The 25th Hour: A Novel

This is definitely a quick read. I enjoyed it, but was not blown away. I won’t be recommending this book to anyone. I was excited based off the other reviews, but was disappointed.

Although just under 200 pages, David Benioff's masterful first novel draws you into a world that you never want to end. Ostensibly a "mystery" (where else are they gonna shelve it?), "The 25th Hour" is a book unlike any you have ever read, yet is so familiar and has characters so recognizable that it's like curling up late at night with a warm gun. A voracious reader, I can't stand tin-ear dialogue, and it's that more than anything else that will have me tossing some half-read "thriller" across the room in frustration. Not one word of Mr. Benioff's novel rings false. I'd rather invest 4 hours in words as beautifully gritty as these than slog my way through the latest 700-page Clancy.Benioff's masterstroke is that, even though you know his "protaganist" is guilty in all senses of the word, the classic anti-hero, you root for him the entire way. Oh, yeah, the last 20 pages are the best you'll ever read.

At last...after reading a series of bad books, not-so-good books and, worst of all, those that had such promise but somewhere along the way, took a wrong turn...I have read THE book! "The 25th Hour" is one of the best books I have ever read. It is an account of the 24-hour period before a young man convicted of drug dealing is due to start serving a seven-year sentence in a Federal prison. During this short time span, you will come face to face with friendship, love, fear, hope and despair. You will spend time with three men who have been friends since middle school. You will get to know them so intimately, it will feel almost intrusive. Along the way, you will meet their parents, friends, lovers and enemies. I can only urge you to spend some time with these people. When you have read the last word on the last page, you will be trembling, crying or just sitting in awe of the ride you have just been on.

I'm not normally a very fast reader. My concentration slips, or I start watching Tv, or the phone rings. But from the first page of this book I was hooked. Except for a quick bathroom break I didn't look up again until the final page. And the final page was so good I read it three times! My favorite character is Jakob, a high school teacher. His friend Monty is the star of the story, I guess, but Jakob is the one I identify with, a guy who genuinely wants to do the right thing but always seems to blow it. My one objection here is the amount of profanity, but I guess that's pare for the course these days in fiction. And it is about a man going to prison, so I suppose it would be a little weird if he spoke like a choirboy.The year is young, but this is my #1 so far. Beats the new Grisham by a country mile, that's for sure.

In 24 hours, handsome 27-year old drug dealer Monty Brogan will enter Otisville Federal Prison to do seven years hard time. His father wants him to run. His drug-lord boss, Uncle Blue, wants to know if he squealed. His girldfriend isn't sure what she wants, and his two best friends know one thing for sure: after he goes in, he will never be the same. In this character driven crime novel, first-time novelist Benioff dazzles with a spell-binding portrait of three high school buddies confronting the consequences of their carefree youth on the streets of New York. Monty really wanted to be a fireman, but fell in love with "sway," the deference afforded a young man with important connections. For the past five years, he's been selling drugs for Uncle Blue in Manhattan, to moneyed and celebrity clients. His pal, maverick bond trader Frank Slattery, thirsts for serenity, but dreams of avenging old wrongs while fighting his covert lust for Monty's Puerto Rican girlfriend. Despite Monty's dismal future, shy Jakob Elinsky, an ethical, awkward high school English teacher, envies his friend's self-assurance with women as he struggles to control his own secret hunger for a talented writing student, 17 year-old Mary D'Annunzio. The three friends spend one last night together dancing and drinking at Uncle Blue's nightclub. Brillantly conceived, this gripping crime drama boasts dead-on dialogue, chiaroscuro portraits of New York's social strata and an inescapable crescendo of tension. Monty's solution to his agonizing dilemmas will shock even hardened suspense lovers.