Pagina principaleGruppiConversazioniAltroStatistiche
Cerca nel Sito
Questo sito utilizza i cookies per fornire i nostri servizi, per migliorare le prestazioni, per analisi, e (per gli utenti che accedono senza fare login) per la pubblicità. Usando LibraryThing confermi di aver letto e capito le nostre condizioni di servizio e la politica sulla privacy. Il tuo uso del sito e dei servizi è soggetto a tali politiche e condizioni.

Risultati da Google Ricerca Libri

Fai clic su di un'immagine per andare a Google Ricerca Libri.

Sto caricando le informazioni...

Chicago Confidential (2002)

di Max Allan Collins

Serie: Nathan Heller (12)

UtentiRecensioniPopolaritàMedia votiCitazioni
843318,069 (3.59)1
It's 1950 in Chicago, P.I. Nate Heller's old stomping grounds. But things are different now, and the wind is blowing in a different, decidedly more dangerous direction. Congressman-with-a-cause and presidential-hopeful Estes Kefauver creates the Committee on Organized Crime to put the squeeze on the mob -- and anyone who ever associated with them. Heller tries to lay low, but when ex-cop Bill Drury cooperates and mafia moll Jackie Payne sings, Heller finds himself catapulted into the middle of the investigation. Quick wits and tough talk swirl in the middle of Kefauver's senatorial charade as Max Allan Collins blends fact and fiction to stunning results. When Drury is murdered and Jackie disappears, Heller decides it's time for a little payback -- and maybe some ice cold justice. With the mob and Kefauver's crime committee hot on his trail, Heller mixes with the likes of Frank Sinatra, Jayne Mansfield, and Senator Joe McCarthy on a wild Windy City ride.… (altro)
Nessuno
Sto caricando le informazioni...

Iscriviti per consentire a LibraryThing di scoprire se ti piacerà questo libro.

Attualmente non vi sono conversazioni su questo libro.

» Vedi 1 citazione

Mostra 3 di 3
Some years back, Collins decided to try something audacious even for a gifted writer. Collins created a fictional character (Detective Nathan Heller) and injected this fictional character into twentieth century history, including having Heller work on the Lindbergh kidnapping, work with Elliot Ness and the Untouchables, become involved with Chicago gangster Nitty, and volunteer, along with his buddy, Barney Ross, to fight in the Pacific Theater in World War II. In the hands of a lesser writer, the Nathan Heller books would have become a laughable comedy, but somehow Collins has managed to create a fictional man who interacts with real historical figures and it works. I have read five of this series and they have all been terrific books, capped off with the Nathan Heller trilogy involving Marilyn Monroe, JFK, Jack Ruby, and the Kennedy assassination: Ask Not, Bye Bye Baby, and Target Lancer.

Collins prefaces this book by explaining to the reader that, although the historical incidents in the book are more or less portrayed accurately, "fact, speculation, and fiction are freely mixed here" and "historical personages exist side by side with composite characters and wholly fictional ones -- all of whom act and speak at the author's whim." There, he said it. Its fact and fiction all mixed together.
In this particular book, the year is 1950. Heller starts off at his Hollywood office, hiding out from the Kefauver committee which is investigating anyone with connections to organized crime (and Heller, through Nitti, has been connected over the years to the Organization, although he has never been part of it) and making time with his daughter, who is with his exwife, who is now engaged to a Hollywood producer.

Heller has a new client, the refreshing Vera Palmer. We learn later her married name in full is Vera Jayne Mansfield. He explains that "She still had a wholesome, smalltown, peaches-and-cream glow" and she wasn't a starlet yet, just a college student. He further explains that she wasn't blonde yet: "The shimmering brunette pageboy, the heart- shaped face, the full dark red-rouged lips, the wide, wide-set hazel eyes, the impossible wasp waist, the startling flaring hips, and the amazing full breasts riding her rib cage like twin torpedoes, had nothing to do with it." Interviewing her, Heller "felt like the Wolf discovering Little Red Riding Hood was packing heat." Of course, after a few hours together, he "felt like a truck had hit [him] - a 115-pound well-stacked one."

