Vince Camden is a lot like that guy in the old commercial who would wearily trudge out of the house before dawn while muttering, “Time to make the donuts.” Only in addition to making the donuts, Vince is engaging in selling pot and running a credit card scam.Vince is a former mob guy living in the witness protection program in Spokane WA in 1980. While he actually enjoys his job at the local donut shop just as birds gotta fly and fish gotta swim, Vince has to engage in some petty crime while spe...

Citizen Vince by Jess WalterThank you, Jess Walter, for the unforgettable character of Vince Camden in a crime caper that includes everyone from Mafia bosses and thugs to a postman, to Ronald Reagan and Jimmy Carter. Thank you for a plot that veers from funny to moving and everything in between without ever losing truth because it is written with literary excellence and a love of architecture in all its forms.This book was thrilling, entertaining, and actually made me forget about the leak in my...

I didn't have high expectations going into this book. Sounded mildly interesting to pick it up from second hand and read but not more. But gladly I was wrong. An very intriguing and interesting story and wasn't as mediocre as I first thought

Y'all, I read this ages ago and added it to Goodreads when I first joined, thus no review. Id jot one now but am running fast n furious this morning. Sorry! The ebook is on sale for $1.99, I just saw from a Bookbub email, and it is absolutely a steal. Jess Walter is one of my favorite authors ever, and other folks' reviews will give you a feel for his style.Time to make the donuts - enjoy!

"A great nation is like a great man.....He thinks of his enemy as the shadowThat he himself casts."---Tao Te ChingThis inscription provides a clue to the main theme of 'Citizen Vince'. As the quote is on the first page of the book, I paid particular attention to the 1980 Presidential contest between Jimmie Carter and Ronald Reagan which fascinates Vince Camden, the thief who is our 'hero'. Having been convicted of a felony as a younger man than he is now, which is currently age 36, he lost the r...

Jess Walter has that "magic something" that puts him a notch above most contemporary novelists. There are so many ways in which this novel about a small time criminal living in Spokane, WA in a witness protection program could have gone wrong. Basic plot elements, style and charachters could easily have led this book straight into the immense garbage bin where not-that-good crime novels belong. But Walter adds his secret ingredients and this noir story becomes a unique, brilliant, powerful, livi...

I really liked this book, and Jess Walter is an excellent writer. Great read!

Are you better off than you were four years ago?Walter presents a delightfully quirky book that combines a crime thriller with a lesson in civics. Vince (not his real name) is in the witness protection program, and up to his old tricks running a credit card scam while he masquerades as a Tacoma doughnut maker. This is all set against the backdrop of another contentious election, the 1980 race between Carter and Reagan. Throw in some good bad guys, and some bad good guys, and you've got one of th...

I can see why this novel has high ratings on GR - it is well written, well paced and Vince Camden is an intriguing character. It just wasn't a good fit for me. I liked parts of it - especially the election angle, but mobsters and petty crime make my eyes glaze over.

What a great frickin’ book. It’s my first Jess Walter, but certainly won’t be my last. This is a hard one to categorize, which to me is part of the appeal. I suppose you’d call it a crime drama more than anything else, what with made guys, high-stakes poker, low-level scams, hookers, dope, and countless misadventures all presented in the crisp, colorful patois of the street. But it’s smart and funny, too. Even edifying at times. The characters are fully fleshed out, and the writing can verge on

Gritty realism is the perfect way to describe Jess Walter’s third novel, Citizen Vince. From the opening sentence, “One day you know more dead people than live ones,” this Spokane native reeled me in, and I strongly suspected that this was the right book for me, at that given time. More importantly, I saw something special about Walter’s incredible precision that I simply had to have more of… and I did, obviously. By the end of the night, I’d read a good forty, fifty pages (I’m ordinarily a slo

”Voting is for assholes, like paying taxes. Or having a job. And guns--big fuckin’ deal. You can always find a gun on the street. Any felon can buy a gun. But just try to vote in jail. You can’t do it. It’s funny, you think about it, the only thing we can’t do...is something we don’t even care about doing.” Carter...Anderson...Reagan...more choices than normal.But the thing of it is it is 8 days away from the pivotal presidential election in 1980 and Vince Camden does care. For the first time...

I'm guessing that Jess Walter was as upset about the 2004 Presidential election as I was. We handled our disappointment differently: I drank a lot of vodka and he wrote an amazing book with an unlikely hero. Vince Camden is living in Spokane WA where he manages a donut shop. He also pals around with local hoods and works a scam with credit cards. He isn't too happy but he seems satisfied until the day he starts counting people he knows who are dead. Things get complicated when he begins to think...

Vince Camden and I had our political awakenings at the same time: Autumn, 1980. Jimmy and Ronny, the embassy hostages, Afghanistan, Iran—Iraq War, Abscam, inflation. Not too mention John Lennon, Mt. St. Helen’s, Rubik’s cube, the Moscow Olympics, Bjorg and McEnroe, Sony Walkman. Bruce, Billy, Pat, Blondie, The Police, Dire Straits, ska, New Wave. Come to think of it, 1980 was a pretty fucking memorable year. The thing about my intellectual awakening vs. Vince Camden’s: I turned 11 a couple of mo...

I don't usually buy or read books about convicted felons, but I just discovered Jess Walter, author of Beautiful Ruins. I decided to give Citizen Vince a try,Vince immediately tells us that he is in a witness protection program, and that he deals in pot and stolen credit cards. His friends are hustlers, card sharks and hookers. His day job is donut maker at Donut Make You Hungry in Spokane. He trusts them as much as he trusts himself.Vince is a good-bad guy like Paul Newman and Robert Redford ar...

Vince (the Donut Man) Camden is a cool character-a memorable one. He is a second rate crook, a charming cad, a bit of poet, and a pinch of a philosopher. He is the type of person that helps us all to keep believing in humanity...because the cocky smooth talking thief, may just have a heart of gold worth the rigorous polishing process. Jess Walters' biggest strength as a writer, as far as I am concerned, is his ability to write characters that he expertly weaves into your memories as though they

A most enjoyable read. Vince Camden is a small time crook who is relocated by the witness protection program from NYC to Spokane. While this sounds like a plot you have seen in countless noir thrillers in Jess Walters' hands the usual is elevated through the intelligent fresh writing, the humour and the vividness of the characters to unexpected heights. Always a great suspense novel it is also a deeply funny slice of reality, a social history piece, and most oddly a moving story of redemption. W...

3.5 stars “Pot smoking cops, thieves who tithe 10 percent, society women who wear garters, tramps who sleep with stuffed bears, criminal donut makers, real estate hookers”This was a lovely surprise of a novel and my first by this author.I particularly liked Vince, who had depth, humour, and a clear drive to figure out his life. In his previous life he was known as Marty, a small-time credit card fraudster in New York, who ends up in a witness protection programme in Spokane, making donuts for a

this is a crime thriller lite, not really a crime thriller, more like the story of a very meaningful week in the life of vince camden, a small time criminal living in spokane, WA, on a witness protection program. since jess walter is super magical the story is really great. it's funny, sweet, and all sorts of smarts. the week in which walter decides to snapshot vince camden is the week that precedes the election of reagan as US president and the demise of jimmy carter. there's a lot about this n...

Once again, Jess Walter has managed to break my heart. Citizen Vince was a great, though not particularly enjoyable, read. Walter manages to infuse his uniquely dark humor into a tragedy that at times veers to an existential condemnation of the lives we lead, then turns to a blinding realization that maybe the simplest dreams are the ones that make life worth living.Vince Camden is a petty thief, though not of the garden variety. He is smart, charming, and introspective. He is also living in Spo...