Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

Little Odessa
Little Odessa
Little Odessa
Ebook314 pages4 hours

Little Odessa

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

4/5

()

Read preview

About this ebook

In the grimy hell of Brighton Beach, a stripper needs smarts to surviveIn the waning years of the Soviet Union, only the very young or very old are allowed to immigrate to the United States. Places like Brooklyn’s Brighton Beach—or, as residents call it, “Little Odessa”—are flooded with teenage strivers eager to shake their accents and take what America has to offer. Kate Piro is as ambitious as they come, but her pluck only gets her as far as Times Square’s Starlight Club, where she dances naked under the stage name M. Anita Supreme. After being assaulted by a drunken Nigerian diplomat, Kate meets a kindly cop who falls hard for the headstrong stripper. He wants to save her—or at least sleep with her—but Kate doesn’t need his help. She’s determined to get out of Brighton Beach, even though every man she meets drags her deeper into a cesspit of sleaze, vice, and murder.
LanguageEnglish
Release dateJun 19, 2012
ISBN9781453260555
Little Odessa
Author

Joseph Koenig

Joseph Koenig is an author of hard-boiled fiction. A former crime reporter, he won critical acclaim and an Edgar nomination for his first novel, Floater (1986), a grimly violent story of con men, cops, and killers in the Florida Everglades. His next two novels were Little Odessa (1988), a darkly comic tale of life in New York’s Ukrainian underworld, and Smugglers Notch (1989), a story of brutal murder in snowbound Vermont. Koenig’s fourth novel, the groundbreaking Brides of Blood (1993), won strong reviews for its elegant treatment of police procedure in Islamic Iran. For nearly two decades after Brides of Blood, Koenig did not publish. But in 2012 the pulp-style publishing house Hard Case Crime released his newest novel, False Negative, a rollicking mystery about a journalist who, like Koenig once did, writes for true-crime magazines.

Read more from Joseph Koenig

Related to Little Odessa

Related ebooks

Thrillers For You

View More

Related articles

Related categories

Reviews for Little Odessa

Rating: 3.9 out of 5 stars
4/5

5 ratings1 review

What did you think?

Tap to rate

Review must be at least 10 words

  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Witty crime fiction and a snapshot of New York in the 1980s, limited to the world of borderline legal and criminal activity and characters, with some family resemblance to the fiction of Elmore Leonard and George V. Higgins. With these models, you can expect the crime leans more toward disorganized, hapless petty criminals; organized crime has no role at all. Despite the title, the Russian enclave in Brighton Beach plays a part, but not a featured role; other places include Times Square, and, further uptown,72nd street, as well as other places in upper and lower Manhattan, Coney Island (including the Typhoon roller coaster), and a mansion in Forest Hills. New York of the period is as grimy as I remember it; wonder if they still make egg creams? Major player is Kate Piro, aka Little Odessa, M. Anita Supreme— thoroughly Americanized Russian-Jewish immigrant (at the age of 9), a topless-bottomless dancer on Times Square, a dog and house-sitter, a belly dancer and temporary manager at the Arabian Knights [sic], Middle Eastern restaurant run by an Israeli who is also a smuggler with a stash. Piro is, eventually, a woman in peril, largely because of the dog, a Russian wolfhound named Isaac Grynzpun. Kate Piro is a surprisingly complex portrait: intelligent, ambitious, and probably the most ethical of the characters (but the bar is set low). On the other hand, she can be infuriatingly irrational and naïve or gullible. A nice role for Mila Kunis if this had a chance of being a movie. Other characters: her boyfriend Nathan Metrevelli, a small time drug dealer looking for another line of work, Stan Bucyk, a very corrupt cop who later becomes a “consultant” for the FBI, Harry Lema, a skillful but unfortunate burglar and dognapper who becomes the novel’s punching bag, Howard Ormont, the Israeli smuggler and dog owner, Mike Nicholas another member of the small world of smuggling, though considerably more elegant, and Paul Infante, a cop on the right side of the law.

