Customer Reviews
Move over Puzo - By: Mr. Michael Malone, 28 Jul 2008 
In City of Lies, R J Ellory takes that tried & tested device of placing the ordinary guyin an extraordinary situation...and gives it a Godfather makeover. The ordinary Joein question is John Harper; one-time novelist, full-time journalist whose byline should read Meaninglessin Miami.
Then one day, John receives a call from his auntin New York; an aunt who took himin as a child when he was orphaned. The reason? The father he thought he died thirty years ago has just been shot & is lyingin a comain hospital.
As the past & its terrible events crowdsin on John the big questions are: who exactly is his father? Why has his aunt lied to him all these years? John soon meets an old family friend, Walt, his mysterious, blonde colleague & a driven, Marilyn Munroe obsessed detective & as the story gathers momentum & Harper searches for the truth, R J Ellory uses his cast of characters with consummate skill to weave a web of truths, half-truths & lies.
Ellory is a man with an eye for a beautiful sentence & the skill to build a well-crafted plot with cast of characters that will have this book glued to your hands until you reach the hugely satisfying conclusion.
This guy is good - By: myrydyn, 17 Jul 2008 This is the second book of RJE that I have read. This one was not as dark as "A quiet beliefin Angels", & so may be easier for others to get into. These books cannot be categorised as thrillers but they have the pace of one. The characters are extremely well thoughtout & the storyline is strong. For an englishman writing about crimein America this guy is brilliant.
There was one fault - the first two or three pages seemed heavy & made me wonder if the book would be good. If you find that the same when you pick it up - persist - it not only gets better it excels.
66 Carmine - By: one-eyed Jack, 06 Jul 2008 Before finishing Ellory's beautiful A QUIET BELIEF IN ANGELS I decided to buy everything else he has written, & CITY OF LIES is the first I found, although it is actually his fourth novel. I much prefer the author's original title '66 Carmine' as it evokes thoughts of a more appropriately noir-ish atmosphere than the rather bland title the publishers preferred & more accurately reflects one of the key elements of the story, which is to say this house is where it all began some three decades earlier & where it ultimately ends. It has to be said that the writing style is so completely different from AQBIA that the reader might wonder if they were both penned by the same man, but there is one thread that both novels havein common: the central characterin each case will become a writer,in fact the key man here has already had a book publishedin years past which is often referred toin dialogue. That man is 36-year-old John Harper, who has lived an unassuming lifein Miami unaware that the father he thought had died when he was a boy isin reality one of the most powerful financiers of organised crimein New York. It's only when the elderly boss-of-bosses is shot & critically injured that Harper is broughtin to act on behalf of the father he never knew so as to bring about the big deal that is designed to hand over power & territory to another leading underworld kingpin. This is a riveting, powerful character-driven tale of life-long deception & power pursuits. Spread over just ten days or so the bulk of the story is built upon the lead up to a climax on a specific date, Christmas Eve, & much of the final 100 pages are dedicated to a minute-by-minute account of several simultaneous bank heists on that day. If this was to be turned into a film, I would suggest that Michael Mann would be the right man to direct it. Despite intense & intimate debate about what went on all those years ago & what will happen when everything comes to a headin a few days' time, I could not think what the outcome would be as it seemed,in its specific detail, to be utterly unpredictable. The confusion & distraction that Harper & others suffer is felt by the reader too, I for one feeling totally engrossedin the people, the history & the events, & sensing real tension & dangerin the concluding stages. This is a crime thriller with genuine depth & breadth & one that on several occasions manages to move, excite & surprise the reader. The bank heists are pure theatre, vividly cinematic & thoroughly gripping. Once you're in, you won't want to put it down until the very end. Strongly recommended - RJ Ellory has to be one of Britain's best & yet still most promising literary talents.
Ellory delivers again. - By: Hardeep, 02 Jun 2008 My review for this novel is well overdue, it is a truly fantastic read, & although this short comment may not do it justice, I felt it necessary to voice just how much I enjoyed this work.
For those of you that like this authors unique style, I think you might agree that he is a master at characterisation. That was what I loved about this book, what kept me hooked & thinking about the characters within it even when I wasn't reading. Characters like Walt Freiberg, Ben Marcus & Cathy Hollander, however shadowy bring the story to life & emphasise everything that is good & greatin Ellory's writing.
John Harper, the protagonist, pulled alongin the inexorable grip of fate finds he has a father after years of believing he was an orphan. That this father, is near deathin a hospitalin New York & unbeknown to him, he his moving into a 12 day period that feels like a lifetime & will fundamentally change who he is, if he survives it.
A great story, beautifully structured with a fitting denouement. Another great Ellory book, another work to be prized & complimented, another great journey.
Compelling - By: AJ, 29 May 2008 Along with "A Quiet Vendetta," this is the closest RJ Ellory gets to a conventional crime novel. The writing is atmospheric; you're drawn into the characters' lives; there's a strong sense of place; & no shortage of action. The only slight criticism is that I think it could have worked even better if writtenin the first person narrative.
