God Save the Child vs The Friends of Eddie Coyle: Which Should You Read?
Both live on shelves: Massachusetts, Boston, Fiction
God Save the Child
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New York Times bestselling author of the Spenser series of crime thrillers - Book 2 in the series -Appie Knoll is the kind of suburb where kids grow up right. But something is wrong. Fourteen-year-old Kevin Bartlett…
The Friends of Eddie Coyle
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"Eddie Coyle is a small-time punk with a big-time problem - who to sell out to avoid being sent up again. Eddie works for Jimmy Scalisi, supplying him with guns for a couple of bank jobs. But a cop named Foley is onto…
Side by side
The verdict
- Ratings are close across the board — any is a safe pick by score.
- The Friends of Eddie Coyle has the widest readership — 11456 ratings behind its score.
- The Friends of Eddie Coyle reaches further in scholarship and criticism — cited 5 times.
- The Friends of Eddie Coyle runs the darker storyline; God Save the Child stays the lighter read.
How to choose
Scores by source
| God Save the Child | The Friends of Eddie Coyle | |
|---|---|---|
| Goodreads | — | 4.0 (11456) |
| Hardcover | 3.7 (29) | 3.8 (31) |
| Apple Books | 4.0 (320) | 4.0 (276) |
Reception
| God Save the Child | The Friends of Eddie Coyle | |
|---|---|---|
| Ratings | 320 | 11456 |
| Editions | 5 | 25 |
| Citations | 3 | 5 |
| Film adaptations | 1 | 1 |
| Want to read | — | 12790 |
| Reading it now | — | 833 |
| Written reviews | — | 1148 |
| Wikipedia attention | 197 | 6936 |
| Pages | 185 | 192 |
Questions readers ask
Which is rated higher: God Save the Child or The Friends of Eddie Coyle?
The Friends of Eddie Coyle has the higher combined reader rating across sources (The Friends of Eddie Coyle 4.0/5, God Save the Child 4.0/5).
Which is shorter to read: God Save the Child or The Friends of Eddie Coyle?
God Save the Child is the quickest read. Estimated at 225 words per minute: God Save the Child (185 pages, ≈ 3 h 26 m); The Friends of Eddie Coyle (192 pages, ≈ 3 h 33 m).
Which is harder to read: God Save the Child or The Friends of Eddie Coyle?
Estimated difficulty, based on era, reader shelves and length — God Save the Child: Moderate; The Friends of Eddie Coyle: Moderate.