3 Quarters - Hardcover

Hamill, Denis

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 067100249X ISBN 13: 9780671002497

Publisher: Atria, 1998

Synopsis

Explosive, street-savvy, and authentic, acclaimed columnist Denis Hamill's novels are drawn in the gritty ink that can only flow from the pen of a native New Yorker...and a superbly talented writer.Now, blending sinuous prose with a hair-trigger delivery, Hamill etches a novel set in a mercenary New York—where friends become enemies, cops are corrupted, and some must die, all for the sake of Bobby Emmet was a desperate man, an honest New York City cop, framed for the murder of his fiancée, and given one last chance to save himself—by an unlikely benefactor. Bobby didn't murder his fiancee, Dorothea Dubrow, and then cremate the body—but he has an idea who is responsible. His murder trial interrupted his investigation of a police medical pension scam—and revealed how little he really knew about Dorothea. Now suddenly free, he is imprisoned in a web of corruption, lies, and the kind of secrets people kill for.Beginning his search for the truth at a shady security firm that employs able-bodied ex-cops, all of whom have mysteriously qualified for medical pensions—equal to a cool three-quarters of their salaries—he stumbles upon a startling discovery: the cremated remains that led to his conviction didn't really belong to Dorothea.Bobby has a few allies: his policeman brother, his hacker daughter, his flamboyantly unprincipled lawyer, a cop or two who stood by him through the trial. But the same forces that landed him in jail more than a year before are putting a smothering squeeze on him now—and all roads lead to a powerful politician who will let nothing get between himself and the governor's mansion.As the struggle to find the truth—and Dorothea—intensifies, Bobby begins to suspect that those around him are not as loyal as they appear. His liberty and very life depend on whether or not he can discover how high—and how near—the conspiracy goes before the trap closes on him.At once lyrical and riveting, Three Quarters crackles in its electric setting, reverberating with a "relentless energy" (Lawrence Block) fueled by Hamill's intimate knowledge of and intense passion for New York City.

About this title

Review:

Denis Hamill knows the streets of New York and Brooklyn as well as his older brother Pete, and 3 Quarters is as quirky, dangerous, and exciting as the city itself. The story begins with the discovery, in the clenched fist of a murdered call girl, of three 1991 quarters still in mint condition. The connection of the coins with Bobby Emmet--a former cop now in jail, framed for the killing of his lover--and with Emmet's investigation of a police-pension fraud that stretches into the political heights, is the meat of the story. The sauce is Hamill's deadly ear for the twisted cadences of local voices, especially Izzy Gleason, a flamboyant lawyer just back from a year-long suspension, who wants to get Emmet out of jail. "I need a second act," says Gleason when Bobby questions his motives. "See, I had a great first act. Been on TV in all the big trials, on the covers of magazines, did all the talk shows, made all the money. Spent all the money. Romanced tall women. Some of them, with my help, wound up good-looking. Then it all went in the dumper...."

About the Author:

Denis Hamill is the author of Stomping Ground and Machine, as well as House on Fire, which is available from Pocket Books. He has been a columnist for New York Magazine, the Los Angeles Herald Examiner, and the Boston Herald American. A resident of New York City, Hamill currently writes a column for the New York Daily News.

About this edition

• Publisher: Atria
• Publication date: 1998
• ISBN 10: 067100249X
• ISBN 13: 9780671002497
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 320