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The Porkchoppers
A union boss fights for his job—and his life. “What Elmore Leonard does for crime in the streets, Ross Thomas does for crime in the suites” ( The Village Voice ).
Born to a steelworker but harboring theatrical aspirations, Donald Cubbin grew up tempted by two careers. A Hollywood scout finally notices him, but Cubbin has already taken a job with the local union boss. He’s always regretted that decision—especially now. After decades climbing the ranks, Cubbin runs the show as the union’s president. An election looms, and his opponent proves to be a dangerously loose cannon. Cubbin made dozens of enemies over the years, and one has just engaged a hired killer. The fight for Cubbin’s job starts with muckraking but could end in murder.
Born to a steelworker but harboring theatrical aspirations, Donald Cubbin grew up tempted by two careers. A Hollywood scout finally notices him, but Cubbin has already taken a job with the local union boss. He’s always regretted that decision—especially now. After decades climbing the ranks, Cubbin runs the show as the union’s president. An election looms, and his opponent proves to be a dangerously loose cannon. Cubbin made dozens of enemies over the years, and one has just engaged a hired killer. The fight for Cubbin’s job starts with muckraking but could end in murder.
227 pages, Paperback
First published June 1, 1972
About the author
Ross Thomas
83 books158 followersRoss Thomas was an American writer of crime fiction. He is best known for his witty thrillers that expose the mechanisms of professional politics. He also wrote several novels under the pseudonym Oliver Bleeck about professional go-between Philip St. Ives.
Thomas served in the Philippines during World War II. He worked as a public relations specialist, reporter, union spokesman, and political strategist in the USA, Bonn (Germany), and Nigeria before becoming a writer.
His debut novel, The Cold War Swap, was written in only six weeks and won a 1967 Edgar Award for Best First Novel. Briarpatch earned the 1985 Edgar for Best Novel. In 2002 he was honored with the inaugural Gumshoe Lifetime Achievement Award, one of only two authors to earn the award after their death (the other was 87th Precinct author Evan Hunter in 2006).
He died of lung cancer two months before his 70th birthday.
Thomas served in the Philippines during World War II. He worked as a public relations specialist, reporter, union spokesman, and political strategist in the USA, Bonn (Germany), and Nigeria before becoming a writer.
His debut novel, The Cold War Swap, was written in only six weeks and won a 1967 Edgar Award for Best First Novel. Briarpatch earned the 1985 Edgar for Best Novel. In 2002 he was honored with the inaugural Gumshoe Lifetime Achievement Award, one of only two authors to earn the award after their death (the other was 87th Precinct author Evan Hunter in 2006).
He died of lung cancer two months before his 70th birthday.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 32 reviews
March 11, 2022
It’s amazing that a book called The Porkchoppers doesn’t have an ounce of fat.
Porkchopper is actually a slang term for a union official who is more interested in helping himself than the labor he represents, and there’s a couple of them on display here. Don Cubbin is an aging president of a powerful national union who is facing a serious challenge in an upcoming election by his secretary-treasurer Sammy Hanks. Cubbin is an alcoholic who is bored with the job, and Hanks has a tendency to fly into tantrums that will literally have him pounding the floor and screaming gibberish. So neither one of them seems like the ideal guy to entrust with the livelihoods of thousands of workers.
Still, there’s big money and careers at stake so plenty of people have an interest in getting their guy elected. A wealthy glutton hires a fixer and his lackeys to make sure that Cubbin wins in the interest of continuity and stability. Hanks’ people are working overtime to steal the election in one critical city. Someone has even kicked things up to the next level by hiring a hitman to take out Cubbin.
I’ve got a soft spot for ‘70s sleaze, and it doesn’t get much sleazier than this story with a bunch of bagmen, fixers, and political tricksters working every angle they can think of to swing the election. There’s an enormous amount of money and influence involved so it’s no surprise that people are willing to play dirty, but the thing that makes it all so delightfully squalid is that it feels so cheap and small time at the same time. Even the hitman works at a grocery store as a produce manager as his day job.
Another factor that makes me love this story is that it’s just so well told. There’s a large cast of characters and Ross Thomas provides enough backstory and personality to make each one feel vivid and alive, and he accomplishes all that in a brief 216 pages. That’s writing tight enough to be used for a tourniquet.
This was published in 1972, the same year that the Watergate scandal was just beginning, but Ross Thomas was apparently ahead of the general public in knowing the kind of underhanded tactics can be used to great effect in a political campaign. It’s a look behind a stained curtain at what seedy people do to win, and I enjoyed all of its grimy glory.
