Pandem-erback: "The Rat on Fire" by George V. Higgins

 Pandem-erback: The Rat On Fire by George V. Higgins, 1981 (2011 reprint), 9780307947244. Backdated to 2020.

I read Friends of Eddie Coyle not too long ago and, according to the receipt tucked into the front cover, I bought this at Milwaukee's Boswell Books on January 19, 2020, just before 5PM. That may have coincided with a Cat Cafe visit.

Small time crooks try to avoid prison, lie to the cops, commit murder, live at the poverty line, and try to balance family and career. 

 This is another plot I don't recall too much of. A slumlord wants to burn down his building to rid himself of a white elephant. An arsonist is hired. things happen but for some reason all I can think about is the scene from the film adaptation of Friends of Eddie... where the cops stake-out a commuter rail station and arrest some crooks with car crashes and shotguns.