What do you think?
Rate this book
Their Wildest Dreams
“Mackie dreaded the mail.” From this simple beginning, Peter Abrahams opens the curtains on a mesmerizing world down on the Mexican border, a world of complex and passionate people whose ambitions will lead them on a relentless collision course, a desert world that rises to the mythic in Their Wildest Dreams. The suspense will grab you and not let go, the surprises will shock you, but in the end it will be the wonderful characters who linger in your mind.
Characters like Mackie Larkin, a suburban mother desperate for money, who finds she can earn it as a stripper; Kevin Larkin, her ex-husband whose get-rich-quick schemes left her with a mountain of debt, and who now dreams up an even better one; Lianne, their beautiful, impulsive teenage daughter, for whom almost anything, even bank robbery, is possible; Jimmy Marz, the wrangler she loves, who gets a dangerous onetime offer that could take him to the life he’s always wanted; Buck Samsonov, the charismatic strip-club owner building a southwestern empire in the lawless style of a 19th-century robber baron; Clay Krupsha, a twenty-first-century captain of detectives in a border town where no crime is what it seems; and Nicholas Loeb, a struggling mystery writer whose encounter with an unstable muse entangles him in a web of true crime more mysterious than anything he imagined.
Utterly original, multilayered, and marked by the gripping suspense, sharp wit, and fascinating psychological insights for which Peter Abrahams has been acclaimed, here is a major work—a riveting story of modern-day desperadoes living their wildest dreams.
Characters like Mackie Larkin, a suburban mother desperate for money, who finds she can earn it as a stripper; Kevin Larkin, her ex-husband whose get-rich-quick schemes left her with a mountain of debt, and who now dreams up an even better one; Lianne, their beautiful, impulsive teenage daughter, for whom almost anything, even bank robbery, is possible; Jimmy Marz, the wrangler she loves, who gets a dangerous onetime offer that could take him to the life he’s always wanted; Buck Samsonov, the charismatic strip-club owner building a southwestern empire in the lawless style of a 19th-century robber baron; Clay Krupsha, a twenty-first-century captain of detectives in a border town where no crime is what it seems; and Nicholas Loeb, a struggling mystery writer whose encounter with an unstable muse entangles him in a web of true crime more mysterious than anything he imagined.
Utterly original, multilayered, and marked by the gripping suspense, sharp wit, and fascinating psychological insights for which Peter Abrahams has been acclaimed, here is a major work—a riveting story of modern-day desperadoes living their wildest dreams.
368 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published February 28, 1985
About the author
Peter Abrahams
118 books425 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name.
Peter Abrahams is an American author of crime fiction for both adults and children.
His book Lights Out (1994) was nominated for an Edgar Award for best novel. Reality Check won the best young adult Edgar Award in 2011. Down the Rabbit Hole, first in the Echo Falls series, won the best children's/young adult Agatha Award in 2005. The Fan was adapted into a film starring Robert De Niro and directed by Tony Scott (1996).
His literary influences are Vladimir Nabokov, Graham Greene, and Ross Macdonald. Stephen King has referred to him as "my favorite American suspense novelist".
Born in Boston, Abrahams lives in Falmouth, Massachusetts, on Cape Cod. He is married and has four children including Rosie Gray. He graduated from Williams College in 1968.
Peter Abrahams is also writing under the pseudonym Spencer Quinn (Chet and Bernie Mysteries).
Peter Abrahams is an American author of crime fiction for both adults and children.
His book Lights Out (1994) was nominated for an Edgar Award for best novel. Reality Check won the best young adult Edgar Award in 2011. Down the Rabbit Hole, first in the Echo Falls series, won the best children's/young adult Agatha Award in 2005. The Fan was adapted into a film starring Robert De Niro and directed by Tony Scott (1996).
His literary influences are Vladimir Nabokov, Graham Greene, and Ross Macdonald. Stephen King has referred to him as "my favorite American suspense novelist".
Born in Boston, Abrahams lives in Falmouth, Massachusetts, on Cape Cod. He is married and has four children including Rosie Gray. He graduated from Williams College in 1968.
Peter Abrahams is also writing under the pseudonym Spencer Quinn (Chet and Bernie Mysteries).
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 28 of 28 reviews
May 18, 2013
Rating: 3* of five
The Publisher Says: “Mackie dreaded the mail.” From this simple beginning, Peter Abrahams opens the curtains on a mesmerizing world down on the Mexican border, a world of complex and passionate people whose ambitions will lead them on a relentless collision course, a desert world that rises to the mythic in Their Wildest Dreams. The suspense will grab you and not let go, the surprises will shock you, but in the end it will be the wonderful characters who linger in your mind.
