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Jerry Kennedy #1
Kennedy for the Defense
An honest man with few illusions that have gone unchallenged, criminal lawyer Jerry Kennedy is hard put to reconcile his professional life--defending car thieves, pimps, pushers, and mobsters--with his family life
225 pages, Paperback
First published February 12, 1981
About the author
George V. Higgins
75 books264 followersGeorge Vincent Higgins was a United States author, lawyer, newspaper columnist, and college professor. He is best known for his bestselling crime novels.
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Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews
July 15, 2013
So like in his book you're getting a beer with Jerry Kennedy, over to the Calumet there that used to be the Hook before Bobby Quinn's wife died and he couldn't take it no more and went to Florida. Yeah the very one where the feds tried jumping one his clients that time but they so many of 'em showed up account of the guy leading got his panties in a twist the informer disappeared his client got wise and didn't show. And Jerry's starting in where he left off the last time but you missed that you were picking up your son from football maybe. Or something, you missed it anyway. So right there you got a gap to fill and Jerry's goin' good and as likely to fill your gap as the national debt go down and he's tearing on like a son of the Sod on a toot.
"So I said here's how it works you tell me what happened and I decide, what you tell me makes more sense than you did so far, then you get all the money you can and you pay me. But we do not go to trial. Under no circumstances do we go to trial because the story you're about to tell me will get you twenty at Walpole and my job is keeping you short of there. And he looks at me like I grew a third ear and says, 'But Mr. Kennedy, I'm innocent.'"
And Jerry laughs and everybody laughs and they can't stop laughing. And you laugh too knowing it's the punchline even you don't know why it's funny.
That Jerry Kennedy though, he can tell a story. You want a good feeling you heard a story, you listen to Jerry a while.
"So I said here's how it works you tell me what happened and I decide, what you tell me makes more sense than you did so far, then you get all the money you can and you pay me. But we do not go to trial. Under no circumstances do we go to trial because the story you're about to tell me will get you twenty at Walpole and my job is keeping you short of there. And he looks at me like I grew a third ear and says, 'But Mr. Kennedy, I'm innocent.'"
And Jerry laughs and everybody laughs and they can't stop laughing. And you laugh too knowing it's the punchline even you don't know why it's funny.
That Jerry Kennedy though, he can tell a story. You want a good feeling you heard a story, you listen to Jerry a while.
March 23, 2016
Kennedy for the Defense, GVH's eighth novel, was his best since The Digger's Game, his second, and possibly his most purely enjoyable to date. Jerry Kennedy is probably his most likable and memorable character since the immortal Eddie Coyle from his legendary debut. Small wonder Higgins would return to Kennedy and his family several more times before his death.
As always, he lets his characters tell you the story almost exclusively through colloquial, street-savvy dialogue, but unlike his previous novel, A Year or So With Edgar, it's a lot easier to wade through this time around -- and it's funny!
As always, he lets his characters tell you the story almost exclusively through colloquial, street-savvy dialogue, but unlike his previous novel, A Year or So With Edgar, it's a lot easier to wade through this time around -- and it's funny!
January 4, 2017
Eat your heart out, Saul Goodman. (Eddie Coyle and his pals, too.)
The perfect sleazy criminal defence lawyer book. I have to read the whole series now.
The perfect sleazy criminal defence lawyer book. I have to read the whole series now.
July 10, 2024
Jerry Kennedy (no relation) is a criminal defence lawyer with a shabby office in Boston, a sleazy clientele that he despises, a beautiful family, and a smart Irish mouth. He’s effective, in that his cases don’t go to trial very often, and he’s doing well enough to own a holiday home in Green Harbour and keep his daughter in the right kind of schools. But being a lawyer can mean being at the beck and call of all the wrong kinds of people. One of these is Donald French, a laid-back boatyard mechanic who is too dumb to realise he’s dating a federal informer and too much in love with her to not end up in trouble on her behalf.
You get the feeling that this is Higgins at his most autobiographical. Some people are drawn to the law for money, and some out of a sense of justice, but some people end up drawn into the practice for the stories it holds. Kennedy, like his creator, is a born raconteur. In love with the criminal mindset if not tempted by it in anyway himself. Jerry Kennedy is a fun character; Higgins’s best since Eddie Coyle, and his wife Teri is fun too, as well as his daughter. He cracks wise, tells stories. He’s unabashedly himself. He’d be a fun person to grab a beer or two with. So would his wife.
What’s not fun is the plot of this story. Even for Higgins it is very full of ellipses and dead ends. It teases a couple of false starts along the way that sputter out - a car thief whose being harassed by a cop, a powerful businessman with a homosexual son that’s just gotten done propositioning an undercover officer, a friend of his daughter with a violent and vengeful boyfriend. All these potential plotlines either peter their way out, or reach their climax off-screen. Maybe it’s in service to some sort of realism. I don’t know. I do know that it makes for unsatisfactory reading. Stories can be plenty realistic without anything like the randomness of real life.