Book preview

Little Odessa - Joseph Koenig

oaebook_preview_excerpt.html|ےHU==3kcֲR5iW$$!Hv(zؗa%#$2#w~o[oy7/~-6+w*P]U ;7P]_MC1b*v>Я WnB,p+嶯+_ nb.󊿹ono](>ES]}q cQo<.և"7,ƧKÅ*ܮh]ܺX]OJ7iX;p*¦XMSKX?rkkluwkՖwh+n׮;n|9~QKj]rlNW9<䓏vJ ph z@j_RcřDx{ܾ߅sin @p/~667k*)NUAI: hCze2ܺ{,sCfHЕJec& X4an_JP5'$۝n% F Kh'vحC?$y.b ѻ~6CVmhi<ɺ )gm`l<BK2w>*;Ϗ( TFLzox+X\ohfQ CM>߹ n= qYh`k_:,UY ϑG"K>P|fC# [;@jG Uow I T ;|>^hK!geb5QnAd{[w}?_u€M1G-aG~ԏD' Y_-:xG0 %=cW<vfSГ V4tE&z;7sXp!|;ت8r5T ~w!f5~Cf0HJ` ?[lqvvXnq$[)Y[S@D&̵0R~Zڸ<ΰ Q?0'W\})\!dE!'hI CgD_OoY/LzgkW2a6MXNkIgr6[8 Q 'Ll2B=""5'BөB;K>0w_ 蜙Qc=a"D.jL( 0]j~ƘC-susdN^bWCvҥ%aa/\eSB)e/,xVƕT JQzMv7' qGFJoa٥?`O0Wˑ!$^.pmCS Y}>oP4ݿcHU1V(!B0?e~&a_?!HUyyKpL2-.{'` L{CZl,B4UO$bdnk {}@2 ))Hv@Dh @O (☢Gkv*&F3¢u/Wy[sXh}JO!@z\}}啂mjZ=a[ TfHv9PuvŻ!*"[ B$0溸e\O:_j=V]Xdڂoٛ-1lqOLj!Gݩp@E(%Af|fVGb9̠ې<0,hUQfcm#̼ƸQ# VliJoگY1iBR$ Wy`(\CԌ<ʮ#8r%ډC6A7g)w<Y{GWH'5-?M` $iDy"ɇ6rv{"Oa0?epo$7&q{~ʍ%!tR^bھ*,]ar6n2 NU4So2AS!5S#`Y? H"8r;k8|qo[QyPdHFz' iܩO5$<*ɖv*5R3f.>PZpUUqIjyڢ>&j`$MT ;l8hV<@.|6>aĀXUXZL9T#wi?1F!g[-_҆#(lBGo똈Ј ʛW,7S rt<bI]g(1,2PV&=0G٦:p05wh/ SVnU,61VB ~a"b;d/#NUݦn>{ NQkȈY;H`Iô{a׾694& 7=\-o/m$Bs53W3oe>DLwuxg3;e`O|WͩQDG>+¡2p^-M;?k&u"X-HȌYx[lOB A>u]'*'rt`q:Cpb|jgYYͅ;fZD*{qȪu:swgiA>#ʗ!3C]W.a*ILݫ`hCF1ISDS­V94Y"hX 7Jq^~ /K3\ii/rHpe1vuz,sd J'%caz| &kڨ0IfMV.,ͷ<DZ"c^-BсFk.vS:KDJ6[qJ(g*)&}i9*| Wz ܼ=̞%nR I-<ߛ]΂,Vu_$qS%ҝX8UIkփ{F',s.'SIn3zO )\)ϳ*ЧKC)֚B{e7?p0$T i,N+OMqZ[QW^ >hWtĈ #:xr Y6)VnRxҩTΆB'o)(iC+s+rQlÜl٧d\:^&V!Y+(/zxV\2%0 213^3E!$|"[ۺ1x~9rvQ~bT.o"3*Bśqic? 寰:-Y^>#DRAS.I(-Ri@}]O@YLplopNsqo9q t]*?