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Book Review By James Craver
No Beast So Fierce by Edward Bunker

Career criminal Max Dembo finds himself paroled from prison after a long stretch for running a check-forging scheme. Max, a former heroin-addict who kicked his habit and became self-educated in jail, resolves to go straight but is stymied at every turn by an apathetic parole officer who won't give him a break, a prejudiced society that won't give him a job, and the temptations of his old life, which seem to be omnipresent.
Finally deciding that quitting his former profession is impossible, Max falls back in with his old friends, including a former stick-up partner with a dying wife and a former cellmate who has just escaped from prison. With these men, Max sets-out on an old-fashioned crime spree, culminating in a typical "last, big score," an armed heist at a high-priced jewelry store.


Plot & Themes
Tone of story - depressing/sad
Time/era of story:
Kid or adult book? - Adult or Young Adult Book
The crook is.... - committing armed robbery
descript. of violence and chases - 20 %
Planning/preparing, gather info, debate puzzles/motives - 20 %
Feelings, relationships, character bio/development - 30 %
How society works & physical descript. (people, objects, places) - 30 %
Crime Thriller Yes
Is MAIN CHARACTER an EVIL criminal? Yes

Main Character
Gender - Male
Profession/status:
Age: - 20's-30's
Ethnicity/Race

Main Adversary
Identity: - an organization
Profession/status:

Setting
City? Yes
City: - Los Angeles
Misc setting - prison

Writing Style
Accounts of torture and death? - moderately detailed references to deaths
Explicit sex in book? Yes
What kind of sex: - vague references - descript of kissing
Unusual forms of death - perforation--bullets
Unusual form of death? Yes
Amount of dialog - roughly even amounts of descript and dialog
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