Porkchopper is actually a slang term for a union official who is more interested in helping himself than the labor he represents, and there’s a couple of them on display here. Don Cubbin is an aging president of a powerful national union who is facing a serious challenge in an upcoming election by his secretary-treasurer Sammy Hanks. Cubbin is an alcoholic who is bored with the job, and Hanks has a tendency to fly into tantrums that will literally have him pounding the floor and screaming gibberish. So neither one of them seems like the ideal guy to entrust with the livelihoods of thousands of workers.
Still, there’s big money and careers at stake so plenty of people have an interest in getting their guy elected. A wealthy glutton hires a fixer and his lackeys to make sure that Cubbin wins in the interest of continuity and stability. Hanks’ people are working overtime to steal the election in one critical city. Someone has even kicked things up to the next level by hiring a hitman to take out Cubbin.
I’ve got a soft spot for ‘70s sleaze, and it doesn’t get much sleazier than this story with a bunch of bagmen, fixers, and political tricksters working every angle they can think of to swing the election. There’s an enormous amount of money and influence involved so it’s no surprise that people are willing to play dirty, but the thing that makes it all so delightfully squalid is that it feels so cheap and small time at the same time. Even the hitman works at a grocery store as a produce manager as his day job.
Another factor that makes me love this story is that it’s just so well told. There’s a large cast of characters and Ross Thomas provides enough backstory and personality to make each one feel vivid and alive, and he accomplishes all that in a brief 216 pages. That’s writing tight enough to be used for a tourniquet.
This was published in 1972, the same year that the Watergate scandal was just beginning, but Ross Thomas was apparently ahead of the general public in knowing the kind of underhanded tactics can be used to great effect in a political campaign. It’s a look behind a stained curtain at what seedy people do to win, and I enjoyed all of its grimy glory.
January 2, 2016
Superbly written and plotted, this book about an election for the head of one of the largest unions in America had great characterizations, lots of dirty tricks, and political intrigue.
August 24, 2007
Not sure why I picked up this first on my great Ross Thomas re-reading adventure of 2007 (this is after locating, buying, and reading all 26 of his masterpieces last year). But I'm glad I did. I defy you -- defy you! -- to find a more masterful beginning to a thriller than the first, follow-the-letter chapter of this book. Spellbinding, awe-inspiring, humbling.
In other words, I wish I could write like this. Maybe if I drank more Ancient Age bourbon, I could.
But I kinda doubt it.
In other words, I wish I could write like this. Maybe if I drank more Ancient Age bourbon, I could.
But I kinda doubt it.
December 24, 2022
It’s kind of liberating, knowing that whatever you write in GR instantly falls into the realms of oblivion as the approximate number of its readers is probably next to zero. It means you can write anything you pretty much like, as long as it doesn’t offend anyone, at least not blatantly. Perhaps you can get away with it if you use something you would like to believe you possess, in even modest amounts, wit. On the other hand, it’s kind of sad, knowing that what Ross Thomas has written, and that is –thankfully- plenty, has also fallen into a, by-and-large, oblivion, save from a few aficionados or rather dedicated (and sorry for the seemingly presumptuous statement) and intelligent funs of his books.
It may come as a surprise to all those who write in GR and rave about non-existent books, of publications which have the sole benefit of being successfully promoted so that their sales climb, whose reviews are not only full of BS but also of the almanac of literary clichés. The story of a labor union’s elections in the early 70s and the rigmarole of it, stuffed with a plethora of shady, fully three-dimensional, sort to speak, characters, with a plot that needs actual brains on the part of the reader? That’s far too much to ask for, so yes, Ross Thomas has more or less stopped being read, as I have in vain wrote here to no one’s attention in nearly all of the 9 books of his I have had the privilege to read. At least I see there are 200-odd readers here who bothered to review his work.
But an author who wrote slick, spy-like, copper-like, “Sting”-like adventures of conmen, rascals and such wannabies, who probably had the IQ and most importantly EQ that only a handful of writers ever had, hating wisecracks, and who can write “The kid had dignity, the kind that is usually the small reward of those who at age forty or fifty, having scrapped at the bottoms of their souls, survive the revulsion and are never thereafter much dismayed by the awfulness of others” or can cram a Macbeth line in the rhyme of a labor union speech, is not to be taken lightly and to all the parrots and ignorants that abound this and other similarly rather sad and lonely venues, a kind suggestion is to snap out of this comfortable bliss, and start really choosing who you read.