Characters like Mackie Larkin, a suburban mother desperate for money, who finds she can earn it as a stripper; Kevin Larkin, her ex-husband whose get-rich-quick schemes left her with a mountain of debt, and who now dreams up an even better one; Lianne, their beautiful, impulsive teenage daughter, for whom almost anything, even bank robbery, is possible; Jimmy Marz, the wrangler she loves, who gets a dangerous onetime offer that could take him to the life he’s always wanted; Buck Samsonov, the charismatic strip-club owner building a southwestern empire in the lawless style of a 19th-century robber baron; Clay Krupsha, a twenty-first-century captain of detectives in a border town where no crime is what it seems; and Nicholas Loeb, a struggling mystery writer whose encounter with an unstable muse entangles him in a web of true crime more mysterious than anything he imagined.
Utterly original, multilayered, and marked by the gripping suspense, sharp wit, and fascinating psychological insights for which Peter Abrahams has been acclaimed, here is a major work—a riveting story of modern-day desperadoes living their wildest dreams.
My Review: At the apex of the Mouldering Mound of ~Meh~ one finds thrillers with silly sex and sad women who don't quite have it. And here we are.
Plots revolving around trusting women getting taken by smooth-talking con men, whether husbands, boyfriends, or strangers on a train, annoy me. And here we are.
Teenaged girls who fall for older bad boys, lose their virginity to them, and lose big, tick me off. And here we are.
Why go on, if the picture's not clear yet it won't get clearer. These are well-worn paths in thrillerdom and there is not one bit of this book that's “utterly original.” It's multi-layered, I suppose. It's competently written, I suppose. It's fast enough paced, I suppose.
And I do not give the hairs on the ass of a rat. It's fine, yes sure, fine fine, nothing to complain about except how completely forgettable it all is, and in an hour I won't remember if Lianne was the mom or the daughter, or Nick was the writer or the daddy. In a month, I won't remember the title, and by next birthday, you can show me this review and my only question will be: “Did I read that? I didn't read that.”
But I'll say it in my best Bette Midler voice, so you'll get the joke.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.
The Publisher Says: “Mackie dreaded the mail.” From this simple beginning, Peter Abrahams opens the curtains on a mesmerizing world down on the Mexican border, a world of complex and passionate people whose ambitions will lead them on a relentless collision course, a desert world that rises to the mythic in Their Wildest Dreams. The suspense will grab you and not let go, the surprises will shock you, but in the end it will be the wonderful characters who linger in your mind.
Characters like Mackie Larkin, a suburban mother desperate for money, who finds she can earn it as a stripper; Kevin Larkin, her ex-husband whose get-rich-quick schemes left her with a mountain of debt, and who now dreams up an even better one; Lianne, their beautiful, impulsive teenage daughter, for whom almost anything, even bank robbery, is possible; Jimmy Marz, the wrangler she loves, who gets a dangerous onetime offer that could take him to the life he’s always wanted; Buck Samsonov, the charismatic strip-club owner building a southwestern empire in the lawless style of a 19th-century robber baron; Clay Krupsha, a twenty-first-century captain of detectives in a border town where no crime is what it seems; and Nicholas Loeb, a struggling mystery writer whose encounter with an unstable muse entangles him in a web of true crime more mysterious than anything he imagined.
Utterly original, multilayered, and marked by the gripping suspense, sharp wit, and fascinating psychological insights for which Peter Abrahams has been acclaimed, here is a major work—a riveting story of modern-day desperadoes living their wildest dreams.
My Review: At the apex of the Mouldering Mound of ~Meh~ one finds thrillers with silly sex and sad women who don't quite have it. And here we are.
Plots revolving around trusting women getting taken by smooth-talking con men, whether husbands, boyfriends, or strangers on a train, annoy me. And here we are.
Teenaged girls who fall for older bad boys, lose their virginity to them, and lose big, tick me off. And here we are.
Why go on, if the picture's not clear yet it won't get clearer. These are well-worn paths in thrillerdom and there is not one bit of this book that's “utterly original.” It's multi-layered, I suppose. It's competently written, I suppose. It's fast enough paced, I suppose.
And I do not give the hairs on the ass of a rat. It's fine, yes sure, fine fine, nothing to complain about except how completely forgettable it all is, and in an hour I won't remember if Lianne was the mom or the daughter, or Nick was the writer or the daddy. In a month, I won't remember the title, and by next birthday, you can show me this review and my only question will be: “Did I read that? I didn't read that.”
