Subject
Gangs -- Fiction Books
Best books
William Le Queux
The rat trap
No description available.
Louis Pergaud
La Guerre des Boutons: Roman de ma douzième année
"La Guerre des Boutons: Roman de ma douzième année" by Louis Pergaud is a French novel published in 1912. Set in the late 19th-century countryside of Franche-Comté, it chronicles the relentless "war" between rival gangs of boys from two neighboring villages, Longeverne and Velrans. Led by the cunning Lebrac, the children wage battles with sticks, stones, and fists. Captured enemies face ultimate humiliation: stripped of their buttons, buckles, and laces, they must return home in tatters to face parental wrath.
W. B. M. (William Blair Morton) Ferguson
The Black Company : $b A mystery story
No description available.
Mark Reinsberg
The Vicious Delinquents
"The Vicious Delinquents" by Mark Reinsberg is a science fiction novel written during the late 1950s. The story is set in a futuristic universe where teenage girls form violent gangs on various moons and planets, particularly Callisto and Io, amidst ongoing conflicts and power struggles. The central theme revolves around youth rebellion, identity, and the consequences of a life entrenched in delinquency. The plot follows Vera, a former gang leader who returns to Callisto after a period of recovery known as matrixing, which has both physically and psychologically altered her. As she finds herself amidst a turf war with the Io gang, Vera grapples with her position in the gang and the dynamic with her rival, Naomi, who has taken over leadership in her absence. Their rivalry escalates into personal challenges and violent confrontations. Amidst the chaos of gang warfare, the introduction of an academic figure researching juvenile delinquency poses questions about their lives and choices. In the end, Vera confronts her past and must decide between returning to her delinquent lifestyle or seeking a different future, ultimately choosing freedom and self-discovery over a return to the gang life.
Edgar Wallace
The crimson circle
"The Crimson Circle" by Edgar Wallace is a crime novel written in the early 20th century. It centers on a ruthless blackmail-and-murder syndicate that terrorizes the wealthy, drawing in a famed intuitive sleuth, Derrick Yale, the stolid Inspector Parr, and the wealthy Beardmores. As the gang’s threats escalate, young Jack Beardmore seeks justice for his father while Thalia Drummond—an enigmatic secretary with questionable ties—becomes a pivotal figure whose loyalties are unclear. The story promises a cat-and-mouse hunt for a hidden mastermind who manipulates victims and accomplices from the shadows. The opening of The Crimson Circle introduces a shadowy organization that recruits desperate men in secret, then pivots to a wave of extortion notes culminating in the marked targeting of magnate James Beardmore. After a crimson circle appears on a tree near his estate, Beardmore is shot in a nearby wood; Yale and Parr begin probing clues—spent cartridges, pointed boot prints, cigar ash—while suspicion ripples toward onlooker Felix Marl and the cool, self-possessed Thalia, who is soon arrested for pawning her employer’s idol. Thalia is bound over but promptly summoned by the Circle, installed as secretary at Brabazon’s bank, and told to monitor Marl and movements at the bank; meanwhile a sailor confesses to the shooting as a hired killer and is silenced by cyanide with the Circle’s mark left behind. Early threads interweave Marl’s leverage over banker Brabazon, Thalia’s calculated poise and new assignment, and the rivalry-cum-partnership of Yale and Parr as they begin closing on the gang’s elusive core.
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