It may come as a surprise to all those who write in GR and rave about non-existent books, of publications which have the sole benefit of being successfully promoted so that their sales climb, whose reviews are not only full of BS but also of the almanac of literary clichés. The story of a labor union’s elections in the early 70s and the rigmarole of it, stuffed with a plethora of shady, fully three-dimensional, sort to speak, characters, with a plot that needs actual brains on the part of the reader? That’s far too much to ask for, so yes, Ross Thomas has more or less stopped being read, as I have in vain wrote here to no one’s attention in nearly all of the 9 books of his I have had the privilege to read. At least I see there are 200-odd readers here who bothered to review his work.
But an author who wrote slick, spy-like, copper-like, “Sting”-like adventures of conmen, rascals and such wannabies, who probably had the IQ and most importantly EQ that only a handful of writers ever had, hating wisecracks, and who can write “The kid had dignity, the kind that is usually the small reward of those who at age forty or fifty, having scrapped at the bottoms of their souls, survive the revulsion and are never thereafter much dismayed by the awfulness of others” or can cram a Macbeth line in the rhyme of a labor union speech, is not to be taken lightly and to all the parrots and ignorants that abound this and other similarly rather sad and lonely venues, a kind suggestion is to snap out of this comfortable bliss, and start really choosing who you read.
February 15, 2020
Anytime I read a Ross Thomas novel, I lament that he or someone like him is not around to capture these times. True, we live in an era of Peak Cynicism thanks to Trump and his gang. But it’s not like the late-60s/early-70s era which this novel takes place was some sort of political paradise either.
I’ve been itching to read a Ross Thomas novel since Briarpatch came on air and decided to finally knock this one out as it’s been on my TBR list for a while. It’s not his best effort but it’s a good one, with the usual focus on political fixing and corporate espionage. And it has the familiar voice of a Thomas novel: the way someone looks at the carnival with a weary eye, too young to be idealistic, too proud to be jaded, too aware to be suckered. The scion of the main character aspires to be “the wisest man in the village.” I get the impression that’s Thomas’ inspiration too. The country is a mess, so folks who can cut through the bs should be highly valued.
The plot itself is similar to others, just inserting unions instead of fictional foreign countries or local stateside elections. Thomas seems to grasp the nuances of union loyalty, although this isn’t a genre I myself am too familiar with. The characters are all vintage Thomas and they speak the wry language of their creator quite well.
Really the only drawback I had with this one is the racism. I don’t think Thomas is an out-and-out racist; frequently, his white characters are lampooning the racial views of real life power figures. But the use of the n-word is definitely gratuitous. Like a lot of white writers, Thomas reformed his language in the late-70s (this one came out in 72). Doesn’t make it okay.
Still, if you can deal with that, this is yet another fun read from the Elmore Leonard of Politics.
I’ve been itching to read a Ross Thomas novel since Briarpatch came on air and decided to finally knock this one out as it’s been on my TBR list for a while. It’s not his best effort but it’s a good one, with the usual focus on political fixing and corporate espionage. And it has the familiar voice of a Thomas novel: the way someone looks at the carnival with a weary eye, too young to be idealistic, too proud to be jaded, too aware to be suckered. The scion of the main character aspires to be “the wisest man in the village.” I get the impression that’s Thomas’ inspiration too. The country is a mess, so folks who can cut through the bs should be highly valued.
The plot itself is similar to others, just inserting unions instead of fictional foreign countries or local stateside elections. Thomas seems to grasp the nuances of union loyalty, although this isn’t a genre I myself am too familiar with. The characters are all vintage Thomas and they speak the wry language of their creator quite well.
Really the only drawback I had with this one is the racism. I don’t think Thomas is an out-and-out racist; frequently, his white characters are lampooning the racial views of real life power figures. But the use of the n-word is definitely gratuitous. Like a lot of white writers, Thomas reformed his language in the late-70s (this one came out in 72). Doesn’t make it okay.
Still, if you can deal with that, this is yet another fun read from the Elmore Leonard of Politics.
September 17, 2022
This Ross Thomas novel has all it should: cynical characters and characterizations, wry wit, and intrigue that seems he’s revealing secrets he picked up from when he worked in The Company.
What elevates it to one of the best Ross Thomas books is an opening sequence that deftly shows a network of colorful characters and the plotting of two candidates’ campaigns for union president is masterful.
The final scene/reveal doesn’t exactly work and that keeps it from 5 stars, but damn it is a delight.
