Keeplock: A Novel of Crime - Hardcover

Cray, David

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1883402972 ISBN 13: 9781883402976

Publisher: Otto Penzler Books, 1995

Synopsis

After a life of crime that progressed from juvenile detention to maximum security prison, Peter Frangello is ready for retirement--but two detectives need an ex-con they can use and betray, and Peter is their first choice. 12,500 first printing.

About this title

Reviews

Peter Frangello hasn't been out of jail for three straight years since he was 16. Now in his 30s, freshly paroled and determined to stay clean, he's in trouble within a day of release. A friend from the slammer is setting up an armored car heist that interests two corrupt cops; they elect Frangello to move in on the theft?and keep them posted. Frangello still wants to to do the right thing, but sees that "the right thing wasn't there to do." His parole officer likes him but can't help; his girl, Ginny, is loyal but he needs to protect her. This fairly linear narrative features grim, authentic-feeling jail flashbacks. The plot, in which Frangello hopes to survive threats from the clean cops, bent ones and the crooks running the heist, has a few holes (a final confrontation with one bad cop leaves a reader wondering where the other one is). But Cray, who is really Stephen Solomita, gives plenty of insider dope on the crime world and creates, in Frangello, an unexpectedly sympathetic unheroic hero.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Keeplock refers to the practice of keeping a troublemaking prisoner locked in his cell all day, not allowing him out for chores, recreation, or meals. Here, the word becomes a symbol for the locked cell all criminals inhabit, whether they are in prison at the moment or not. Peter Frangello, a career criminal paroled after completing 10 years of his 15-year sentence in New York's toughest prison, wants to stay out of jail this time. Frangello hasn't had a sudden rush of remorse; he has been targeted for death by another inmate and narrowly missed one murderous attack. But the parole system, the other ex-cons in his halfway house, and two rogue cops conspire to make sure Frangello remains a prisoner, one way or another. With the support of his girlfriend and a sympathetic parole officer, he attempts to double-cross both his former prison buddy, who has involved him in an armored-car heist, and the cops, who are strong-arming him into betraying the plot. The last page of the novel evokes the classic finale of the 1930s movie I Was a Fugitive from a Chain Gang. Highly recommended. George Needham

A born sociopath and life-long criminal, Peter Frangello has decided to go straight. A former prison buddy, however, plans a big-time heist, and ambitious detectives hope to snare him by planting Frangello at his side. Suspenseful, nitty-gritty work from the pseudonymous Stephen Solomita (Last Chance for Glory, LJ 4/15/94).
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Otto Penzler Books
• Publication date: 1995
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1883402972
• ISBN 13: 9781883402976
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 272