Criminal Conversation

by Evan Hunter

"A special occasion" "(Entertainment Weekly)" in the celebrated career of Evan Hunter, "Criminal Conversation" goes deeper than most suspense fiction dares -- inside the intimate, sensual secrets of lovers...

In a chic apartment hidden within a working class neighborhood, Sarah and Andrew make love. Neither of them knows that their illicit affair is about to have explosive consequences -- or that their hideaway has been wired to record their every word, by a New York City prosecutor with an agenda to indict Andrew, a reputed Mafia leader. And none of them can predict where the most basic desires of the human heart -- passion, ambition, vengeance -- will lead: a life-and-death struggle inside the worlds of organized crime and legal warfare.

Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Crime, Thriller, Suspense

320 pages, Hardcover

First published April 1, 1994

About the author

Better known by his pseudonym Ed McBain.

Born Salvatore Albert Lombino, he legally adopted the name Evan Hunter in 1952. While successful and well known as Evan Hunter, he was even better known as Ed McBain, a name he used for most of his crime fiction, beginning in 1956.

Reviews

[Nina Draganova · Rating 4 out of 5]

Не четете книгата през нощта :)
Започва не много обещаващо, но набира скорост до степен на задъхване.
И те оставя да си трепериш и след като си я прочел.
Тип "Кръстникът", което не личи съвсем от анотацията.
Стилът е малко остарял, но не е дразнещ.
Хареса ми тази мисъл : " Никога не позволявай другите да разберат,че причината за някое твое решение е слабостта ти."

И констатацията : "Американци пъплеха по цялото земно кълбо, търсейки своята идентичност, която не можеха да намерят в собствената си родина - Америка."

[George K. · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Αμείλικτος τιμωρός", εκδόσεις Plaza.

Δέκατο τέταρτο βιβλίο του Εντ Μακμπέιν που διαβάζω, όμως μόλις το πρώτο που έγραψε με το ψευδώνυμο Έβαν Χάντερ. Ουσιαστικά πρόκειται για ένα γκανγκστερικό θριλεράκι με ερωτικά στοιχεία και θα έλεγα ότι είναι ένα χαρακτηριστικό δείγμα της δεκαετίας του '90 όσον αφορά το συγκεκριμένο είδος. Σίγουρα διαφέρει αρκετά από τα μυθιστορήματα της καταπληκτικής σειράς "87ο Αστυνομικό Τμήμα" -που ανήκουν στο είδος του Police Procedural-, όμως είναι και αυτό με τη σειρά του αρκετά ψυχαγωγικό και ενδιαφέρον. Έχουμε κάποια κλασικά πραγματάκια, όπως μαφιόζους που κάνουν μαφιόζικες δουλειές (εμπόριο ναρκωτικών, τοκογλυφικά δάνεια, εκβιασμούς, δολοφονίες κλπ) και τους διώκτες τους που προσπαθούν με κάθε μέσο να μαζέψουν αποδεικτικά στοιχεία, αλλά στην εξίσωση μπαίνει και ένας μάλλον απαγορευμένος έρωτας που θα μπερδέψει για τα καλά την όλη υπόθεση. Εντάξει, κάποια πράγματα στους κεντρικούς χαρακτήρες και τον έρωτα που δημιουργήθηκε δεν με έπεισαν απόλυτα, κατά τ'άλλα όμως απόλαυσα μια ωραία ιστορία εγκλήματος με ερωτικά στοιχεία, με τον συγγραφέα να καταφέρνει να αποτυπώσει με στιλ και ρεαλισμό τον κόσμο του εγκλήματος. Και, φυσικά, το μεγαλύτερο κομμάτι του βιβλίου αποτελείται από διαλόγους, που είναι ιδιαίτερα φυσικοί και ζωντανοί (κάτι που, βέβαια, αποτελεί χαρακτηριστικό στοιχείο των έργων του Εντ Μακμπέιν), με τις απολύτως απαραίτητες περιγραφές σκηνικών και καταστάσεων. Δεν θα έλεγα ότι είναι ένα θρίλερ που σε γραπώνει ή που σε καθηλώνει, όμως διαβάζεται ευχάριστα και υπερβολικά γρήγορα. (7.5/10)

[Ed · Rating 5 out of 5]

I re-read this book a few years ago but I first read it when I was in high school. Now, if I read anything in high school without a gun to my head, that meant it held my interest. If I were to outline the story here, it would all sound very familiar. But Hunter knows how to tell a story and get the hell on with it. Too many other authors fall too in love with their tangential prose and take me out of the story. This book presents three characters who are fascinating and deeply flawed. I can't be very erudite about why I liked this book so much other than to say it kicked ass. It's been years since I read it but it remains on the very short list of fiction I would re-read.