What elevates it to one of the best Ross Thomas books is an opening sequence that deftly shows a network of colorful characters and the plotting of two candidates’ campaigns for union president is masterful.
The final scene/reveal doesn’t exactly work and that keeps it from 5 stars, but damn it is a delight.
October 14, 2017
How have I never read a Ross Thomas novel until this one? He's an excellent writer, and you've got to admire someone who chose to use an election in a national union as the backdrop for a 1970s caper/crime novel. Thomas's writing reminded me of Elmore Leonard's, but it may be better, because everything about it is tighter than Leonard's writing. Highlights included some very, very funny descriptions of people, what they do, and what they think; the ability to shift seamlessly from one character's point of view to another; the matter-of-factness with which some characters contemplate doing and do really bad things; and using a cast of about a dozen or so characters who are all interesting and quirky. I'm looking forward to reading more of this writer's work.
July 2, 2015
A look inside the labor union results in a tough and brutal story.
A "porkchopper" is union slang for an officer primarily concerned with his own personal benefits. This novel centers on Donald Cubbin, long-time head of a major union. Cubbin is almost the walking definition of an "empty suit"—he never really cared much about the job, and is mostly operating on autopilot nowadays, his alcoholism having become acute. His real dream in life was to be a Hollywood actor, and he nearly got the chance once—a missed opportunity that still haunts him. He has a personal handler who keeps his booze level topped up, and his much younger wife is sleeping with someone else.
$6.95 flap price
A "porkchopper" is union slang for an officer primarily concerned with his own personal benefits. This novel centers on Donald Cubbin, long-time head of a major union. Cubbin is almost the walking definition of an "empty suit"—he never really cared much about the job, and is mostly operating on autopilot nowadays, his alcoholism having become acute. His real dream in life was to be a Hollywood actor, and he nearly got the chance once—a missed opportunity that still haunts him. He has a personal handler who keeps his booze level topped up, and his much younger wife is sleeping with someone else.
$6.95 flap price
May 3, 2022
A couple of years ago I tried to read or re-read all of Ross Thomas' novels. I didn't quite finish. This was one of the last two. I'm kind of glad I left it to nearly the last. It was hard to read because of all the racial slurs uttered by the white characters -- including by one of the main characters, a hitman who cares nothing for human life.
The book has a terrific opening, following the progress of a payment through several middlemen until it reaches the killer. It may be the most riveting opening that Thomas ever wrote. And the ending, when we find out who hired him, is pretty good too. The problem is what comes in between.
There are several solid scenes, including a sloppy, comical fistfight involving the over-age bosses of a couple of unions and a scene featuring the main character, incumbent union boss Donald Cubbin, giving a speech at a union hall where he's defending himself against charges lodged by his election rival, Sammy Hanks. Their eventual debate is a highlight as well.
But the overall bemused and cynical tone typical of Thomas' fiction has a mostly sour taste here, as if he's sick of the subject of union politics before he even begins. Cubbin has two defining characteristics -- he drinks too much and he's sad that he missed out on a Hollywood career -- and not much more, so we hear about those ad inifinitum.
And the minor characters, my LORD. There are about a million of them, each one introduced with a lengthy backstory, including several who show up in the last third of the book. Only two of them are Black, by the way, and they're presented as equal to the others -- meaning they're both as crooked as all the white characters. The closest thing to a hero here is Cubbin's son, an ex-cop who got fired for not making enough arrests and instead trying to fix people's problems, but he doesn't do much until the very end of the book.
I've got one more book to go, but I suspect it will be as problematic as this one. And it seems unlikely to top "The Fools in Town Are On Our Side," "The Cold War Swap," "Chinaman's Chance" or "Ah, Treachery!"
The book has a terrific opening, following the progress of a payment through several middlemen until it reaches the killer. It may be the most riveting opening that Thomas ever wrote. And the ending, when we find out who hired him, is pretty good too. The problem is what comes in between.
There are several solid scenes, including a sloppy, comical fistfight involving the over-age bosses of a couple of unions and a scene featuring the main character, incumbent union boss Donald Cubbin, giving a speech at a union hall where he's defending himself against charges lodged by his election rival, Sammy Hanks. Their eventual debate is a highlight as well.
But the overall bemused and cynical tone typical of Thomas' fiction has a mostly sour taste here, as if he's sick of the subject of union politics before he even begins. Cubbin has two defining characteristics -- he drinks too much and he's sad that he missed out on a Hollywood career -- and not much more, so we hear about those ad inifinitum.