But I'll say it in my best Bette Midler voice, so you'll get the joke.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.
August 18, 2012
This is a very good book from an author who does not get nearly as much attention as he deserves. The cast of characters includes Helen "Mackie" MacIsaac, a failed housing developer-turned-stripper; her jerk of a philandering husband; their daughter, Lianne who falls in love with an outlaw cowboy; Buck Samsonov, a Russian immigrant who owns a couple of strip clubs but aspires to become a real "American" businessman, and Nick Loeb, a crime fiction writer whose career is sputtering out halfway through his third book.
Abrahams drops these characters into the desert of southern Arizona and northern Mexico and we watch as they pursue their dreams, some of which are very modest and others of which are extremely ambitious. All of the characters are well-drawn and engaging. The reader will inevitably root strongly for some of them and just as strongly against others.
There's a major crime at the center of the story that will bring all of the cast together but both before and after that some will commit other, smaller crimes against each other. It's great fun to watch this story unfold and there are lots of laughs on the way to an explosive climax. Fans of crime fiction who haven't yet made the acquaintance of Peter Abrahams will be richly rewarded by looking for this book.
Abrahams drops these characters into the desert of southern Arizona and northern Mexico and we watch as they pursue their dreams, some of which are very modest and others of which are extremely ambitious. All of the characters are well-drawn and engaging. The reader will inevitably root strongly for some of them and just as strongly against others.
There's a major crime at the center of the story that will bring all of the cast together but both before and after that some will commit other, smaller crimes against each other. It's great fun to watch this story unfold and there are lots of laughs on the way to an explosive climax. Fans of crime fiction who haven't yet made the acquaintance of Peter Abrahams will be richly rewarded by looking for this book.
December 6, 2017
Onvan : Their Wildest Dreams: A Novel - Nevisande : Peter Abrahams - ISBN : 345439422 - ISBN13 : 9780345439420 - Dar 368 Safhe - Saal e Chap : 1985
June 30, 2016
Read TONGUES OF FIRE 4/16/1995
December 3, 2015
Abrahams has got something - talent for invention and plotting!
This was a really enjoyable one day read. A novel with some of the twists of an Alistair MacLean and then some. This is a saga of larceny, marital chaos, adolescent lust and misguided passion, helplessly lost characters in the morass of the USA - Mexican border culture, black humor, the 'Old West' and of course good old sex and money.
It is a tale of 6 characters whose lives come together in a disjointed blend of violence and intrigue around the traditional 'easy' bank caper. Oh yes, and just as traditionally things do not quite go as planned - but just how is where the enjoyment lies. That said though, this is not a predictable book and the author deserves praise and recognition for that. Just as you think you know exactly what will happen it doesn't. There are lots of twists and turns that sting just when you relax.
This is not great prose though I did love the characterizations and yes it is the worst of American culture on display but it demonstrates a thoughtful author working to entertain his readers. It is entertainment - pure and unadulterated. My mind pictured another big bloody Technicolor Tarantino movie as 'Kill Bill' flashed past my eyes.
I laughed at what I thought were colorful, enjoyable images:
"He took the bottles, opened them with his teeth, both at once, handed one to Loeb. Loeb suspected they'd reached the high-water mark of their friendship, might never again be this close." (p206, ISBN 0141011300)
Abrahams runs an interesting subplot (or maybe it is the real plot) of an author struggling to get back into his creative realm and real enjoyment comes along as this budding sleuth accompanies the reader bumping his way through the plot. Along the way some well placed reflections of the state of publishers and literature find voice. Initially, I found this additional character annoying; but everything comes together and harmony ensues.
A tale that satisfies and will lead you to read more. A good airport and wet day yarn.
This was a really enjoyable one day read. A novel with some of the twists of an Alistair MacLean and then some. This is a saga of larceny, marital chaos, adolescent lust and misguided passion, helplessly lost characters in the morass of the USA - Mexican border culture, black humor, the 'Old West' and of course good old sex and money.
It is a tale of 6 characters whose lives come together in a disjointed blend of violence and intrigue around the traditional 'easy' bank caper. Oh yes, and just as traditionally things do not quite go as planned - but just how is where the enjoyment lies. That said though, this is not a predictable book and the author deserves praise and recognition for that. Just as you think you know exactly what will happen it doesn't. There are lots of twists and turns that sting just when you relax.
