Prince of Thieves by Chuck Hogan
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
I saw the movie, The Town, a few years ago and got the book after I learned the movie was based on a book. The movie was great, the book is even better. You get so much more depth with the characters and the plot. With the book, you can dwell on the inner life and struggle in Doug; the obsession of the FBI agent pursuing him; and the thoughts and reactions of Claire -- the woman caught up in the middle of it all.
It always amazes when an author can make a sympathetic hero out of a character that should be a bad guy. Hogan does just that, I kept hoping and looking for a way for Doug to get out; you want him to get away with it all even though you know he shouldn't and he can't. Hogan gives a haunting portrayal of Charlestown adapting to the changes in the 90s--which also mirror the changes in Doug: it wants to move forward but can't or doesn't know how and so does it what it knows best even if that is wrong.
The book was also wonderfully nostalgic for me as someone who lived in Boston in the 90s. I loved reading the names of the old banks and places no longer there.
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