And the minor characters, my LORD. There are about a million of them, each one introduced with a lengthy backstory, including several who show up in the last third of the book. Only two of them are Black, by the way, and they're presented as equal to the others -- meaning they're both as crooked as all the white characters. The closest thing to a hero here is Cubbin's son, an ex-cop who got fired for not making enough arrests and instead trying to fix people's problems, but he doesn't do much until the very end of the book.
I've got one more book to go, but I suspect it will be as problematic as this one. And it seems unlikely to top "The Fools in Town Are On Our Side," "The Cold War Swap," "Chinaman's Chance" or "Ah, Treachery!"
March 25, 2024
Published in 1972, The Porkchoppers is a fascinating tale of the intrigue and corruption surrounding the election for the presidency of a large labor union.
A "porkchopper" is a union official who is more interested in taking care of his own needs than he is in those of his union membership, and in this case, the current president of the 900,000-member union, Donald Cubbin, has been on the job for quite some time. Now in his sixties, Cubbin is still movie-star handsome and has long regretted passing up a legitimate opportunity to go to Hollywood as a young man and pursue his dream of being an actor.
After so many years, he's become bored by the job of union president, but he still savors the perks and badly wants to be reelected. However, he's drinking heavily and has accrued other liabilities. He has a young wife that he cannot keep contented himself and he has been challenged for the presidency by a younger man named Sammy Hanks who Cubbin plucked from a minor position and made the union's secretary-treasurer.
Both men will leave no stone unturned and no dirty trick neglected in their efforts to win the job, and lurking behind the scenes is a paid assassin who is closing in on his target, even though we do not discover who the target is until the story is nearly finished.
It's hard to imagine that anyone could make a story about a union election as compelling as this one, but Ross Thomas was the master of writing political intrigue. As is always the case with his novels, this one is very tightly plotted with well-drawn characters, and the story draws you in and keeps you turning the pages as the action intensifies. This is an excellent insight into the world of political maneuvering in the early 1970s, replete with dirty tricks and characters who have no objective more noble than serving their own interests, the country and/or their unions notwithstanding. One can only dream of the novels Thomas would have written about the current political situation in America.
A "porkchopper" is a union official who is more interested in taking care of his own needs than he is in those of his union membership, and in this case, the current president of the 900,000-member union, Donald Cubbin, has been on the job for quite some time. Now in his sixties, Cubbin is still movie-star handsome and has long regretted passing up a legitimate opportunity to go to Hollywood as a young man and pursue his dream of being an actor.
After so many years, he's become bored by the job of union president, but he still savors the perks and badly wants to be reelected. However, he's drinking heavily and has accrued other liabilities. He has a young wife that he cannot keep contented himself and he has been challenged for the presidency by a younger man named Sammy Hanks who Cubbin plucked from a minor position and made the union's secretary-treasurer.
Both men will leave no stone unturned and no dirty trick neglected in their efforts to win the job, and lurking behind the scenes is a paid assassin who is closing in on his target, even though we do not discover who the target is until the story is nearly finished.
It's hard to imagine that anyone could make a story about a union election as compelling as this one, but Ross Thomas was the master of writing political intrigue. As is always the case with his novels, this one is very tightly plotted with well-drawn characters, and the story draws you in and keeps you turning the pages as the action intensifies. This is an excellent insight into the world of political maneuvering in the early 1970s, replete with dirty tricks and characters who have no objective more noble than serving their own interests, the country and/or their unions notwithstanding. One can only dream of the novels Thomas would have written about the current political situation in America.
September 24, 2017
Do you like early 70s union politics? Likable but dim characters? Political fixers, newspaper men, and people wearing brown suits? Boy do I have a book for you.
Ross Thomas typically writes political thrillers with a good amount of snark, but not a lot of violence. This was no exception.
It was a just okay story, but it somehow manages to be an time capsule. This would be amazing, if he was writing “The Right Stuff” or “The Front Page” but describing the look and feel of Union politics in the early 70s is a bringer-down. Nobody today knows who Walter Reuther or George Meany are. That’s a shame, but it also limits the appeal of this book to modern audiences.
Insert obligatory statement about how Ross Thomas writes women characters essentially to give the main characters someone to sleep with. It’s his biggest problem as an author. I recall four adult women with names in the book. Three slept with the main characters, and the fourth was a Madam. So don’t expect well-written females.
It wasn’t a bad story, but it just wasn’t consequential. It started weak, and finished stronger, and earned three stars.