It’s a mystery to me how someone who is so good at storytelling in the micro-level could be so inept at piecing fascinating anecdotes together into a comprehensive whole. But it seems like the more Higgins I read, the more that it’s true. Still, worth reading for the dialogue and the stories scattered within.
You get the feeling that this is Higgins at his most autobiographical. Some people are drawn to the law for money, and some out of a sense of justice, but some people end up drawn into the practice for the stories it holds. Kennedy, like his creator, is a born raconteur. In love with the criminal mindset if not tempted by it in anyway himself. Jerry Kennedy is a fun character; Higgins’s best since Eddie Coyle, and his wife Teri is fun too, as well as his daughter. He cracks wise, tells stories. He’s unabashedly himself. He’d be a fun person to grab a beer or two with. So would his wife.
What’s not fun is the plot of this story. Even for Higgins it is very full of ellipses and dead ends. It teases a couple of false starts along the way that sputter out - a car thief whose being harassed by a cop, a powerful businessman with a homosexual son that’s just gotten done propositioning an undercover officer, a friend of his daughter with a violent and vengeful boyfriend. All these potential plotlines either peter their way out, or reach their climax off-screen. Maybe it’s in service to some sort of realism. I don’t know. I do know that it makes for unsatisfactory reading. Stories can be plenty realistic without anything like the randomness of real life.
It’s a mystery to me how someone who is so good at storytelling in the micro-level could be so inept at piecing fascinating anecdotes together into a comprehensive whole. But it seems like the more Higgins I read, the more that it’s true. Still, worth reading for the dialogue and the stories scattered within.
November 7, 2023
Higgins in semi-autobiography mode.
Impeccable dialogue--as usual--often delivered as two characters exchanging monologues with each other. GVH understood that in most conversations the person listening is just forming thoughts and waiting for their own turn to speak.
There are more narrative threads in this book than can really be neatly tied up in 225 pages, but that almost seems like the point. Jerry Kennedy's job is never done; there will always be scumbags and hustlers in need of a good lawyer, and Jerry Kennedy will always be that good lawyer--whether he wants to be or not. He's so good, in fact, that we never see the inside of a courtroom through his eyes the entire book. He cops pleas, makes deals, and greases palms to ensure that we never do. Defense law, like crime, is just another left-handed form of human endeavor.
The story doesn't have quite the bite that The Friends of Eddie Coyle and Cogan's Trade have, but I think that's because George was shooting more for cynical realism than full-blown noir.
This is definitely a must-read for any fan of Higgins' work, or anyone interested in well-done legal fiction.
EAT YOHR HEART OUT GRISHAM
Impeccable dialogue--as usual--often delivered as two characters exchanging monologues with each other. GVH understood that in most conversations the person listening is just forming thoughts and waiting for their own turn to speak.
There are more narrative threads in this book than can really be neatly tied up in 225 pages, but that almost seems like the point. Jerry Kennedy's job is never done; there will always be scumbags and hustlers in need of a good lawyer, and Jerry Kennedy will always be that good lawyer--whether he wants to be or not. He's so good, in fact, that we never see the inside of a courtroom through his eyes the entire book. He cops pleas, makes deals, and greases palms to ensure that we never do. Defense law, like crime, is just another left-handed form of human endeavor.
The story doesn't have quite the bite that The Friends of Eddie Coyle and Cogan's Trade have, but I think that's because George was shooting more for cynical realism than full-blown noir.
This is definitely a must-read for any fan of Higgins' work, or anyone interested in well-done legal fiction.
EAT YOHR HEART OUT GRISHAM
February 27, 2026
If it was not for the movie "The Friends of Eddie Coyle" I would not be familiar with George V. Higgins at all. That movie, as well as the book, captures Boston in the '70s perfectly. Reading the book was like watching the movie in my head - Higgins' book is nearly all dialogue. I also read "Cogan's Trade" after seeing the movie "Killing Them Softly" (absurdly filmed in New Orleans, still mentioning Massachusetts locales like Somerville, etc.)
Maybe it is because they have never made a movie from "Kennedy for the Defense" that I just could not follow it. I lost track of who was who (some characters seen to have multiple names), and Higgins goes overboard with his gift for dialogue here.
I wanted to like this book. It mentions many places in Massachusetts that I am familiar with. But I almost gave up with only 10 pages to go, it was so painful.
Maybe it is because they have never made a movie from "Kennedy for the Defense" that I just could not follow it. I lost track of who was who (some characters seen to have multiple names), and Higgins goes overboard with his gift for dialogue here.
I wanted to like this book. It mentions many places in Massachusetts that I am familiar with. But I almost gave up with only 10 pages to go, it was so painful.
December 17, 2025
Defense lawyer Jerry Kennedy, no relation to those other Massachusetts Kennedys, shines the first-person spotlight on his busy practice and eventful home life, with colorful personalities from all walks of life given ample dialogue space to explain, evade, and generally grandstand in the best George V. Higgins fashion.
