical action. But the verbal maulings are more than satisfactory.
With Higgins, you normally have to winnow-out the plot from the digression-laden dialogue. Not so much here, Higgins gives us plenty of actual narration.
October 22, 2018
Just re-read this. Badly needed corrective to the diffuse language surrounding literary, let alone political, discourse these days. Higgins' dialogue is rock solid; he takes off from John O'Hara and Hemingway ("The Killers'') and makes it his own. Without him, there would be no Elmore Leonard, Pelecanos or the like. Aside from the crime story, at the end of the day this is a tale about two brothers. None better.
May 17, 2023
I'll say it again that Higgins is an excellent dialogue writer. It's like the guy was destined to write radio dramas. He relishes in writing characters that speak in flowing monologues consisting of mainly busting the chops of others. I laughed out loud hours after reading a bit about being sent to Alcatraz with "gooney birds" who "shit all over everything". Something about that turn of phrase really stuck with me.
This story centers around Peter Riordan, a hulking bruiser with shrapnel in his knee from Vietnam working for the feds trying to flush out arms dealers working for the IRA in Boston. On top of that, he is trying to help an old friend who is worried that a criminal up for parole might get it and come out seeking revenge. Since all exposition is handled via conversation and Higgins has a knack for the way people talk including how cagey and crafty they can be, keeping track of everyone's interests and connections forces you to keep your head on a swivel. It's not super dense but I had to recheck names sometimes.
Which means there is a bit of fat here that could be trimmed. There are anecdotes that contribute nothing to the story along with entire chapters that head nowhere but are there to add humor or flavor the characters and mindsets of the time. Most of the time it works to add depth but sometimes it felt like stalling for time.
Ultimately though this was an enjoyable read. I've praised the dialogue, but Higgins also has a very sharp grasp on details even if he is kind of rickety when it comes to writing it. Riordan explaining about his selection of a shirt as he cuts holes into it to conceal his shoulder holster is a fine example about how Higgins captures the down to Earth workman like nature of the dangerous job he has to do. Everything in this book feels realistic because the characters feel so realistic (when not being too cliched, but hey ya gots ta know who the dirts are).
This story centers around Peter Riordan, a hulking bruiser with shrapnel in his knee from Vietnam working for the feds trying to flush out arms dealers working for the IRA in Boston. On top of that, he is trying to help an old friend who is worried that a criminal up for parole might get it and come out seeking revenge. Since all exposition is handled via conversation and Higgins has a knack for the way people talk including how cagey and crafty they can be, keeping track of everyone's interests and connections forces you to keep your head on a swivel. It's not super dense but I had to recheck names sometimes.
Which means there is a bit of fat here that could be trimmed. There are anecdotes that contribute nothing to the story along with entire chapters that head nowhere but are there to add humor or flavor the characters and mindsets of the time. Most of the time it works to add depth but sometimes it felt like stalling for time.
Ultimately though this was an enjoyable read. I've praised the dialogue, but Higgins also has a very sharp grasp on details even if he is kind of rickety when it comes to writing it. Riordan explaining about his selection of a shirt as he cuts holes into it to conceal his shoulder holster is a fine example about how Higgins captures the down to Earth workman like nature of the dangerous job he has to do. Everything in this book feels realistic because the characters feel so realistic (when not being too cliched, but hey ya gots ta know who the dirts are).
October 29, 2016
This book is incredibly confusing, straight from the get-go. The book starts with solely focusing on Riordan, then adds characters left and right, each with their own respective background. This makes keeping track of the characters next to impossible, and frankly, plain annoying.
Another problem is the main plot. The main plot focuses on Riordan trying to find this gun-runner for the IRA, but then goes off into a tangent with other characters, completely destroying whatever little plot there was.
All in all, this book is an incredible blemish on an otherwise widely successful writing career by Mr. Higgins. Read some of his other novels (i.e. "The Friends of Eddie Coyle," "Cogan's Trade"), but please, steer far away from this mashup of frustration!
Another problem is the main plot. The main plot focuses on Riordan trying to find this gun-runner for the IRA, but then goes off into a tangent with other characters, completely destroying whatever little plot there was.
