Listen free for 30 days

Listen with offer

Offer ends May 1st, 2024 11:59PM GMT. Terms and conditions apply.
£7.99/month after 3 months. Renews automatically.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Legs cover art

Legs

By: William Kennedy
Narrated by: Joe Barrett
Get this deal Try for £0.00

Pay £99p/month. After 3 months pay £7.99/month. Renews automatically. See terms for eligibility.

£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £25.99

Buy Now for £25.99

Pay using card ending in
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.

Listeners also enjoyed...

Ironweed cover art
Empire Falls cover art
More Notes of a Dirty Old Man cover art
USA Noir cover art
Always Outnumbered, Always Outgunned cover art
Small Town cover art
Mafia Cop cover art
Dead Irish cover art
A Little Yellow Dog cover art
Try Dying cover art
The Last Detail cover art
Marked Man cover art
Narrows Gate cover art
Dreaming of Babylon cover art
The Good Soldier Svejk cover art
Two Trains Running cover art

Summary

Legs inaugurated William Kennedy's cycle of novels set in Albany, New York. True to both life and myth Legs evokes the flamboyant career of the legendary gangster Jack "Legs" Diamond, who was finally murdered in Albany. Through the equivocal eyes of Diamond's attorney, Marcus Gorman (who scraps a promising political career for the 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.

As an added bonus, when you purchase our Audible Modern Vanguard production of William Kennedy's book, you'll also receive an exclusive Jim Atlas interview. This interview – where James Atlas interviews Russell Banks about the life and work of William Kennedy – begins as soon as the audiobook ends.

©1983 William Kennedy (P)2009 Audible, Inc.

Critic reviews

"Narrator Joe Barrett’s raspy no-nonsense voice is tangibly matched to the cigarette-smoking, whiskey-drinking toughs of the novel, and his timing with the speakeasy patter is spot-on." (AudioFile)
"Pure literary excitement...easy to read and hard to put down. I enjoyed it from beginning to end and wished it were longer." (Joseph Heller)
"Seductive portrait...a very skillful story, full of bounce and wit." (Newsweek)

More from the same

What listeners say about Legs

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    5
  • 4 Stars
    0
  • 3 Stars
    0
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0
Performance
  • 5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    4
  • 4 Stars
    0
  • 3 Stars
    0
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0
Story
  • 5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    4
  • 4 Stars
    0
  • 3 Stars
    0
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars
  • GC
  • 09-08-23

Fictionalised Life of 'Legs' Diamond

This, the first book in William Kennedy's 'Albany Cycle', presents a fictionalised life of the bootlegger and racketeer Jack 'Legs' Diamond, a one-time associate of Al Capone, as related by his lawyer, Marcus Gorman.

As with all the best historical fiction, the author sticks to the known facts about Diamond's life and uses his imagination to fill in the gaps making for a coherent and plausible narrative.

It is a pity that only the first three books in the cycle are available on Audible, but I can also recommend the other two.



Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!