Ross Thomas typically writes political thrillers with a good amount of snark, but not a lot of violence. This was no exception.
It was a just okay story, but it somehow manages to be an time capsule. This would be amazing, if he was writing “The Right Stuff” or “The Front Page” but describing the look and feel of Union politics in the early 70s is a bringer-down. Nobody today knows who Walter Reuther or George Meany are. That’s a shame, but it also limits the appeal of this book to modern audiences.
Insert obligatory statement about how Ross Thomas writes women characters essentially to give the main characters someone to sleep with. It’s his biggest problem as an author. I recall four adult women with names in the book. Three slept with the main characters, and the fourth was a Madam. So don’t expect well-written females.
It wasn’t a bad story, but it just wasn’t consequential. It started weak, and finished stronger, and earned three stars.
September 3, 2017
Porkchoppers is one of only a handful of Ross Thomas books I hadn't previously read, and certainly among his best. It is a product of its time (1974), when cynicism reigned. Forty three years later, it comes off as almost quaint - a reminder of a time after innocence but before cynicism had morphed into boredom then apathy. A fun read. Warning: like most Ross Thomas novels the characters' casual homophobia (also true to its time) is jarring.
September 12, 2020
A fine ending, but I just had a hard time with the characters, mainly their not being a protagonist or even two, but just too many and none you wanted to know. It seemed the point of the book to reveal the political cesspool and (though being set half century ago) this being 2020 we have enough of that. Ross is a master of crisp dialogue and tight writing but
there are plenty of his that tell a better story.
there are plenty of his that tell a better story.
August 29, 2017
A Ross Thomas novel I haven't read always makes for an excellent day. The book is dated, but Mr. Thomas wrote great characters; and when it came to writing about chicanery, political or otherwise, nobody did it better.
March 6, 2023
In a way this book is quite depressing: there is not a single good, positive character within its story arc. It comprises bad people who steal elections and worse people who step lives. The story is so depressing that it must be realistic ...
September 1, 2017
An oldy, but an absolute treat: the atmosphere, the plot, the dialogue - all, a delight. (A single night's read, easy.)
May 12, 2019
Very, very well done!
This is a very well done story. The people in the story are believable and it moves quite well. I will read more.
This is a very well done story. The people in the story are believable and it moves quite well. I will read more.
May 24, 2020
There were times when I wondered if this was another Donald Westlake pseudonym because the writing is just as good.
March 16, 2023
Nice and sleazy, with some of Thomas' most amusing characterizations.
April 30, 2022
Who'd have thunk a story about labor union politics to be interesting?
But that's what this book is about...and it is catchy, and then some.
While it is a book concerned with intrigue, there is an underlying layer of dark comedy that adds a completely different flavor to the writing -- it reminded me of The Manchurian Candidate (the book, not the bloody movie)
One of those books that I hope to come back before I kick it.
But that's what this book is about...and it is catchy, and then some.
While it is a book concerned with intrigue, there is an underlying layer of dark comedy that adds a completely different flavor to the writing -- it reminded me of The Manchurian Candidate (the book, not the bloody movie)
One of those books that I hope to come back before I kick it.
April 6, 2017
In The Porkchoppers, Thomas portrays the behind-the-scenes reality of a high-stakes labor union election, and it ain’t pretty. The picture is likely to be exaggerated through the lens of the author’s cynicism, but not by all that much.
Now in his 60s, Donald Cribbin has served for decades as the president of a million-member international union headquartered in Washington, DC. He is bored with his job and regularly turns to the bottle for solace, leaving his much younger wife to seek sexual fulfillment in the arms of Donald’s loyal but dumb sidekick.
For the first time in years, Donald now faces a serious challenge. His protege, Sammy Hanks, the younger man he rescued from obscurity and appointed as the union’s international secretary-treasurer, is running a strong campaign against him. Sammy has problems of his own, of course. Big ones. Not only is he unnaturally ugly but he has a tendency to fly off the handle in a tantrum at the slightest provocation, often throwing himself to the floor and obsessively pounding the surface until someone manages to distract him.
They’re called “advisers”
Each of the two candidates has both a retinue of loyalists inside the union as well as outside advisers, and the rub comes with the outsiders. They’re the forerunners of today’s political campaign professionals — the ones who put all those negative ads on TV — but the comparison is weak. These guys are what might better be called “fixers.” They don’t play nice. As I said, dirty politics.