[G.T. Michaels · Rating 5 out of 5]

First of all, this is not an erotica book. So why am I reviewing it, you ask? Well, I'll tell you.

Evan Hunter was better known by his pen name, Ed McBain, under which he wrote a series of police procedural novels. Criminal Conversation is the story of Michael, a prosector; and Sarah, a teacher. Michael is investigating a mob family when his wife begins an affair with a man named Andrew. Unbeknownst to her, Andrew is the syndicate's new leader.

This book is an exciting, well-written thriller. But more to our purpose, the sex is hot! Hunter does a fantastic job describing Sarah and Andrew's adulterous activities. In fact, I have to wonder if Hunter had a cuckold fetish himself, based on how spot-on some of the descriptions are.

Give this book a try if you like crime/noir novels laced with hot sex scenes. I fondly remember reading it many years ago. I didn't even know what a cuckold was at the time, but it got me all hot and bothered. (If I had only known I'd be writing cuckold novels one day!)

[Ray · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read "Criminal Conversation" about 20 years ago, and I really enjoyed it. I came across it again recently. Evan Hunter writes great dialogue. The read is a quick one, not a lot of description, just good 'hard-edged' dialogue. The story deals with a sharp District Attorney's investigation of a young 'mob boss', who just happens to be having an affair with the DA's wife. Complications abound. Solid writing here from the author of the '87th Precinct' police mysteries, writing under the pseudonym of Ed McBain.

[David Freas · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a book that haunted me long after I finished reading it.

[Josef Komensky · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kniha bez skutecneho zacatku ani konce, pribeh milostneho trojuhelniku, novodobeho Romea a Julie Ci sonda do zivota nekolika New Yorcanu z ruznych spolecenskych vrstev a hlavne spousta sexu

[Fred Svoboda · Rating 1 out of 5]

Oh, dear. "Evan Hunter" supposedly was the pseudonym used for more serious novels by usually entertaining crime novelist "Ed McBain," but this is the only one of his many books I have read that I just could not stand.

What's the problem? Well, the stuff that is entertaining and audacious when Ed McBain is dashing off his pulp fiction masterpieces becomes lugubrious when Evan Hunter is (supposedly) treating it more seriously. Descriptions and conversations run on and on and on. Main character, a mid-30s wife and mother, launches into a love affair (described in x-rated and excruciatingly boring detail) with a mobster despite the fact that she is married to the assistant DA dedicated to bringing down the mobster's crime syndicate. Everything happens by chance. No one pays enough attention to know what's really going on.

It's a mess--and twice or three times as long as the equivalent Ed McBain book would have been.

Just. Don't. Bother.

Any other novel by this author would offer a superior reading experience, so far as I can tell, and I have read a ton of them.

[Andrew Carter · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sarah and Andrew enter into a torrid affair....he doesn't know that she is married to the Assistant DA who is investigating organized crime (Andrew in particularly) and she doesn't know that he is the head of one of the biggest racketeering families in the northeast. The story unfolds as you might imagine with a surprise ending.

[Bev · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this years ago and it was terrific. Intrigue, mystery, crime, sex....has it all. Highly recommended for those who like multi-layered books, great writing and surprise endings.
One book that I reread.

Evan Hunter also writes as Ed McBain the 87th precinct mysteries.

[doug bowman · Rating 4 out of 5]

A clever precept, artfully done by an under-appreciated writer.

[Vicky D. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great Gangster story- good fellows flare!

[Bettye McKee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Granted it's been many years since I read this book, but I still recall how deeply immersed I was in the excellent story. I definitely need to find another copy and read it again.

I remember trying to explain the story to everyone I met because I was so enthralled by the clever plot. "Hello. I'm reading this book, and I'm at the place where thus and so ..." It must have been embarrassing for those people who had no clue what I was talking about.

[Joan · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is an early book by this author. His later books (especially the ones written as Ed McBain) are much better. In addition to a confusing plot, the extreme and constant vulgarity was almost impossible for me to get past.

