The Friends of Eddie Coyle is so tightly written that a critical distinction between characterization and fictional structure or between literary technique and theme is at times difficult to maintain. The novel's unremittingly close concentration upon the transactions among its characters blurs the distinctions between the different sides of the law, especially when so many of the scenes portray the tactical dependence of Dave Foley, the cop on the case, upon a certain complicity with the criminal characters. The "normality" of the book's criminal world is further reinforced by the correspondences in the depiction of Foley and Jackie Brown, who supplies Coyle with the guns his customers require: They share a noticeably similar taste in clothes, hairstyles, and automobiles. Further, although the talent that has gained George V. Higgins a reputation as a consummate writer of dialogue is evident in this, his first novel, it is put to...