On Donald’s side, there’s a Washington-based firm named Walter Penry and Associates, all former law enforcement officers. “What Walter Penry and Associates, Inc., actually specialized in was skullduggery, the kind that stayed within the law” (though just barely). Penry secretly takes direction from a shadowy old millionaire who appears to know everyone and everything. (Of course, there are such people who seem like they do.)
Sammy’s campaign connects with a Chicago political operator who is said to have stolen the 1960 presidential election for John F. Kennedy. (Somebody actually did.) The man attempts to do the same for Sammy. But Sammy’s main man is Mickey Della. Among political “PR agents,” Mickey was “without doubt the most vicious one around and just possibly the best.”
When all these colorful characters converge in a single dramatic election campaign, sparks fly — and that’s not all.
The signatures of Ross Thomas’ writing
You can count on at least three things in a Ross Thomas novel. First, the writing is witty, sometimes laugh-out-loud funny. Especially the dialog. Second, the novels reflect Thomas’ well-informed and all-too-realistic rendering of politics as it’s actually practiced. He’s clearly cynical, and he certainly exaggerates for dramatic effect, but he clearly knows how stuff gets done in high-stakes political campaigns. And, third, Thomas manages to people every book with a large cast of characters — and only rarely leave the reader confused about who’s who or what’s happening. Every character is vividly pictured. It’s quite extraordinary, really. This is a great example of what truly deserves the monniker literature, academic critics notwithstanding.
About the author
The late Ross Thomas wrote twenty-five novels and two books of nonfiction. As Wikipedia notes, “He worked as a public relations specialist, correspondent with the Armed Forces Network, union spokesman, and political strategist in the USA, Germany, and Nigeria before becoming a writer.” The man knew his stuff!
Now in his 60s, Donald Cribbin has served for decades as the president of a million-member international union headquartered in Washington, DC. He is bored with his job and regularly turns to the bottle for solace, leaving his much younger wife to seek sexual fulfillment in the arms of Donald’s loyal but dumb sidekick.
For the first time in years, Donald now faces a serious challenge. His protege, Sammy Hanks, the younger man he rescued from obscurity and appointed as the union’s international secretary-treasurer, is running a strong campaign against him. Sammy has problems of his own, of course. Big ones. Not only is he unnaturally ugly but he has a tendency to fly off the handle in a tantrum at the slightest provocation, often throwing himself to the floor and obsessively pounding the surface until someone manages to distract him.
They’re called “advisers”
Each of the two candidates has both a retinue of loyalists inside the union as well as outside advisers, and the rub comes with the outsiders. They’re the forerunners of today’s political campaign professionals — the ones who put all those negative ads on TV — but the comparison is weak. These guys are what might better be called “fixers.” They don’t play nice. As I said, dirty politics.
On Donald’s side, there’s a Washington-based firm named Walter Penry and Associates, all former law enforcement officers. “What Walter Penry and Associates, Inc., actually specialized in was skullduggery, the kind that stayed within the law” (though just barely). Penry secretly takes direction from a shadowy old millionaire who appears to know everyone and everything. (Of course, there are such people who seem like they do.)
Sammy’s campaign connects with a Chicago political operator who is said to have stolen the 1960 presidential election for John F. Kennedy. (Somebody actually did.) The man attempts to do the same for Sammy. But Sammy’s main man is Mickey Della. Among political “PR agents,” Mickey was “without doubt the most vicious one around and just possibly the best.”
When all these colorful characters converge in a single dramatic election campaign, sparks fly — and that’s not all.
The signatures of Ross Thomas’ writing
You can count on at least three things in a Ross Thomas novel. First, the writing is witty, sometimes laugh-out-loud funny. Especially the dialog. Second, the novels reflect Thomas’ well-informed and all-too-realistic rendering of politics as it’s actually practiced. He’s clearly cynical, and he certainly exaggerates for dramatic effect, but he clearly knows how stuff gets done in high-stakes political campaigns. And, third, Thomas manages to people every book with a large cast of characters — and only rarely leave the reader confused about who’s who or what’s happening. Every character is vividly pictured. It’s quite extraordinary, really. This is a great example of what truly deserves the monniker literature, academic critics notwithstanding.
About the author
The late Ross Thomas wrote twenty-five novels and two books of nonfiction. As Wikipedia notes, “He worked as a public relations specialist, correspondent with the Armed Forces Network, union spokesman, and political strategist in the USA, Germany, and Nigeria before becoming a writer.” The man knew his stuff!