[Tracy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing! I wish they'd make this into a movie!

[James Franklin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Spell bounding

This book kept my interest throughout . It was written hard and held attention for more than just a few minutes.

[Mikel Pfeiffer · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was my first Evan Hunter read but I've read a few by Ed McBain and he's becoming one of my favorite authors to read. It's hard to categorize, maybe it's romantic crime? The story involves a married DA whose wife unknowingly strays with a mafia leader that the DA is after. There's lots of great mafia talk and names. It's also a pretty steamy read broken up by long but interesting dialog exchanges. I think Hunter had a lot of fun writing it. He was in his 60's when he wrote it in 1994, so it's dated in a couple of ways, he tries to keep up with all the happening things at the time and this was the early days of the internet, cell phones were sparse and there's lots of phone booth use. I'd call this a guilty pleasure read but some may think that about all my reading. It was a great pleasure read for me. I don't give many 5 stars but this book was too much fun to knock off any stars.

[Randy Waite · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm catching up on books from my late mother's library, and this is one of those books. I am not a prude, and I can put up with some foul language in my reading material, but the less the better. The language in this book got in the way of the story and totally turned me off. I have read lots of 87th Precinct novels, and don't remember much raw language from Hunter. Putting the language aside ... this wasn't really a great read, and cleaning up the language really wouldn't have helped. Oh well.

[Andrea · Rating 2 out of 5]

Novelist, screen writer this is the first Evan Hunter I have put my hands on.
Copyright 1994.
NY family plans post-Christmas trip to Caribbean

[Anne Simpson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Trashy, but very hard to put down. Fun!

[Baldemar · Rating 4 out of 5]

Buena trama, pero se esperaba más del final.

[Bob Box · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read in 1995. One man's crusade against the Mafia in this legal thriller.

[Richard · Rating 5 out of 5]

If Mario Puzo and Henry Miller collaborated the result would resemble "Criminal Conversation".

[Reader Stum · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sexy mob story with big un-surprising ending

[Michelle · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was an okay and so-so book, not so exciting to read. I got bored reading, it has plenty of conversations.. as the book indicated....lol.

Story plot:
A good wife, mother and teacher named Sarah Welles loves her husband, Michael who works as a lawyer in the DA's office. Her husband, Michael is trying to catch the new boss of one of New York's most powerful crime families. Sarah went on a vacation without Michael and a chance meeting with Andrew Farrell, a handsome mysterious stranger who happens to be a businessman. Andrew Farrell turns out to be Andrew Faviola, scion and acting boss of a Mafia family with plans for massive profits from a new smokable opium-cocaine drug. Sarah and Andrew had a torrid affair and the DA's focus turns to the "blonde woman" caught on audiotape having steamy sex scenes with Andrew. Michael learns about the blonde woman's identity and confronts Sarah about it.

[jaroiva · Rating 5 out of 5]

Už třetí den se z toho vzpamatovávám. Skvělá "amatérská" audio verze, která u mě předčila veškeré profi audioknihy. Příběh mě absolutně dostal. Za mě hodnocení tak asi 150%

Jak jsem zjistila, asi bych byla schopná odpustit i vraždu, nebo více vražd... Andymu určitě! Jediné, co bych neodpustila Sáře, je ten magnetofon. To jsem těžce nesla. A přestože mi bylo jasné, že tohle prostě nemůže dopadnout dobře, byla jsem z konce úplně na hadry... Ale kdyby to dopadlo jinak, nelíbilo by se mi to.

[Dannye · Rating 3 out of 5]

The problem for me with this book was the complexity of the mob connections that dominated the first part of the book before a real connection was made with the characters for the reader.

Once I got into the book, it did pick up speed. Of course, few books grab your attention on the first pages, but usually you're not overwhelmed by a lengthy recounting of "who's on first and what's on second" and who did what to whom before you even feel any emotion about who did what to whom.

[Steve Goble · Rating 2 out of 5]

A very suspenseful story, as to be expected, with a fair amount of sex in the mix. It's a mob story, though, and as such it is rather bleak. People do dumb things for "love," and others get hurt. Even the subplots are downers.

This book also has a plot that hinges too much on coincidence.

[Rod Zemke · Rating 3 out of 5]

The plot line was thin, but Hunter is still a good writer.

[Karen]

This is an interesting book. I don't usually think about the books I read after, but this makes me wonder about the nature/nuture thin