["Layer Cake"]

[fiefoe]

Am rather of two minds about this. This book could be a blast, but reading it first might ruin the movie for me. (Counterexamples: "Girl With a Pearl Earring", "About a Boy".) On the other hand, if I wait until I see the movie to read this, I run the risk of having the book read like a movie script, as in the case of "Out of Sight". (Counterexamples: "Mrs. Dalloway" with Vanessa Redgrave - "The Hours", "The French Lieutenant's Woman", or even "Possession". But then again, they are not crime novels.)

Crime novels are all about the attitude. J.J.Connolly certainly gets it:

• Morty ('a class act') says he will explain but not justify.
• (Armed bank robbery) is not the giggle it once was.
  
• A drop of charlie was still for pop stars and a birthday treat, something special, something worthy of comment. Nowadays it ain't even a fuckin luxury anymore to a lot of folk, it's more along the lines of a necessity.
  
• We've got a Junior-Yuppie-Mafia thang going down.
  

Once in a while, he's completely lost on me: 'Anyone who get webbed up in the brown get seriously dropped out cos it's a known fact that they'll bubble you up when they're chucking.'

On the cover, '4' stands in for 'A' in the title. A nice touch.