Strip

A Novel

By: Thomas Perry

Narrated by: Michael Kramer

Length: 11 hrs and 22 mins

Publisher's summary

An aging but formidable strip-club owner, Claudiu "Manco" Kapak, has been robbed by a masked gunman as he placed his cash receipts in a bank's night-deposit box. Enraged, he sends his half-dozen security men out to find a suspect who is spending lots of cash and is new enough to Los Angeles not to know he was robbing a gangster.

Their search leads them to Joe Carver, an innocent but hardly defenseless newcomer who evades capture and sets out to make Kapak wish he'd chosen someone else.

Meanwhile, the real culprit, Jefferson Davis Falkins, and his new girlfriend, Carrie, seem to believe they've found a whole new profession: robbing Manco Kapak. Lieutenant Nick Slosser, the police detective in charge of the puzzling and increasingly violent case, has his own troubles, including worries about how he's going to afford to send the oldest child of each of his two bigamous marriages to college without making their mothers suspicious.

As this odd series of difficulties explodes into a triple killing, Carver finds himself in the middle of a brewing gang war over Kapak's little empire, while Falkins and Carrie journey into territory more strange and violent than either had imagined.

©2010 Thomas Perry (P)2010 Tantor

Critic reviews

“Perry's exquisite timing and finesse provide near perfect endings to the multiple story lines and make this escapist reading at its best.” ( Publishers Weekly)

GREAT Story!!!

Loved the story, the twists and turns, the characters, the narrator, and the ending!!! Fabulous! I’m going to read (listen to) many more by this brilliant author.

Better and Better

I have always been a Thomas Perry fan. He writes formulaically and that is not a knock if done well. But how an author can produce novels for 18 years and scripts for years before that and suddenly step up his game like this is beyond me. This is uber Elmore Leonard but even better than the beloved Elmore. "Strip" is so good on many levels.

There is Karma. People get what they deserve and even if this doesn't happen in real life, it is tremendously satisfying. But what do the characters in "Strip" deserve, exactly? You think you know when you start out. There is the innocent man under attack, the nasty small-time gangster, the thief, his put-upon girlfriend, a bodyguard, a collection of hoods. Good guys-Bad guys, right? Not so fast. Perry lovingly unveils these characters until you become very fond of some people you assumed you would despise-- and then they disappoint you, these fleshed-out characters that you have become invested in. And then, Karma.

And the unpredictability! You just don't know what is going to happen, and that is rare in a book in the crime genre. When something does happen, it is so logical, but so startling, and, in one case, horrible, that by the end of the book you are full of delicious tension.

Back to Elmore Leonard, or Lawrence Block, or the late Donald Westlake; this is absolutely in the same league, and one of the reasons is the dialog. Hyper realistic dialog as people say what they would say if they were just a little bit smarter and sharper than they would really be. I appreciate an author who amazes me. If I were sharper myself I could go on about Perry being a master chameleon as far as writing style, but I really don't understand sometimes just why something tastes so good; I just know it's delicious.

The narration is excellent except for the mispronunciation of street and place names.

Riveting to the last paragraph. Memorable. Rereadable.

Small time gangster, meets his match

What made the experience of listening to Strip the most enjoyable?

I could relate to the different characters and their personnal problems with life in general A very believible story

What other book might you compare Strip to and why?

One does not come to mind at the moment but I did enjoy the story line

Which character – as performed by Michael Kramer – was your favorite?

I liked Spence and the boss who was living in the past

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

Yes, after the big shootout and the two girls were let go even though they should have been terminated

Any additional comments?

Well, I gues there won't be a second book to let us know how it all turned out, IF you write one MR Perry I will gladly read it.

He must have had fun writing this one

Plots within plots lots of characters. Sympathetic killers and on a car speaker a 3 hour ride takes no time at all

Interesting

With the parallel developments of the plot, it was difficult to stop listening at planned times. And the ending was a bit unexpected. Definitely worth the time

Inept pronunciation distracts from fine reading

Any additional comments?

This was a surprisingly good tale and a generally fine reading. Mispronunciation of Los Angeles streets and communnities is disappointing, distracting, and completely avoidable. Shame on the reader and producer and editor. Worst examples include Sepulveda Boulevard, La Cienega Boulevard, and La Cañada. These are not only familiar to anyone who has ever been to LA, but to most who have even seen a movie set there.

I don't know...

The book feels just like a bunch of stories stitched together with a bunch of loose ends.

Didn't like it too much.

pretty good

first, if you know LA streets the narrator might irritate you because he mispronounces several of them. the narrator also has a very different and dry style. I am used to it by the end and it seems appropriate for the story but is a bit hard to get used to in the beginning. the story is good, lots of characters and back stories. nothing new however.

So Good!

Great story, plenty of twists and turns to keep it interesting. You know a book is a good one when you don't mind being stuck in traffic longer than anticipated. The only thing was his pronunciation of Sepulveda Blvd. Obviously Mr. Kramer is not from California.

Another great story!

Lots of ups and downs with some very frustrating scenes! I love Michael Kramer as narrator.