Billy Phelan's Greatest Game

0-670-16667-7OCLC3630990813/.5/4LC ClassPZ4.K3615 Bi PS3561.E428Preceded byLegs Followed byIronweed 

Billy Phelan's Greatest Game is a 1978 novel by William Kennedy. It is the second book in Kennedy's Albany Cycle.

Plot summary

The narrative is based on an actual event: The attempted 1933 kidnapping of John O'Connell Jr., the nephew of Albany Democratic boss Daniel P. O'Connell.^[1]

In 1930s Albany, New York, Billy Phelan is a hustler at pool, card sharp, bowler, and occasional bookmaker.^[2] Martin Daugherty is a reporter, and the son of a famous writer now grown old.^[2] Phelan and Daugherty become involved in the events surrounding the kidnapping of the son of a corrupt Albany political boss.^[2]

The kidnapping is the central point of the story, but Kennedy also details the everyday lives of the characters inhabiting Albany's working class and poor neighborhoods.^[2] Some of the characters, including Billy Phelan's father Francis, appear in Ironweed, the third installment of the Albany Cycle.^[2]

Adaptations

In 2009, Audible.com produced an audio version of Billy Phelan's Greatest Game, narrated by Nick Sullivan, as part of its Modern Vanguard line of audiobooks.

References

Sources

Internet

• Pierce, J. Kingston (July 13, 2012). "The Book You Have to Read: Billy Phelan's Greatest Game". The Rap Sheet. Seattle, WA: J. Kingston Pierce.

Books

• Fischer, Heinz-D.; Fischer, Erika J. (2002). Complete Biographical Encyclopedia of Pulitzer Prize Winners, 1917-2000. Munich, Germany: K. G. Saur. ISBN 978-3-598-30186-5.