Shortly to be made into a TV series, or so Ive heard. No surprise really as its 60s set Lock Stock gangster chic puts ticks in all the right boxes to make TV and film executives scramble for their cheque books.
Ostensibly set in 60s London, The Long Firm convincingly recreates that brief period when the worlds of showbiz, crime and the establishment coalesced. Arnott gives the book an extra authenticity by carefully weaving a handful of real life characters into the book, with one especially strong chapter narrated by Kray twin cohort Jack `the hat McVitie.
<*dv_2*> The novel tells the story of soho racketeer Harry Starks through the eyes of five different characters. Each of the storys narrators are well drawn and convincing inhabitants of the world Arnott has conjured. His prose is in the tough staccato tradition of hard-boiled Brit crime writers Ted Lewis and Russell James, however he does not adapt this style to the multi person narrative so that the characters talk with a very similar voice.
<*dv_1*> Stylistic grumbles aside The Long Firm is a compulsive read and Arnott has created something fresh from some familiar ingredients.
TJB
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