A fictionalized narrative of the erratic, stylish life and deadly career of notorious twenties gangster Legs Diamond, told with equivocal disbelief by his attorney, Marcus Gorman.
Legs, the inaugural book in William Kennedy's acclaimed Albany cycle of novels, brilliantly evokes the flamboyant career of gangster Jack "Legs" Diamond. Through the equivocal eyes of Diamond's attorney, Marcus Gorman (who scraps a promising political career for the more elemental excitement of the criminal underworld), we watch as Legs and his showgirl mistress, Kiki Roberts, blaze their gaudy trail across the tabloid pages of the 1920s and 1930s.
“Dynamite . . .
Legs is what a novel is supposed to be.”
– The Washington Post Book World“The best novel about a criminal legend I’ve ever read.”
– Hunter S. Thompson“A brilliant novel, a truly creative piece of work . . . like any real artist, Kennedy takes what is really a sordid, vulgar reality and turns it into a human tragedy.”
– Mario Puzo