All in all, this book is an incredible blemish on an otherwise widely successful writing career by Mr. Higgins. Read some of his other novels (i.e. "The Friends of Eddie Coyle," "Cogan's Trade"), but please, steer far away from this mashup of frustration!
March 27, 2014
This is a story of priests, criminals, police, the IRA and gun running.
This book totally lost me after about 20 pages. I struggled through to the end up - but felt I'd wasted my time.
This book totally lost me after about 20 pages. I struggled through to the end up - but felt I'd wasted my time.
December 28, 2023
Underrated Higgins. A sequel to The Digger's Game (published almost a decade earlier) in which the hard-hitting fed Pete Riordan must team up with the moderately stuffy bishop Paul Doherty to avert the parole of a murderer who has designs on Digger Doherty, the bishop's brother. Fundraising and gunrunning for the IRA is involved; in discussing the Provos and in the prison scene Higgins seems to want to elaborate or at least vent his basically conservative views, befitting of a federal prosecutor, although he does concede some ground when the warden admits the older methods were no more effective. The pompous liberal prison shrink/reformer guy is a bit too much of a caricature to work, although the scene where he is basically devoured by Riordan is funny.
Much of the brief book is devoted to arguments and digressions among essentially minor characters: an Italian politician hell-bent on extracting a free lunch from a fellow councilman, a parking lot attendant explaining how he avenged himself on a rude Ways and Means Committee member, Pete's girlfriend Fred describing how her daughter Jenny made the ex-husband/father regret skipping out on a parental visit, a bartender describing an annoying sot's miserable home life. Imagine the various Madras jacket losers from the Friends of Eddie Coyle and you're set for visualizing half of the characters. In order to be a character in this world you need the gift of the gab, Higgins' organizing principle.
Feels strange to call it a thriller or even really a crime novel; it's more like a cross-section of Boston Irish civilization at the dawn of the Reagan era, with substantial criminal contributions. One of the best scenes comes when the bishop dresses down a lying subordinate at the gym, a purely verbal exchange but brutal and humiliating. As in a few other Higgins novels the action is compressed down to a tight, brutal flash near the end. Here it's almost comically action movie-esque, heroics on a scale much grander than The Digger's Game (the final shooting of which is maybe my favorite action scene from Higgins). Yet it still works.
The only times the book can tend to drag a little is when Higgins goes a bit too much into journalist mode, describing every fucking piece of clapboard and trim and tarpaper on the various triple-decker houses, the precise orientation of the Schlitz merchandise and signage on the saloons, the different cars. Save it for the movie adaptation!!
TIL phrases: craythur, fouled anchor.
Much of the brief book is devoted to arguments and digressions among essentially minor characters: an Italian politician hell-bent on extracting a free lunch from a fellow councilman, a parking lot attendant explaining how he avenged himself on a rude Ways and Means Committee member, Pete's girlfriend Fred describing how her daughter Jenny made the ex-husband/father regret skipping out on a parental visit, a bartender describing an annoying sot's miserable home life. Imagine the various Madras jacket losers from the Friends of Eddie Coyle and you're set for visualizing half of the characters. In order to be a character in this world you need the gift of the gab, Higgins' organizing principle.
Feels strange to call it a thriller or even really a crime novel; it's more like a cross-section of Boston Irish civilization at the dawn of the Reagan era, with substantial criminal contributions. One of the best scenes comes when the bishop dresses down a lying subordinate at the gym, a purely verbal exchange but brutal and humiliating. As in a few other Higgins novels the action is compressed down to a tight, brutal flash near the end. Here it's almost comically action movie-esque, heroics on a scale much grander than The Digger's Game (the final shooting of which is maybe my favorite action scene from Higgins). Yet it still works.
The only times the book can tend to drag a little is when Higgins goes a bit too much into journalist mode, describing every fucking piece of clapboard and trim and tarpaper on the various triple-decker houses, the precise orientation of the Schlitz merchandise and signage on the saloons, the different cars. Save it for the movie adaptation!!
TIL phrases: craythur, fouled anchor.
