***Sports Is The American Pastime- George V. Higgins’ The Agent

 

 

Book Review

From The Pen Of Frank Jackman

The Agent, George V. Higgins, Harcourt Brace, New York, 1998

I came across the novels of the late George V. Higgins in the 1970s when I read his first novel, The Friends of Eddie Coyle (later made into film starring Robert Mitchum taking his beating as Eddie) and became an instant fan. Now part of that draw of was because the scenes, as are the scenes of the book under review The Agent, took place in and around Boston where I am from and so the physical landscape was familiar. Part was because the characters in that book “spoke” to me. Not so much the language and mental set of those who have chosen crime as a career path which Higgins’ had a masterful ear for but because they seemed very much like the corner boys I used to hang around with as a kid. And would have followed into whatever was going to happen if I didn’t fall in love with reading and chose a different path. Higgins thereafter gave us a slew of books based on that same sharp ear and eye to the language and mindset of mainly soldier-level criminals like Eddie. And I read them as they came off the press, many of them anyway.          

The Agent written toward the end of Higgins’ life did not speak to me as much. Part of it was because he was dealing with the intricacies of the modern world of professional sports and its competitiveness so there were no corner boy characters for me root for, only an insufferable  king hell king sport agent, Alec, who had the misfortune of not keeping up with the times. And therefore becomes the A-one target of a murder. The details of that murder and who had anything to gain from Alec’s demise are left to the reader. My reservations about this book are based on the unfolding story-line. Far too many pages were spent giving the reader the then current (1998) dope on what the world of big-time professional sports and sports agency was about, from about six different characters who basically said the same thing- for the athlete “take the money and run”-for the agent “get the best contract possible and then ride the rails until the end.” That might have meant something back in the day before players were organized in the 1970s or so (and rightly so) but it seems less startling these days. This one falls flat on that score. Higgins should have stuck to those corner boys that knew so well and that drew my attention to his work in the first place.