title: Eddie's World: A Novel of Crime
author:  Charlie Stella 
description: Eddie Senta's New York City, the focus of this flawed first novel by off-off-Broadway playwright Stella, is a harsh and unforgiving place. Eddie's a book runner with mob connections and his own skewed version of a midlife crisis. His second wife's burning to have a baby before she gets too old, running book no longer satisfies, his teenage son by his first wife is difficult for Eddie to connect with, and his legit occupation as a part-time word processor isn't panning out too well either. Eddie's not sure what direction his life is going to take, but he has plans for an easy score, as well as to pass on his modestly successful book to friend Tommy Gaetani. The simple burglary Eddie tries to pull off with inside help from a woman with a grudge to settle lands him and Tommy in the middle of a murderous mess. Eddie's mark is a crooked gem dealer, but the problem is, Eddie's not the only one to have targeted the dealer. Stella throws in Russian mobsters, ex-cons, federal agents, Mafia figures, local cops and gangbangers, all of whom convulse Eddie's world. Stella handles the complexities of his plot nicely, but none of his characters, including Eddie, are sympathetic enough to engage the reader. In addition, he lacks the gift for dialogue that allows a pro like Elmore Leonard to carry off similar capers. Nor does he have the sharp-edged humor of a Donald Westlake. An overreliance on the f-word and variants thereof, however realistic coming out of the mouths of Stella's lowlifes, becomes numbingly off-putting after a while. Agent, Bob Diforio.
zlib_text: EDDIE’S BOY
  
   ****
  
  Also by Thomas Perry
  
   _The Butcher’s Boy_
  
   _Metzger’s Dog_
  
   _Big Fish_
  
   _Island_
  
   _Sleeping Dogs_
  
   _Vanishing Act_
  
   _Dance for the Dead_
  
   _Shadow Woman_
  
   _The Face-Changers_
  
   _Blood Money_
  
   _Death Benefits_
  
   _Pursuit_
  
   _Dead Aim_
  
   _Nightlife_
  
   _Silence_
  
   _Fidelity_
  
   _Runner_
  
   _Strip_
  
   _The Informant_
  
   _Poison Flower_
  
   _The Boyfriend_
  
   _A String of Beads_
  
   _Forty Thieves_
  
   _The Old Man_
  
   _The Bomb Maker_
  
   _The Burglar_
  
   _A Small Town_
  
  THOMAS
  
  PERRY
  
  EDDIE’S BOY
  
  A NOVEL
  
  The Mysterious Press
  
   _New York_
  
   ****
  
  Copyright © 2020 by Thomas Perry
  
  Jacket design by Cindy Hernandez
  
  Jacket photographs: man © Arcangel/Mark Owen; stained glass © Arcangel/Richard
  Nixon
  
  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by
  any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and
  retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the publisher, except by
  a reviewer, who may quote brief passages in a review. 