The Rat on Fire - by George V Higgins (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

A riveting, blistering hot novel about the shady side of the law and the business side of the Boston underworld by the one and only George V. Higgins.

Jerry Fein is a small-time lawyer, occasional booking agent, and full-time slumlord. But he's nobody's fool. So when the tenants of his dilapidated buildings refuse to pay rent because of rats, Jerry knows just the man to help him--Leo Proctor, a professional arsonist, who can make a fire marshal look the other way for a little cash. But the heat is on over at the police station as well, and a couple of cops are suddenly feeling pressure from their superiors to produce, and something has got to give.

Full of hardnosed cops and lawyers a little too familiar with both sides of the law, The Rat on Fire is another Higgins masterpiece and an unflinching portrait of the Boston crime world.

From the Back Cover

He was a slumlord and lawyer and nobody's fool-and neither were the tenants who lived in Jerry Fein's rotting buildings. They weren't paying rent-why should they when the rats lived there for free?

Review Quotes

"Mr. Higgins at his best."--Atlantic Monthly

"If you are a Higgins fan, you should jump at this one."--Houston Chronicle

"Aspiring writers of any genre, not just legal suspense, would be wise to read lots of George Higgins." --John Grisham

"George V. Higgins was a brilliant writer." --Robert P. Parker

"Higgins deserves to stand in the company of the likes of Chandler and Hammett as one of the true innovators in crime fiction." --Scott Turow

"Higgins can plot a whole book like one long chase scene. He can write dialogue so authentic it spits." --Life

"The Balzac of the Boston underworld. ... Higgins is almost uniquely blessed with a gift for voices, each of them ... as distinctive as a fingerprint."--The New Yorker

"One of the great crime writers of the twentieth century." --Kansas City Star

About the Author

George V. Higgins was the author of more than twenty novels, including the bestsellers The Friends of Eddie Coyle, Cogan's Trade, The Rat on Fire, and The Digger's Game. He was a reporter for the Providence Journal and the Associated Press before obtaining a law degree from Boston College Law School in 1967. He was an assistant attorney general and then an assistant United States attorney in Boston from 1969 to 1973. He later taught Creative Writing at Boston University. He died in 1999.