November 24, 2024
“BEAN TOWN SCALLYWAGS AND SAVIORS”
The first chapter had me smiling throughout it. It involves three teenage golf caddies talking about nonsensical stuff. It sounds very believable. If you are not aware of the late George V. Higgins’s (1939-1999) work, he was known for writing very believable dialogue. ‘The Patriot Game’ maintains the author’s style of propelling a story along by mostly dialogue between characters. I pick up one of Mr. Higgins’s works sometimes when I’m feeling a little down. ‘The Patriot Game’ does not disappoint. The book was published in 1982.
The setting is the greater Boston area. The protagonist is Pete Riordan, a huge muscular investigator who sports long greasy hair, a Zapata mustache, long sideburns, and war wounds from serving in Vietnam. The inhabitants of Mr. Higgins’s world are crude blue-collar types. Even the Bishop Paul Doherty has a trash mouth when around friends. The thin thread that holds the story together involves a prisoner named Mikey-Mike Magro who is a murderer but on the fast track to be given an early release. Part of the mystery is why people behind the scenes are hellbent on getting such a small-time nobody out of prison. The book is loaded with interesting characters. The fun in reading ‘The Patriot Game’ is each chapter’s discussions that frequently go off on tangents that have nothing to do with the main plot but are amusing and interesting.
It would help if you had some knowledge about topics that are referenced. They included such things as the Boston Irish, the Vietnam War, the Irish Republican Army, the Catholic Church and forced busing. Events occur during the early 1980s when Jimmy Carter was president, and the Iran hostage crisis was playing out. Mr. Higgins also references such people as Father Brown, Roy Cohn, Cole Younger, and Belle Starr. Most of the characters are cynical, even the two priests. It should come as no surprise that it has plenty of profanity and quite a few racist terms. If you prefer a lot of action in your books, ‘The Patriot Game’ is not for you. It is, however, a thought-provoking entertaining work of art. I loved it.
The first chapter had me smiling throughout it. It involves three teenage golf caddies talking about nonsensical stuff. It sounds very believable. If you are not aware of the late George V. Higgins’s (1939-1999) work, he was known for writing very believable dialogue. ‘The Patriot Game’ maintains the author’s style of propelling a story along by mostly dialogue between characters. I pick up one of Mr. Higgins’s works sometimes when I’m feeling a little down. ‘The Patriot Game’ does not disappoint. The book was published in 1982.
The setting is the greater Boston area. The protagonist is Pete Riordan, a huge muscular investigator who sports long greasy hair, a Zapata mustache, long sideburns, and war wounds from serving in Vietnam. The inhabitants of Mr. Higgins’s world are crude blue-collar types. Even the Bishop Paul Doherty has a trash mouth when around friends. The thin thread that holds the story together involves a prisoner named Mikey-Mike Magro who is a murderer but on the fast track to be given an early release. Part of the mystery is why people behind the scenes are hellbent on getting such a small-time nobody out of prison. The book is loaded with interesting characters. The fun in reading ‘The Patriot Game’ is each chapter’s discussions that frequently go off on tangents that have nothing to do with the main plot but are amusing and interesting.
It would help if you had some knowledge about topics that are referenced. They included such things as the Boston Irish, the Vietnam War, the Irish Republican Army, the Catholic Church and forced busing. Events occur during the early 1980s when Jimmy Carter was president, and the Iran hostage crisis was playing out. Mr. Higgins also references such people as Father Brown, Roy Cohn, Cole Younger, and Belle Starr. Most of the characters are cynical, even the two priests. It should come as no surprise that it has plenty of profanity and quite a few racist terms. If you prefer a lot of action in your books, ‘The Patriot Game’ is not for you. It is, however, a thought-provoking entertaining work of art. I loved it.
January 10, 2025
Less confusing than some of Higgins' other more fragmented crime stories, and it's a nice surprise that after several chapters you see how the pieces fit together. Still, this isn't "Murder, She Wrote." The grimy, downright morally demolished characters set a tone you know won't turn pretty. The most morally demolished FBI agent ever depicted, Pete Riordan, investigates a case that leads to IRA soldiers, convicts, lowlifes, and dishonest priests in Boston, and the LONG conversations are as rich and funny as the outbursts of violence come without any forecast. The climax is a big catharsis of mayhem that still doesn't play out like a cliche' shootout in a movie--even if that's what it is. The only hard-to-figure change in Higgins' normally dialogue-driven style is the presence of descriptive passages devoted to character wardrobe. For a second, I thought I was reading George Pelicanos.
