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)

Clever, satisfying entertainment

This tale teeters just this side of surreal or over-the-top, but in sum it is a richly entertaining read, filled with good characters and compelling twined story lines.
It is about a bunch of bad guys and people with ill intent or, at the least, weak moral compasses, on a collision course with disaster(and each other) . Yet we come to like most of them, none more than Manco Kapak, the shady strip club owner. I love the narrator's voice for Manco and if anything I wish we'd had more Manco and a bit less of the lengthy diversions into some of the others.
We are stretched a bit thin to suspend our disbelief over Lt. Slosser's improbable domestic complication, and of the super hero qualities of Joe Carver, whose only known training for this is having run a bar back East. But we get past those quibbles. The ending is a reward in and of itself, even if it is not what one might predict or necessarily like.

Get the place names, street names pronounciation!!

I love anything that Thomas Perry writes, and this was a great story; the double crosses were dizzying. But if you are going to get someone to read a book, that person should be provided with the correct ways to say local place names. This fellow mispronounced Sepulveda, La Canada, and, as I recall, La Cienaga. Every time a place was mispronounced I felt as if I had bitten down hard on tin foil. That said, it is a great listen, although it was more complex than many Perry novels, with multiple story lines.

Mr Kramer is my favorite reader...

... but I can tell he's not a So Cal native by his pronunciations of some of the street names (Sepulveda) and one area (la Canada) in particular. Not a huge deal but it gave me a chuckle everytime it happened.
Now, as for the story; it got to a point where it was hard to tell the good guys from the bad guys. Mr Perry pulled this off with his Butcher's Boy series but in this story it didn't work quite as well, at least for me. I would still recommend the book but do it with some reservation.

I want more Spence

Where does Strip rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

Fast paced and good character develeopment

Who was your favorite character and why?

Spence, spence and more spence. I love him.

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

Spence, the mild southern accent is just soo... ooooohhh

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Err not really.

Action Action Action

I use audiobooks to help workouts and Strip was excellent for this. It is not very deep, and does move along very well. Also there is so much action that it covers up any flaws. It is well read and belilveable and easy to keep characters straight.

A standout from a top-notch writer

I've been churning through Perry's work since my first listen, 'The Old Man'. I liked it so much I went back to the beginning with 'The Butcher's Boy'. That didn't disappoint, or any of the six others that followed, with the possible exception of 'Vanishing Act', and only because of so-so narration.

Perry is the triple threat- great story, great character development and crisp, powerful writing. 'Strip' showcases all these but does more yet. In this novel he takes unexpected perspectives on characters that left me thinking about them long after the story ended. How often does that happen in the genre?

If that sounds like code for a novelist who wants to finally start writing serious fiction, don't worry. Perry doesn't spoil the fun. There's a tight, well-integrated plot that carries on with purpose. Also, Michael Kramer's narration is spot on. No over-acting, no changing the tone of the underlying writing. Happy listening.

Hard to determine who to root for.

To start it appears our hero will be one Joe Carver who is being persecuted by a local Strip club owner, who believes Joe robbed him one night while taking his profit to the bank. Many Characters begin to make themselves known for the author does a excellent job of presenting them. I began to feel empathy for Kopeck (The strip club owner) and was rooting for him. Very entertaining and will keep you guessing to the end.

Good Book

this was a very interesting book with a unique twist to the ending one that leaves you hanging in suspense. the book was well-read the Storyteller did an excellent job.

Entertaining.

I'm not necessarily a Perry fan, but this book's description appeared interesting so I gave it a try. I wanted to see how this story ended. There was a lot of action and it was entertaining. Some of the action was a bit far-fetched, but after all, it's a STORY. I'm sure I'll be reading another Perry book again.

Hit after hit!!

Perry is the king of storytelling .Patterson Connelly are his children .and that’s just the facts