The Good Rat, Jimmy Breslin
The Good Rat, Jimmy Breslin
List: $19.95 | Sale: $13.97
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The Good Rat
A True Story

Author: Jimmy Breslin

Narrator: Richard M. Davidson, Kaipo Schwab, Richard Mover

Unabridged: 6 hr 3 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download (DRM Protected)

Published: 02/05/2008

Synopsis

Jimmy Breslin can sniff out a story like he can sniff out a rat. Here, he tells a lifetime of anecdotes in his inimitable New York voice, giving us a view through the keyhole of the people and places that define the Mafia—characters like Sammy the Bull, the original snitch, and Gaspipe Casso, named for his weapon of choice; and hangouts like Pep McGuire’s, the legendary watering hole where reporters and gangsters (all hailing from the same working class neighborhoods) rubbed elbows and traded stories. But best of all, Breslin captures the moments in which the Mafia was made and broken—Breslin was there the night John Gotti celebrated his acquittal, having bribed his way to innocence. In The Good Rat, Breslin brings together the most recent, most memorable, and the long forgotten stories to create a sharp-eyed portrait of the mob as it lived and breathed; as it sounded and survived.

About Jimmy Breslin

Jimmy Breslin was born in Jamaica, Queens. He was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Distinguished Commentary in 1986. His critically acclaimed books include The Gang That Couldn’t Shoot Straight, Can’t Anybody Here Play This Game?, The Short Sweet Dream of Eduardo Guiterrez, several anthologies, and a memoir. He lives on Broadway, the Big Street, in New York City.

About Richard M. Davidson

Richard M. Davidson is an actor and Earphones Award–winning narrator. Trained at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art, he is well versed in theater and has had a long-standing career in acting, including a lead role in the show Diamonds, which aired on the CBS network, and a part in ESPN’s The Hustle.

About Kaipo Schwab

Kaipo Schwab is an actor, director, and producer who has worked at the Roundabout, the Public Theater, Second Stage, Hartford Stage, and Cincinnati Playhouse. Kaipo’s film and television credits include Anesthesia, The Royal Tenenbaums, Law & Order, Rescue Me, and Orange Is the New Black. He lives in New York City.

About Richard Mover

Richard Mover is an actor and director living in New York City. His audiobook narration includes The Collectors by David Baldacci, as well as the voice of Burton Kaplan in Jimmy Breslin’s The Good Rat.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Pam

“Good Rat” is of course ironic. Mafia was definitely one of Breslin’s meat and potato subjects and no one did it better. When this was written more than a dozen years ago he suggests that the mafia was not what it used to be. Of course psychopathic creeps and corruption never ends, but Breslin is so......more

Goodreads review by Betty

A surprisingly entertaining book considering the topic. Jimmy Breslin has built a story of the Mafia old and current around the court case against two extremely “dirty” cops in the NYPD. Burt Kaplan, working for the Mafia for decades, is the witness; now in his 70s and tired of prison life, he has t......more

Goodreads review by Sonya

I wish that I could have enjoyed this book more. As it is, I feel that the narrative of this nonfiction was far too jumbled, too confused. I felt as though I was picking up the second or third novel in the series, rather than a stand-alone non-fiction. Perhaps, though, it is because I know nothing m......more

Quotes

“Bad cops, good crook, great story.” USA Today

“Breslin chronicles the cops’ sordid tales with a mixture of awe, repugnance, and perfect diabolical detail. He remains a master of transforming crookery into opera.” New York Times

“A great look at the ugly and anything-but-glamorous truth of organized crime. This is Breslin at his Runyonesque best.” Rocky Mountain News

“Each character is so well developed and believable that listeners will suspect they’re listening to actual recordings rather than outstanding performances.” Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“Richard Davidson has just the gravelly tough-guy voice to bring Breslin’s Mafia story to life…Flamboyant language and colorful characters.” AudioFile

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