The books of George V. Higgins are, I suspect, an acquired taste. They areconsidered by many readers to be too difficult because there is no straightforward narration and because so much of the books are made up of dialogue- or more often, long monologues. The plot emerges slowly from what thecharacters say. A reader who is in a hurry to be engaged in the story islikely to be disappointed. But for those who have grown to love Higgins'sear for vernacular and the peculiarities of ordinary speech, all of hisbooks are treasures that can be savored slowly for the richness of thelanguage alone.At End of Day is the story of an unholy alliance betweentwo members of the Boston mob and a select group of FBI agents whosecareers have been made successful through information these mobsters haveprovided about their Mafia counterparts. The FBI, in turn, has protectedthese men from prosecution which has allowed them to even commit murderwith impunity (though this is "against the rules"). This tale isall the more interesting because it is based on a true story.
It is ashame that this is the last Higgins book we will have. He died as it wasgoing to press. On the positive side, he wrote so many books during hiscareer that fans of his style should have no trouble finding something tosatisfy that acquired taste.
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