This is not great prose though I did love the characterizations and yes it is the worst of American culture on display but it demonstrates a thoughtful author working to entertain his readers. It is entertainment - pure and unadulterated. My mind pictured another big bloody Technicolor Tarantino movie as 'Kill Bill' flashed past my eyes.
I laughed at what I thought were colorful, enjoyable images:
"He took the bottles, opened them with his teeth, both at once, handed one to Loeb. Loeb suspected they'd reached the high-water mark of their friendship, might never again be this close." (p206, ISBN 0141011300)
Abrahams runs an interesting subplot (or maybe it is the real plot) of an author struggling to get back into his creative realm and real enjoyment comes along as this budding sleuth accompanies the reader bumping his way through the plot. Along the way some well placed reflections of the state of publishers and literature find voice. Initially, I found this additional character annoying; but everything comes together and harmony ensues.
A tale that satisfies and will lead you to read more. A good airport and wet day yarn.
January 22, 2015
A slow start to this book almost made me doubt I would enjoy Peter Abrahams story of several people whose lives careen and intersect at various points in and around a small Arizona border town. Each person has his or her own problems, all seemingly unrelated to one another. There's the divorced mom who scrapes by cleaning the homes of her neighbors and transitions to a new career as an exotic dancer. There's her teenage daughter who manages an exemplary school record while having her first love affair with a handsome cowboy with big dreams. The businessman from Russia with his finger in all kinds of pies in the area and the chief of police who knows the pulse of his town and is willing to share his expertise with the struggling novelist. They all share a date with the climax of this novel which became steadily better as the pages turned.
I thoroughly enjoyed the rapid pace that began about 200 pages into this book. Some events stretched credulity--the writer responds to an internet review of his book and the woman suddenly appears at his door--but the author has proved how talented he can be with books like The Tutor. He does not disappoint with this one either. I wish he would keep writing suspense for adults. He has branched out into young adult fiction and another series with Chet the dog. I love what he does but I'd like some more standalones.
I thoroughly enjoyed the rapid pace that began about 200 pages into this book. Some events stretched credulity--the writer responds to an internet review of his book and the woman suddenly appears at his door--but the author has proved how talented he can be with books like The Tutor. He does not disappoint with this one either. I wish he would keep writing suspense for adults. He has branched out into young adult fiction and another series with Chet the dog. I love what he does but I'd like some more standalones.
Read
January 16, 2009Their Wildest Dreams, by Peter Abrahams. A-minus.
Downloaded from audible.com.
Well, here’s a story about how greed for money can make you do bad things. Kevin and Mackey had just gotten divorced, but Mackey was finding that there were bombshells left to explode in debts that she was left to pay that were of Kevin’s making. There is one pot of money that everyone wants. A Russian maffioso, who owns the bank, wants to pull off a bank robbery for the insurance. Jimmy, a not-too-bright cowboy agrees to do the robbery for 10 percent of the money. Lianne, Kevin and Mackey’s daughter, and Jimmy’s girl friend, argues that if he’s taking the risks he should keep all the money. And then there is Mackey who takes a job dancing in a lounge for wages and tips in order to pay off Kevin’s debts. As she becomes convinced to do more and more things that come close to being against the law because she’ll make extra money and get out of debt sooner, she is in a more and more dangerous situation. And there’s Kevin who had tried to run a real estate business, and had gone bankrupt and needs money. It’s a good fast read.
Downloaded from audible.com.
Well, here’s a story about how greed for money can make you do bad things. Kevin and Mackey had just gotten divorced, but Mackey was finding that there were bombshells left to explode in debts that she was left to pay that were of Kevin’s making. There is one pot of money that everyone wants. A Russian maffioso, who owns the bank, wants to pull off a bank robbery for the insurance. Jimmy, a not-too-bright cowboy agrees to do the robbery for 10 percent of the money. Lianne, Kevin and Mackey’s daughter, and Jimmy’s girl friend, argues that if he’s taking the risks he should keep all the money. And then there is Mackey who takes a job dancing in a lounge for wages and tips in order to pay off Kevin’s debts. As she becomes convinced to do more and more things that come close to being against the law because she’ll make extra money and get out of debt sooner, she is in a more and more dangerous situation. And there’s Kevin who had tried to run a real estate business, and had gone bankrupt and needs money. It’s a good fast read.
