The 25th Hour
by David Benioff
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Book Summary Information
Author: David BenioffEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2002-01-29
ISBN: 0452282950
Number of pages: 224
Publisher: Plume
Product features:
- ISBN13: 9780452282957
- Condition: New
- Notes: BRAND NEW FROM PUBLISHER! 100% Satisfaction Guarantee. Tracking provided on most orders. Buy with Confidence! Millions of books sold!
Book Reviews of The 25th Hour
Book Review: Fallen Angels
Summary: 5 Stars
Simply an extraordinary novel - moody, atmospheric, and poignant - so far off the beaten track, so unconventional in the story, that only author David Benioff's brilliantly rendered New York's clubs and bars and playgrounds and bodegas gap familiarity between "The 25th Hour" and anything else you've read.
Montgomery "Monty" Brogan is a former drug dealer, 20-something, on his way to federal penitentiary for seven years. Clearly "dimed" by someone close to him, Monty suspects but never seriously pursues this near-fatal breech of trust. Benioff captures the last 24 hours of Monty's freedom - an odyssey of goodbyes and second thoughts and raw fears in contemplation of the horrors awaiting the young and tender Brogan in a warren of hardened criminals. Benioff's cast is vibrant, believable, and credible - real people faced with tough situations and personal conflict. There is Frank, the bond trader and boyhood friend of Monte who secretly covets Monte's longtime girlfriend and hustles millions in complex options futures to cover his basic insecurities. Jakob, the other lifelong friend, a high school English teacher, infatuated with one of his students, and desperately fighting constant urges to act out his fantasy. But most of all, there is Monte himself, a blue collar kid from Brooklyn's Bensonhurst with good looks and tough spunk and street-smarts, emerging as a larger-than-life prince of Manhattan - the drug dealer living large on the A-lists of every bouncer, and maitre d'; the must-have phone number for anyone expecting to score in Manhattan. And rarely visible but always lurking in the shadows is the mysteriously malevolent "Uncle Blue" and the eastern European thugs that crawl through the same gutters - a sinister force more threatening by the hints of their presence than by any significant ink allotted to their presence in these pages. Yet despite Monty's compatible trade, one cannot help admire his confidence and style - the "sway" that marks those who have figured it out and made their mark.
Benioff is a clever storyteller, a weaver of tight tales that somehow manage to remain ambiguous. The reader is never sure exactly where the author is going with this and, if you're like me, will not have anticipated the conclusion. "The 25th Hour" is a passionate tale that will get under your skin; a blunt exposure of relationships and human frailties that ultimately succeeds in delivering hope and redemption.
More proof here that David Benioff is one of the brightest lights in contemporary American fiction. And if you haven't read "City of Thieves", you should be equally impressed with Benioff's versatility in delivering in a distant and unimaginably bleak place and different time a darkly humorous and meaningful story. Put them both on your short list.
Summary of The 25th Hour
All Monty Brogan ever really wanted when he grew up was to be a fireman. Now he's about to start a seven-year stretch in the federal penitentiary for drug dealing. With just twenty-four hours of freedom to go, he prowls the city with his girlfriend and his two best friends from high school-a high-flying bond trader and an idealistic teacher. As the minutes count down, Monty seizes one last chance to stack the odds in his favor.
Hurtling from the money pits of Wall Street to Manhattan's downtown lounge and club scene, from the enclaves of the Russian mob to the old immigrant neighborhoods, The 25th Hour evokes the pulsing rhythms and diamond-hard edges of a city in the raw, illusory hours between midnight and dawn. A taut and mesmerizing tale of an urban purgatory suspended between the crime and the punishment, The 25th Hour heralds the arrival of a major player in contemporary noir fiction.
Penzler Pick, January 2001: The 25th Hour is a wonderfully written first novel that convincingly portrays the New York City of Wall Street brokers and middle-class white drug dealers, the new affluent class in a city where money can buy you almost anything and is often the most important factor in young people's lives.
Monty Brogan is about to start his last day of freedom before turning himself into the authorities and serving a seven-year term for drug dealing. He's a charming young man who had always dreamed of being a fireman, following in the working-class footsteps of his father, who has had to put up his bar in Queens as bond so that his son can stay out of jail until his sentence begins. Monty, named for Montgomery Clift, does not know how he managed to get himself into this predicament. It was easy money and it carried so many perks, and you'll feel more than a little sympathy for this young man who has managed to kill his own dream for courtside seats at Madison Square Garden.
But before he goes to prison, Monty wants to have one last night out on the town with his two best friends. Frank Slattery is a bond trader, one of the best and most successful risk takers in a very risky business. The other is Jakob Elinsky, an English teacher who envies his friends' lifestyles but who has no intention of ever giving up his job for the easy money, despite the disillusionment of teaching high school students in a tough school.
The three young men enjoy the night into the early morning as they eat, drink, and visit the hottest spots in town. It's a sad night for Monty, but he has a plan that neither Frank nor Jacob know about--and it makes for a shocking ending to this brilliant and disturbing story. --Otto Penzler
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