At dinner, they run into Frankie and Ava and, in between, Heller trades punches with Vera's stalker. Yes, this introductory interlude had little to do with the plot of the story, but it made for great reading and great atmosphere. It places Heller firmly in time as the forties are giving way to the fifties.
This story, after all, is not about movies stars, but about the Chicago Organization and Nathan Heller manuevering his way carefully between the Organization (headed in part by the Fischetti brothers) and the Kefauver investigations into organized crime. Of course, Heller also runs into Jack Rubinstein (better known as Jack Ruby) and Sam Giancana (who became well known over the years as a scary killer- indeed the coldest killer in the mob). The story is well-paced and moves quite rapidly and is a pleasure to read. Collins captures quite well the treacherous tightrope that Heller is walking and how carefully he must act to avoid becoming collateral damage.

There are great scenes and terrific dialogue in this book as Heller spars with the Fischettis, one of whom has an entire bedroom devoted to model trains, but is not any less dangerous. Also, great is Heller's give and take with Giancana and the sense of danger is simply omni- present with Giacana in the room. ( )
  DaveWilde | Sep 22, 2017 |
A "return to form" for Heller, back in Chicago and wrapped up in dealing with the mob, celebrities, crooked politicians and other assorted characters. ( )
  johnplatt | Aug 27, 2013 |
Part of a series of historical crime fiction involving prominent people. Nat Heller gets caught between mobsters and Estes Kefauver. With dames.
  bfister | Nov 27, 2011 |
Mostra 3 di 3
nessuna recensione | aggiungi una recensione

Appartiene alle Serie

Devi effettuare l'accesso per contribuire alle Informazioni generali.
Per maggiori spiegazioni, vedi la pagina di aiuto delle informazioni generali.
Titolo canonico
Dati dalle informazioni generali inglesi. Modifica per tradurlo nella tua lingua.
Titolo originale
Titoli alternativi
Data della prima edizione
Personaggi
Dati dalle informazioni generali inglesi. Modifica per tradurlo nella tua lingua.
Luoghi significativi
Eventi significativi
Dati dalle informazioni generali inglesi. Modifica per tradurlo nella tua lingua.
Film correlati
Epigrafe
Dati dalle informazioni generali inglesi. Modifica per tradurlo nella tua lingua.
“Chicago is the heaven and haven
of mobsters, gamblers, thieves, killers,
and salesmen of every human sin.”
—Jack Lait and Lee Mortimer
“The Mafia is no fairy tale. It is ominously
real, and it has scarred the face of America.”
—Senator Estes Kefauver
“Murder is the essence of Chicago,
just as blackmail is the essence of Hollywood.”
—Florabel Muir”
Dedica
Dati dalle informazioni generali inglesi. Modifica per tradurlo nella tua lingua.
“For Gary Warren Niebuhr
and
Ted Hertel,
neither of whom is in this book.”
Incipit
Dati dalle informazioni generali inglesi. Modifica per tradurlo nella tua lingua.
In Chicago the price is up front, at least, if nonnegotiable.
Citazioni
Ultime parole
Nota di disambiguazione
Redattore editoriale
Elogi
Lingua originale
DDC/MDS Canonico
LCC canonico

Risorse esterne che parlano di questo libro

Wikipedia in inglese

Nessuno

It's 1950 in Chicago, P.I. Nate Heller's old stomping grounds. But things are different now, and the wind is blowing in a different, decidedly more dangerous direction. Congressman-with-a-cause and presidential-hopeful Estes Kefauver creates the Committee on Organized Crime to put the squeeze on the mob -- and anyone who ever associated with them. Heller tries to lay low, but when ex-cop Bill Drury cooperates and mafia moll Jackie Payne sings, Heller finds himself catapulted into the middle of the investigation. Quick wits and tough talk swirl in the middle of Kefauver's senatorial charade as Max Allan Collins blends fact and fiction to stunning results. When Drury is murdered and Jackie disappears, Heller decides it's time for a little payback -- and maybe some ice cold justice. With the mob and Kefauver's crime committee hot on his trail, Heller mixes with the likes of Frank Sinatra, Jayne Mansfield, and Senator Joe McCarthy on a wild Windy City ride.

Non sono state trovate descrizioni di biblioteche

Descrizione del libro
Riassunto haiku

Discussioni correnti

Nessuno

Copertine popolari

Link rapidi

Voto

Media: (3.59)
0.5
1
1.5
2 1
2.5 1
3 4
3.5 2
4 6
4.5
5 2

Sei tu?

Diventa un autore di LibraryThing.

 

A proposito di | Contatto | LibraryThing.com | Privacy/Condizioni d'uso | Guida/FAQ | Blog | Negozio | APIs | TinyCat | Biblioteche di personaggi celebri | Recensori in anteprima | Informazioni generali | 203,206,508 libri! | Barra superiore: Sempre visibile