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Vince’s real name is Marty Hagen. A career criminal from New Jersey, he has been given a new identity in a sleepy Northwest city by the Witness Protection Program. Since he testified against the hoods he used to run with, his rights have been restored – including his right to vote, something he’s never done. For Vince, voting in the Presidential election becomes the most important thing in his life – proof that even a guy like him can change.
But while Vince is busy remaking himself, his past arrives in town in the form of a contract killer that he recognises from his old life. Has he come to kill Vince?
With three days left until the election, Vince must duck crooks, cops and an implacable killer, as he tries to figure out a way to save himself, and his dreams.
A suspenseful crime story, a moving love story and a superb evocation of time and place, CITIZEN VINCE is a truly memorable novel from an acclaimed author.
But while Vince is busy remaking himself, his past arrives in town in the form of a contract killer that he recognises from his old life. Has he come to kill Vince?
With three days left until the election, Vince must duck crooks, cops and an implacable killer, as he tries to figure out a way to save himself, and his dreams.
A suspenseful crime story, a moving love story and a superb evocation of time and place, CITIZEN VINCE is a truly memorable novel from an acclaimed author.
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Reviews
Splendidly entertaining, thoughtful
An engrossing page-turning read.
'It's been a long time since I've read a book as compulsively, indeed greedily, as I read CITIZEN VINCE. Here are characters who seem to live of their own volition, who talk out of a terrible inner need to make themselves known and understood, who reveal not just themselves but the yearning heart of our great flawed democracy.'
A tasty novel. Funny, sad, mad, scary ... I liked it a lot.
I just read Jess Walter's swell [novel] Citizen Vince ... and I realized how much, despite all logic, I'm itching to vote.
Refreshing ... entertaining ... [with] wry precision and expert timing
Citizen Vince is the book of 2005 for me. . . . a stunning, moving piece of work.
Jess Walter [is] a wonderful writer ... Citizen Vince is fast, tough, thoughtful and funny. I loved this novel.
It's been a long time since I've read a book as compulsively, indeed greedily, as I read CITIZEN VINCE.
Dazzling ... wry dialogue ... agile prose ... and a finely tuned plot.
A nerve-tingling narrative
Utterly inventive ... excruciatingly breathless
Admirably unpredictable ... always engrossing. Walter's best by far.
CITIZEN VINCE is fresh and different - a gritty story of betrayal, and an extended riff on life, death and politics. Walter is a literary talent writ large.
This tale of unlikely redemption works because of Walter's virtuoso command of character and dialogue - along with a wicked second-act twist
Intelligently written, bittersweet and thoroughly absorbing.
Jess Walter has just about lapped the field with his superior first novel OVER TUMBLED GRAVES. The suspense and surprises are terrific, but best of all are the characters he has managed to create.
Walter renders his blind land with a clear-eyed, compassionate vision.
A most accomplished debut.
'Citizen Vince is a brilliant and original crime thriller... [Jess Walter] deserves to be up there with the likes of Elmore Leonard and Michael Connelly.'
'...a gloriously off-the-wall tale...'
'Shades of Jim Thompson and the best of classic noir, mixed in with vigorous modern storytelling. It is magnificently told...do not miss this'