August 2, 2018
Lukewarm Thriller
I love George V. Higgins as a general rule and I love his R-rated, character driven dialogue. The hero is a strong champion of justice, and everybody is worried that a convicted murderer will obtain a pardon and kill the villain. Very slow-burn. The early chapters are conversations. Toward the end, Higgins puts the hero in jeopardy, and one chapter is devoted to action that seems inconsequential. The felon that everybody worries about never gets out of prison. As it turns out, the felon’s presumed target knew that he was at risk, before the heroes could inform him. The prose is top-notch, but everything seems formulaic.
I love George V. Higgins as a general rule and I love his R-rated, character driven dialogue. The hero is a strong champion of justice, and everybody is worried that a convicted murderer will obtain a pardon and kill the villain. Very slow-burn. The early chapters are conversations. Toward the end, Higgins puts the hero in jeopardy, and one chapter is devoted to action that seems inconsequential. The felon that everybody worries about never gets out of prison. As it turns out, the felon’s presumed target knew that he was at risk, before the heroes could inform him. The prose is top-notch, but everything seems formulaic.
March 28, 2018
The usual goodness from Higgins, though I don't think it makes it into his upper tier of novels. At this point, you know the drill: shady characters talk to each other in digressive and profane circles; entire chapters go by without any particular feeling of plot momentum. When an honest-to-God action scene breaks out, it feels like it came from another story altogether (often times in a Higgins book, you don't even get the action scene; he just skips ahead to the aftermath). You either dig this kind of storytelling or it bores you to tears. I'm in the former camp.
Read
November 12, 2024It took me years to track down this book (it was available to rent on my kindle via the library so I'm not a great detective) because I needed to prove it exists.
The long lost sequel to "Digger's Game" had finally been found.
I liked it. Pretty prose heavy for a Higgins book. Very light on the Dig too.
The long lost sequel to "Digger's Game" had finally been found.
I liked it. Pretty prose heavy for a Higgins book. Very light on the Dig too.
June 2, 2021
Love me some Higgins, but this was unreadable.
April 19, 2024
Deep cut GVH for the heads, highly recommend
October 6, 2013
I have to order many of the George Higgins' books I have been reading through interlibrary loans at my local libraries because many are gone from shelves or out of print. This one was delivered, without my asking, in large type face which I personally find annoying to have to read. The other huge flaw with this edition is that it was full of typographical errors. I started correcting them, then gave up when I saw how many there were.
One nice thing about this tale is that it goes back into the life of Digger Dougherty (The Digger's Game) and his brother, a Catholic Bishop named Paul. There are other lesser characters we've met in other Higgins' books that show up as well. Again, the plot is mixed between politics and crime and law...the Higgins triad.
I enjoyed the tale despite the big lettering, the frail brown pages and the misspelled words. Again, I have added the image for this book as well as a jacket portrait of the author.
One nice thing about this tale is that it goes back into the life of Digger Dougherty (The Digger's Game) and his brother, a Catholic Bishop named Paul. There are other lesser characters we've met in other Higgins' books that show up as well. Again, the plot is mixed between politics and crime and law...the Higgins triad.
I enjoyed the tale despite the big lettering, the frail brown pages and the misspelled words. Again, I have added the image for this book as well as a jacket portrait of the author.
May 6, 2013
For those of you who know and love Elmore Leonard and Quintin Tarantino, George V Higgins was here first. The Patriot Game is one of Higgins best. Brisk dialogue, characters who are all more than they seem, and an action finale that is both thrilling and terrifying. What more could you want?
December 19, 2012
The BATF and gun runners trafficking arms for the IRA. What else could you ask for?
March 7, 2015
I just love this guy. I would probably give this book 5 stars but then most of my 5 star books would be his
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews