The Agent - Hardcover

Sports agents are infamous for battling each other, team owners, mega-corporations, and the overpaid athletes they represent in an attempt to profit from their clients' images. Agents are more reminiscent of a Coen brothers' creation than of Tom Cruise's lovable character in Jerry Maguire. Super agent Alexander Drouhin, a handsome, ruthless slickster, and his motley support team are no exception. They inhabit a cutthroat world obsessed with money, fame, and power, so when Drouhin is found with a couple of .44 slugs in his head, everyone's a suspect. As usual, dialogue master Higgins concentrates more on character development than plot--a focus he justifies by granting sleazy agents, bitter athletes, and weary cops mouthfuls of gritty dialogue: "'The hat,' Drouhin said blankly. 'I seldom wear a hat.' 'That's what I mean,' Corwin said. 'I've never seen you wear one in, never seen you wear one out, but always after you've been in there's this humongous pile of rabbit shit on top of my desk.'"

George V. Higgins teaches creative writing at Boston University.