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“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.
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Creators
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Publisher
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Release date
July 29, 2003 -
Formats
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Kindle Book
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OverDrive Read
- ISBN: 9780345464460
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EPUB ebook
- ISBN: 9780345464460
- File size: 1783 KB
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Languages
- English
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Reviews
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August 4, 2003
After two less-than-stellar outings (The Tutor; Last of the Dixie Heroes), Abrahams is once again at the top of his game in this wildly inventive, captivating caper. Make that several capers—this novel's multiple plot threads and unlikely assortment of characters carom off each other like so many carnival bumper cars. In typical fashion, Abrahams places a gaggle of ordinary folks in what gradually become distinctly unordinary scenarios, with an ever-so-creepy edge. In Arizona, divorcée Helen MacIsaac (Mackie) takes up stripping to make ends meet. Meanwhile, her 17-year-old daughter, Lianne, hooks up with a wrangler at nearby Ocotillo Ranch, the site of her dad's latest get-rich-quick scheme. Back east, Nick Loeb, a writer whose latest crime caper isn't up to snuff ("of course, that was only the opinion of Publishers Weekly") finds an unlikely muse in Mary Jane Krupsha, an amateur critic on Amazon.com. Suggesting that Loeb get some on-the-job experience, she takes him to the Mexican border town of Agua Fría, where her ex-husband is captain of detectives. And where do you suppose Mackie is honing her ecdysiast routine? In Agua Fría, of course, at a boîte called Buckaroo's, which boasts "a towering sign with two red nipples in the os." Meanwhile, back at the ranch, the wrangler is enlisting Lianne's aid with a proposed bank hold-up in—of course—the busy burg of Agua Fría. And we haven't mentioned Mr. Samsonov, the owner of Buckaroo's, who's friendly with some nice Russian mafiya fellows, and who's taken a shine to dancer Red (aka Mackie). The author's up-to-the-minute pop-culture references lend an easygoing immediacy, and his wry humor is spot on—when one character wants to borrow a cell phone, he's answered, "Mind waiting a bit? Off-peak starts in three minutes." Off-peak, however, need not be a concern to readers of this bravura thrillfest. -
April 1, 2003
In a Mexican border town, a strange assortment of characters-including a cash-strapped suburban mom, a devilish strip-club owner, and a mystery writer who's down on his luck-hope that "their wildest dreams" will come true. From the author of The Tutor.Copyright 2003 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
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June 15, 2003
Nicholas is slowly losing his zest for writing as the sales of his last crime novel plummet. It's so bad, in fact, that an intern becomes his new editor. To spice up his life, Nick heads to a small town on the Mexican border, where he stumbles into a strip club patronized by Clay, a crooked detective. Stripping for the house is Mackey, who has troubles of her own. Stuck with an IRS bill from her ex-husband, she scrubs toilets and bares almost all to pay the mortgage. To top it off, she is raising her teenage daughter alone. When Mackey meets Nick, their lives are never the same again. Little do Mackey and Nick know that the club, owned by a Russian mafia boss, will spark a whole lot of trouble. Illegal aliens, fake bank robberies, and Ultimate Fighting on cable are just a few of this novel's topics. The plot twists and turns will keep the reader completely mesmerized. Witty and exciting, Abrahams's latest thriller is hard to put down. Recommended for most popular fiction collections. [Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 4/1/03.]-Marianne Fitzgerald, Charlotte Mecklenburg Sch. Dist., NCCopyright 2003 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
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