August 31, 2015
Ross Thomas wrote more or less one book a year from 1966 to 1994. I think they're mostly crime thrillers based around professional politics, in this case the machinations around the election for president of a large industrial labor union.
Published in 1972 and recognizably set around the same time (lots of strong opinions on the Viet Nam war, Hubert Humphrey and civil rights), one of Thomas's most frequently used methods of setting the scene and establishing the characters' values is to specify the price of everything. This, however, requires a lot of mental translation as you read - the real high rollers drink scotch that costs $12 a bottle, wear $400 suits and have trophy wives with $1700 worth of cosmetic dental work.
The plot itself is appealing convoluted and you often jump back to remind yourself of some earlier detail.
Published in 1972 and recognizably set around the same time (lots of strong opinions on the Viet Nam war, Hubert Humphrey and civil rights), one of Thomas's most frequently used methods of setting the scene and establishing the characters' values is to specify the price of everything. This, however, requires a lot of mental translation as you read - the real high rollers drink scotch that costs $12 a bottle, wear $400 suits and have trophy wives with $1700 worth of cosmetic dental work.
The plot itself is appealing convoluted and you often jump back to remind yourself of some earlier detail.
May 24, 2013
Just as sharp and readable as all of the other Thomas novels I've read but I didn't feel like this one quite hit the heights of my favourites. The characters weren't quite as compelling and the locales not as exotic and the plot twists not quite as deft.
This is his first that I've got rated at less than four stars and that's only a reflection of where it stands (in my mind) compared to those others.
I like Ross Thomas so much that I feel a need to clarify and apologize for the three-star snub.
If there's anybody reading this who hasn't read any Ross Thomas then drop what you're doing and go find a copy of Chinaman's Chance. Or The Fools In Town Are On Our Side.
Or The Eighth Dwarf.
Or Briarpatch.
This is his first that I've got rated at less than four stars and that's only a reflection of where it stands (in my mind) compared to those others.
I like Ross Thomas so much that I feel a need to clarify and apologize for the three-star snub.
If there's anybody reading this who hasn't read any Ross Thomas then drop what you're doing and go find a copy of Chinaman's Chance. Or The Fools In Town Are On Our Side.
Or The Eighth Dwarf.
Or Briarpatch.
July 18, 2016
Lean, hard-driving novel about a leadership election for a national union. Every single character is a scoundrel, but a human scoundrel with thought-out motives, full personalities and likable quirks. Ross Thomas has the ability to mix the extraordinary with the mundane--big deals are done in humdrum rooms, a contract killer has a normal life as a produce manager in the DC suburbs, the Union's president's biggest regret in life is that he didn't go to Hollywood to become a star.
Crackling language, well-thought-out intelligent characters and an engrossing look at institutional corruption and graft. Ridiculously good stuff.
Crackling language, well-thought-out intelligent characters and an engrossing look at institutional corruption and graft. Ridiculously good stuff.
October 27, 2023
One of my favourite thriller writers, Ross Thomas delivers a sly, slick, satirical tale around an old union president facing an election against a young challenger and the corruption, machinations, power plays and dirty tricks that unfold, all the while an assassin moves in for the kill. An absolute classic.
April 17, 2015
Very good and often humorous tale of union politics in the early 1970's. The article which suggested it thought it could have done with less description of a certain character, but it didn't bother me. A certain plot point regarding one of the candidates did, however, but it wasn't fatal to my enjoyment. Thomas revels in the details, which I enjoy greatly.
July 23, 2016
This one was a pleasant surprise for me. This is usually not my preferred topic, but a reading on the radio (translated into German) piqued my curiosity.
The writing is fluent, the characters drew me into the story. I even liked them, although their faults are all too obvious...
It didn't move my deeply in any way, but it definitely was enjoyable to read.
The writing is fluent, the characters drew me into the story. I even liked them, although their faults are all too obvious...
It didn't move my deeply in any way, but it definitely was enjoyable to read.
February 26, 2009
Thought I'd read all the Ross Thomas there is out there to read, but found this recently at our local libraries book sale. "The Porkchoppers" savages corruption in labor unions with the same brilliant characters, swerving plots, and deep insight that mark all of Ross Thomas' fine novels.
May 24, 2016
The more things change, the more they are same, the French say. Well, the nasty stuff going on the union leadership simply tells an earlier story of the political situation today ... no, it's not pretty, but it is fascinating, rather like mongoose and the cobra fights.
January 1, 2012
My least favourite of the books by Thomas that I've read.
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