É3 [nS;ʚn ʡ×p[◙LJ)G_]kb6Wt'2cN2G JKB^ewQ\g6jluViYuq"fu~?FookZֹ}ad^t[z˟~Zglլ÷JKO戨eҷ9ѹJ$?v'@_дchr<^4oSȾ7YfUQ l'&Q78h5" :㄄,BA=X$Ǒug6'P6L϶V- nbLvDiMsf}wAجr(Xǥ_Mt.sE⪜;(\!$u5Sh!Wv 8j7>ban7R WsQfXsF%]X4/ RTjȣ`?uvem *&|f}x(vcX`hH43~.q&Zgq9LCZ?֟h5hi^3YSvGqAƐSPx&.v+F6UnVopy?bs裈?dŜ/z| r3^>#htԇqN Z\(:ns;D^<ʰ*#3k/ $WYmTNa*ehTOQjaɯ{+nT֡BdQ:k·>̋2)z)EzKagUkI-ž'+hJ &;JJ1)\bUX9Йo{)I(t;`޵>DQt1hfVV4\g%4k6bѳvEb"n$*UpxM/ر'$d(feuKCu!=DeԜy{*WFb)#}&N3`Z B`#^ejhʲܜZu\u*'"6Q>2o_X=< ؋[ϥ)zx1Y8u^ R+=Fz85&8YA#+é֥Zғ'w-Q1Zٙ گ+YEvx6d(7y_,!'.c½WZ}qAcАv<8M>+r%O+Vz/ߥ֨F82q6ū yRqlǪMJAqO@ۊnHL#P͞? X,'N ׮o᪴>5='Uk+O,aPJ@!fG2t +r?Ȗ!PjCzt,STƶj|#=zKƻ! /Q#ŻmBohǶ,~`}[ L _Ҟ7< Vtj{ ĺ[ q_ |H^Rf; gT*xR4Mxyk10F9\3bsu돿ٔNOSn*wnD#l0#D MӻO"ƔV JbC8> 'Rw(WSyJ.fiGZ@B'r2=KN;] -k4f,$D>A4Mෙ̑݉)b?=:&|<+6F&}]ꩾv_=!|$~;j"d3~Im8vD諴\ 'X$izp gukOL~3wWoTkbHwBE^SR35 o!cb+Xm P~+Zb%ͮ韀(nN= [}oUN+%p;߼+{L|ڤRq*S(uM1l1?L ɏ3sypDæz]aiUJ; nN' eg߈}!j{:HAq1T  ՈSG7= !14$wQ~y\B4e.OzAKK"V9+aٌ+kh^R9zn͜ 0]{ H*4H89ߺُM*dTJ֭Fͥ:{ؙ_94_SFN'9HԉI#5OH] /9JM}'YHs4^RKkyf.xƉI>u]>{XttQP#+gH rNR̯6٘_z <ȷٯuXٵkI Z:k'ڌLlA<1C QÆ$8` 6O0pjBp9LD |9BhV+=}e9ECJ y\Fʠᵢκ 9M9j}m`%!@1.uw 44/Հ8?N3Lrz]~6#to?; ͏u%X]x!aPb\2].'FoY-:'3b&(F+raaRTmR^cb[σ( 󉾏oÐl>qzIŭ`oOoY:ƺ-8Q^uSch_N]š; fYThp9MtWڄ2)VZ(_q~n0m5s@|_s6F3AJwN~aO" R<>]^cK-+Z _A.WJՃd\_NA]3'8B.ս(Rni*Ou#/6OYo܈%\c:R*fSs=ZB>r:9ySW~} 5BۻP"pWoTɨf`O7m3=SW\W}OT'٦f^NG* 刣}1efҩ#*Oἇɋ?hW *syk+y_v}RnC&$v@d98G_1_4濿vzg@8J,+hI;c5}\{޽~* 8zszߖW,9`'AvrdSq^o?2?fN8F  ]6aziÖ|WKx|?4o?9Ļ?_ݕtot%L6ӕ", L r'u֏kfm(Ӵ%bW_Dg=JjlK8g_Yr+ 3f6G -ҬrFaX==vi;x;OR:i8/r}O),_J {rB??aZH_z2sUe)mһj&␴FL_|cؤ :ܚsWhƶ8(N/]KARa.zbH)֟7y{ 0.S:ffJ\! *.)(cZ]0I)t2<)j<̋X5;&"?X-_ !ZfITYaG z ]3NQpk̎Cbtk\2Vj\D%Tͷ
Enjoying the preview?
Page 1 of 1