Strip Audiobook By Thomas Perry cover art

Strip

A Novel

 Preview
LIMITED TIME OFFER

3 months free
Try for $0.00
Offer ends July 31, 2025 at 11:59PM PT.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Premium Plus auto-renews for $14.95/mo after 3 months. Cancel anytime.

Strip

By: Thomas Perry
Narrated by: Michael Kramer
Try for $0.00

$0.00/mo. after 3 months. Offer ends July 31, 2025 at 11:59PM PT. Cancel anytime.

Buy for $17.19

Buy for $17.19

Confirm purchase
Pay using card ending in
Switch payment method
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use, License, and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Taxes where applicable.
Cancel

An aging but formidable strip-club owner, Claudiu "Manco" Kapak, has been robbed by a masked gunman as he placed his cash receipts in a bank's night-deposit box. Enraged, he sends his half-dozen security men out to find a suspect who is spending lots of cash and is new enough to Los Angeles not to know he was robbing a gangster.

Their search leads them to Joe Carver, an innocent but hardly defenseless newcomer who evades capture and sets out to make Kapak wish he'd chosen someone else.

Meanwhile, the real culprit, Jefferson Davis Falkins, and his new girlfriend, Carrie, seem to believe they've found a whole new profession: robbing Manco Kapak. Lieutenant Nick Slosser, the police detective in charge of the puzzling and increasingly violent case, has his own troubles, including worries about how he's going to afford to send the oldest child of each of his two bigamous marriages to college without making their mothers suspicious.

As this odd series of difficulties explodes into a triple killing, Carver finds himself in the middle of a brewing gang war over Kapak's little empire, while Falkins and Carrie journey into territory more strange and violent than either had imagined.

©2010 Thomas Perry (P)2010 Tantor Crime Fiction Mystery Suspense Thriller & Suspense Fiction Money Crime

Critic reviews

“Perry's exquisite timing and finesse provide near perfect endings to the multiple story lines and make this escapist reading at its best.” ( Publishers Weekly)
Complex Characters • Unpredictable Twists • Engaging Storyline • Interwoven Plots • Surprising Ending • Likable Villains
Highly rated for:
All stars
Most relevant  
I don't think the story lines were fleshed out enough. I can see where it was trying to go but it fell short and into a shallow plot. It was enjoyable enough but some of the background detail and character descriptions felt like filler in need of editing.

There's better out there

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
wow it's true finally someone in the vein of Leonard, block & Westlake. that in itself is quite refreshing. in a mediocre sometimes even worse sea.

Perry strikes again!

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

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

Yes, I enjoyed the story and didn't need to listen all in one day. The story was written with enough information in each of the story lines to make it easy to remember where I stopped and what action finished just before I stopped listening. Many good stories don't have that strong a set of characters to allow for interruptions.

Would you be willing to try another book from Thomas Perry? Why or why not?

I have so many of the Thomas Perry books I will always try more!

Good listen with surprises that made me smile

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Speaker mispronounces La Cienega and Sepulveda Blvd so poorly it diminishes the LA environment and believability

Pronunciation incorrect

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I listened to Strip several years ago before I started writing reviews. Strip is not Thomas Perry's best work, not even close. But it is an interesting crime thriller set in the seedier parts of Los Angeles and it has a surprise ending. Narration is better than the story.

It starts when a strip club owner gets robbed!

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

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Absolutely. It's a complex but tightly told story of misfortunes that beset a strip club owner getting on in years and surrounded by an interesting but definitely unsavory cast of characters.

What did you like best about this story?

Everything -- but everything -- happens in the space of week: low lifes, strip joint men and women, and crooked but elegant policemen converge in a complex and fascinating -- often hilarious but also bloody -- series of mishaps.

Which character – as performed by Michael Kramer – was your favorite?

Manco Capac, the owner of several strip joints and clubs in LA, is a fascinating character, whom you come to sympathize with in spite of his very spotted history.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

It made me laugh, although there are some gruesome scenes (which some people may not like)

Any additional comments?

If you enjoy books by the late Ellmore Leonard, I'm sure you'll enjoy this book

Ellmore Leonard, only better

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
It contains a truly interesting cast of characters, and a good, twisty storyline.

There were only two things that detracted for me.

I'd become very intrigued about a character, and it would take such a long time for the narrative to circle back to that person. I'd start to wonder, "But what about... ?" Eventually it would get there and satisfy my curiosity, but during that wondering time, it made me less interested in the current chapter.

Also, and this is just personal preference, I think this type of story might have benefited from a little more dark or wry humor than was offered. I think it would have been in character for many of the more interesting people... Spence, Joe Carver, Manko Kapak. It was all played pretty straight.

The intricate storylines were wrapped up to satisfying and not entirely expected conclusions. A good read.

A good, twisty read

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
For me, there's a kind of sameness about a lot of the new fiction. Lazy, high school level writing, lots of bad narrative and long, story killing, descriptions -- like these "authors" were getting paid by the word. Don't writers/editors care about plot and pacing any more? Anyhow, this book tells an interesting story, with interesting characters, a good plot, and very little wasted ink. It moves right along, it's fun to listen to, the reader does a great job overall and with the different voices, and I've given it 5 stars straight across. Way to go, Thomas Perry and Audible. And think about raising your editorial standards, Audible. I know you're there to sell stuff, but IMHO selling poorly written junk isn't the best long term business plan....at least I hope not. And using readers who mis-pronounce key words associated with the story doesn't help either. Come on, guys, use Google if you see an unfamiliar word. Don't just guess at it. OK. Rant over. This is a very good book. Get it and read it. Enjoy!

Worth more than one listen.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I'm a big fan of Thomas Perry's The Butcher Boy series. This one-off book was a fun departure from the normal thriller, where even the good guys have something to hide and the bad guys don't always get what they deserve. The novel is made more enjoyable by the dry presentation of Michael Kramer, the narrator.

Delightful

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
light read. was a good non standard plot. wish there was a bit more history on Joe.

this was pretty good

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
See more reviews