February 7, 2016
Mackie Larkin, a suburban mother desperate for money, who finds she can earn it as a stripper; Kevin Larkin, her ex-husband whose get-rich-quick schemes left her with a mountain of debt, and who now dreams up an even better one; Lianne, their beautiful, impulsive teenage daughter, for whom almost anything, even bank robbery, is possible; Jimmy Marz, the wrangler she loves, who gets a dangerous onetime offer that could take him to the life he 19s always wanted; Buck Samsonov, the charismatic strip-club owner building a southwestern empire in the lawless style of a 19th-century robber baron; Clay Krupsha, a twenty-first-century captain of detectives in a border town where no crime is what it seems; and Nicholas Loeb, a struggling mystery writer whose encounter with an unstable muse entangles him in a web of true crime more mysterious than anything he imagined. Utterly original, multilayered, and marked by the gripping suspense, sharp wit, and fascinating psychological insights for which Peter Abrahams has been acclaimed, here is a major work 14a riveting story of modern-day desperadoes living their wildest dreams.
November 14, 2011
This one, very reminiscent of Carl Hiassen's "Striptease," was a good solid read. I liked it more than most things I've read this year. That said, after how much I adored "A Perfect Crime" it was still something of a letdown. Abrahams' dead-on ear for dialogue is still very much there, but this book didn't do nearly as much to get into the heads of lots of different characters who think differently so it just didn't seem as impressive technically. Still, I liked it a lot.
Abrahams' love of wacky coincidences was still very much in evidence, but I don't judge him on that one. Wacky coincidences happen an awful lot in life.
Abrahams' love of wacky coincidences was still very much in evidence, but I don't judge him on that one. Wacky coincidences happen an awful lot in life.
May 21, 2016
Two unconnected stories, one about a divorced mother and her daughter with their money worries: the other about a washed out crime writer struggling with the next book in the series. The two stories slowly come together and twist into one.
I really enjoyed this book, reading it in only a few days.
I really enjoyed this book, reading it in only a few days.
August 21, 2012
The coming together of the three primary plot lines was expertly developed and made for an exciting and fast read.Peter Abrahams
February 21, 2011
The first half of the book was really engrossing. The second half, not so much. I did enjoy how all the characters diverged together by the end.
March 9, 2009
after I read Oblivion - I added this thriller to my list - satisfying!
August 23, 2009
This has been my favorite book that I have read from this author.
March 19, 2011
great book!!!! fantastic finish....
August 16, 2011
Interesting....
May 11, 2018
Great read. This is a book you'll fly through...the weird characters and the suspense will totally grab you!
May 18, 2021
Loeb is a crime novelist sent by a critic to study real police work in an Arizona border town. Buck is a Russian emigre who owns the bank and strip club there and dreams of being a JP Morgan, a tycoon. Mackie is the divorced mom whose inheritance was eaten up by her husband's dream of making a killing with it, building homes. Now about to lose even the 1 home left to her she takes to stripping to pay the bills. Her daughter Lianne meets a ranch hand whose dreams of buying his own spread seem within reach when he is asked to 'rob' the bank. It all swirls together in violent suspense.
May 5, 2019
Fast, furious, captivating read!
This book will grab you from the first page and hold you thru many twists and turns, til the very last page! Couldn't put it down! Make sure you fasten your seat belt before takeoff! Beware: Adult content and subject matter may offend some readers. Probably not your grandmother's idea of a good book.
This book will grab you from the first page and hold you thru many twists and turns, til the very last page! Couldn't put it down! Make sure you fasten your seat belt before takeoff! Beware: Adult content and subject matter may offend some readers. Probably not your grandmother's idea of a good book.
August 19, 2017
About halfway through I thought I was liking this book until everyone turned into complete idiots. The plausibility of that many stupid people in one place affected my ability to enjoy it. Plus it was wrapped up in too much of a nice and convenient bow for my liking.
May 7, 2019
A really good read
Enjoyable book with good characters and interesting plot line. Several story lines that come together quite nicely if somewhat unexpectedly. You’ll think you have the ending figured out but you’ll be wrong.
Enjoyable book with good characters and interesting plot line. Several story lines that come together quite nicely if somewhat unexpectedly. You’ll think you have the ending figured out but you’ll be wrong.
May 19, 2019
Very interesting plot and character development. A very good read
October 24, 2021
Riveting suspense,intelligent wit, and deep perspectives of different psyches. Enjoyed every page.
December 22, 2021
Not my favorite from this author
May 1, 2022
Read in 2003. Stephen King said Peter Abrahams was his favorite American suspense novelist back then.
January 17, 2023
Very good read
February 9, 2025
This book was just OK for me. It was fast-paced but a bit jumbled. Maybe just too much going on.
August 6, 2013
Entertaining, with some insights into the Arizona/Mexico border situation.
Displaying 1 - 28 of 28 reviews