Maverick

by Max Allan Collins, William Goldman, Dewey Gram

Maverick tries to raise the remaining three thousand dollars he needs to enter a high stakes poker game in St. Louis

Genres: Fiction, Adventure, Collections, Westerns, Media Tie In, Historical

240 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1994

About the author

Received the Shamus Award, "The Eye" (Lifetime achievment award) in 2006.

He has also published under the name Patrick Culhane. He and his wife, Barbara Collins, have written several books together. Some of them are published under the name Barbara Allan.

Book Awards
Shamus Awards Best Novel winner (1984) : True Detective
Shamus Awards Best Novel winner (1992) : Stolen Away
Shamus Awards Best Novel nominee (1995) : Carnal Hours
Shamus Awards Best Novel nominee (1997) : Damned in Paradise
Shamus Awards Best Novel nominee (1999) : Flying Blind: A Novel about Amelia Earhart
Shamus Awards Best Novel nominee (2002) : Angel in Black

Japanese: マックス・アラン・コリンズ
or マックス・アラン コリンズ

Reviews

[H (trying to keep up with GR friends) Balikov · Rating 3 out of 5]

I can remember the television show with pleasure. “Who is the tall dark stranger there? Maverick is his name. Riding the trail to who knows where; Luck is his companion. Gambling is his game” (and I can whistle the tune that goes with those words).

Max Allan Collins is a favorite author who wrote The Road to Perdition (made into a much awarded movie) and the screenplay for it. He wrote this book from William Goldman’s screenplay for the movie of the same name about 25 years ago. It concerns a BIG poker tournament with a $25,000 entry fee. Maverick spends most of the book (and movie) trying to get enough to enter. The way he gets and loses and gets his stake involves a beautiful but deceitful woman and a legendary marshal.

If you saw the movie, there is no reason to read the book other than idle curiosity. The book is well researched but the details will not (for most) be a big factor in its enjoyment. There is plenty of sparkling repartee and a continual feed of homilies by Maverick including: “…as Pappy used to say, ‘Man is the only animal you can skin twice.’”

I am glad that Collins has enjoyed continuing success and has recovered from his health problems to give us, hopefully, more of his creativity.

[Metodi Markov · Rating 3 out of 5]

Кратичка книга, стъкмена по превъзходния филм с Мел Гибсън, в ролята на чаровния картоиграч и измамник Мавърик.

Приятно е да се прочете, но разлика с филма почти няма.

Цитат:

Както стария ми Татко казваше: „Работата става да убиваш времето, обаче е лош начин да си изкарваш прехраната". :)

[Zornitsa Rasim · Rating 3 out of 5]

3,5*

[Karschtl · Rating 3 out of 5]

Meist sind die "Bücher zum Film" ja doch relativ kurz und bündig geschrieben, sich auf das Wesentliche beschränkend. Die Charaktere kann man sich, ohne den Film nicht auch gesehen haben, nicht immer gut vorstellen da sie nur oberflächlich beschrieben werden.

All das trifft hier NICHT zu! Das Buch besteht als eigenes Werk (und ich habe den Film auch noch nicht gesehen), erzählt wird vom Protagonisten Bret Maverick wie er versucht, 25.000$ Startgeld für das Pokerturnier in St. Louis zusammen zu kratzen, wie er sein Geld immer wieder 'verliert' und wie er es letztlich doch schafft, sich an den Pokertisch zu setzen.
Mittendrin ein paar kleine überraschende Wendungen, die die Geschichte wieder neu beleben. Eine nette Gaunerkomödie, die mir sehr gut gefallen hat. Das Buch ist angereichert mit ein paar Filmbildern, was ich immer als nette Zugabe sehe.

Im Film spielt Mel Gibson die Hauptrolle, an seiner Seite Jodie Foster und James Coburn. Da ich nicht so der Western-Fan bin, hab ich den Film bis heute nicht gesehen auch wenn er bereits mehrmals im Fernsehen kam. Aber anscheinend kam gleichzeitig auf einem anderen Sender ein mich mehr interessierendes Programm.

[Eva 'Nomad' · Rating 3 out of 5]

Unlike most movie based books, this one is pretty funny and interesting too.

[Matt · Rating 5 out of 5]

If the book was based off the original script, I think they made some good, streamlining decisions to the movie, especially around Mrs. Bransford. However there is a whole sequence with a crazy mountain woman who was supposedly going to be played by Linda Hunt in the film and I can't but help to feel like I was cheated somehow. At least I got it here ans can imagine.

[Diane · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another read for the movie/book combo project, which my sister and I was doing. I was surprised at the end when one of the character's true identity is revealed.

[Chris Haynes · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good book. It's fast-paced with snappy dialog and great characters. Too bad there weren't more of these!

[Philippos · Rating 5 out of 5]

Πολύ διασκεδαστικό, έξυπνοι διάλογοι, πολύ χιούμορ, χαριτωμένοι χαρακτήρες, γρήγορη πλοκή. Αναμφίβολα προτεινόμενο για την 14χρονη κόρη μου και τον 20χρονο γιό μου

[Oceana2602 · Rating 2 out of 5]

Oh, this one I bought and read in my senior year of highschool, before fanfic was widely available on the internet. I had the biggest crush on Mel Gibson. Yes, it's hard to imagine today.