The Friends of Eddie Coyle
Decide its fate
The record
Time
An eveningA season192 pages, about 4 hours: two-thirds the length of a typical book on the shelf.
Getting in
Walk right inSteep climbJackie Brown negotiates a gun sale over cold coffee with an unnamed stocky man, later identified as Eddie Coyle.
What it gives
Plot and actionIdeas to live byIn 11 reviews from critics and book blogs, 2 credit the plot and 2 credit the ideas or a change in how they live.
One of a kind
Others do thisNothing else doesWilliam Landay likens its rigid codes of conduct to Jane Austen; Scott Von Doviak sets its realism against The Godfather’s glamour.
The case for it
on the length
“can be devoured in one delirious day”
Chris Vognar · The Boston Globe, 2026 on its influence
“Coyle’s DNA is imprinted on everything that followed”
Scott Von Doviak · CrimeReads, 2018 on the dialogue
“guys talking to talk, guys talking to deceive”
Jesse Kornbluth · HeadButler.com, 2021 on Dillon’s prayer
“delivers a perverse version of “The Serenity Prayer” as it applies to a gangster’s life”
a book blog
The case against
on the characters
“The characters are ultimately all too chatty for my taste”
four stars · a book blog on the rattlesnake passage
“a truly awful passage in which Higgins intrudes to relate a character’s interior thoughts”
a book blog on the dialogue
“Some readers would be totally lost in Higgins word jungle.”
a Substack review on its reputation
“it is difficult to understand the hype”
a book blog