January 30, 2021
Great dialogue as Higgins always does
A enjoyable read but nothing too memorable to be sure. His dialogue and characters never disappoint me. This kind of had a chopped up feel to it though.
A enjoyable read but nothing too memorable to be sure. His dialogue and characters never disappoint me. This kind of had a chopped up feel to it though.
January 18, 2023
Higgins never fails to disappoint: sophisticated dialogue from colorful characters; thieves, con-artists, and dealers trying to get by and maybe get rich; side deals, hustles, and pleas; suckers caught in the middle for Jerry Kennedy to defend. It has it all!
February 23, 2026
loved the friends of eddie coyle, did NOT love the Kennedy book. this book was a mess that frustrated with its crappy dialogue and fragmented narration. so glad i am done with it and can go on to something better.
June 25, 2021
Great face paced and funny. Quirky characters
Read
December 5, 2022The misadventures of a street-wise middle-class middle-aged lawyer, loosely based presumably on the writer. I liked it less than the other stuff I’ve read by Higgins.
June 12, 2025
Close to a 4 star
April 26, 2026
Perry Mason, George V Higgins style. In other words, tough guys talking tough, at great length.
October 1, 2020
Jerry Kennedy is such an engaging character. He's just trying to get the best deal he can for his clients. Same wonderful dialog as all the other Higgins books and an ending I definitely didn't see coming.
July 12, 2023
As with most of Higgins' classic novels, this is features his trademark gritty, realistic dialogue, although it has plenty of narrative sections. My only criticisms are that some of the characters make lengthy speeches which aren't entirely realistic, and Kennedy's teenage daughter doesn't speak in the voice of a real teenager.
Initially read in 2012. (For some reason, Goodreads doesn't separately list a re-read of a book, and at my age I'm re-reading a number of them.) Eleven years after my initial read, I just re-read this. I like this a lot less the second time around. Higgins is known for gritty, realistic dialogue which captures the sound and style of the lower strata of the Boston criminal world. Kennedy is a lawyer representing some of those criminals. As the book makes clear, Kennedy makes a decent but not excessive living doing this.
The plot is fairly thin. This is mostly a picture of a few days in Kennedy's life, with several clients. The problem with the novel is that Higgins overdoes the colorful dialogue. Actually, most of it are monologues. Characters--including Kennedy--almost never answer a question or make a statement in one or two sentences; they go on for paragraphs. It's colorful, but it's way too much. The book becomes tedious. Essentially, he never says in one sentence what he could say in ten or fifteen.
Initially read in 2012. (For some reason, Goodreads doesn't separately list a re-read of a book, and at my age I'm re-reading a number of them.) Eleven years after my initial read, I just re-read this. I like this a lot less the second time around. Higgins is known for gritty, realistic dialogue which captures the sound and style of the lower strata of the Boston criminal world. Kennedy is a lawyer representing some of those criminals. As the book makes clear, Kennedy makes a decent but not excessive living doing this.
The plot is fairly thin. This is mostly a picture of a few days in Kennedy's life, with several clients. The problem with the novel is that Higgins overdoes the colorful dialogue. Actually, most of it are monologues. Characters--including Kennedy--almost never answer a question or make a statement in one or two sentences; they go on for paragraphs. It's colorful, but it's way too much. The book becomes tedious. Essentially, he never says in one sentence what he could say in ten or fifteen.
December 6, 2012
Jerry Kennedy is a criminal lawyer with criminals for clients (naturally enough). He is realistic, has a smart Irish mouth, and gets his social losers off most of the time. Higgins' novels are conversationally and anecdotally driven. Ther are frequently funny. Sometimes that works better than others (as in"The Friends of Eddie Coyle" or "Cogan's Game"). Sometimes it is good, but not great, as in the Kennedy books.
September 9, 2013
The first time Higgins introduces his character, Jerry Kennedy, a browbeat defense lawyer who knows his way around the legal system. Those he previously prosecuted...he now defends. Higgins really captures the seamy to the slightly worn out quality of his inventions from the vinyl beach sofas to the inner workings of a junk boat engine to secretaries with quirks. I'm trying to enjoy each book as I read it knowing that when I finish, there will be no more.
September 28, 2013
Jerry Kennedy is known as the classiest sleazy criminal lawyer in Boston and though he is trying to spend some time with his family at his vacation house his clients keep needing him to get them out of trouble. The author's trademark is his dialogue not plotting and the narrative just kind of ambles along with the various subplots working themselves out in the end.
March 7, 2025
Picked this book up for free downtown at brattle books, when I saw it was a Higgins book. Jerry Kennedy is awesome character and while the book doesn’t always have things going on (although a lot happens in the end) the way Higgins writes Kennedy makes you enjoy even his commute to work. Also takes place in Boston so that works for me
November 24, 2007
the life of man is nasty, brutish and shot - well-told, though. how come all these Irishmen write so well?
August 12, 2011
Entertaining but not great like the other Higgins I've been reading. The narrator/protagonist's smugness reminded me of Travis McGee a little bit. I can only take so much.
Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews