????值此佳節來臨之際，我們將精挑細選的假期閱讀書目傾情獻上，以饗讀者。書單中包括兩部絕佳的驚悚小說、一部權威的短篇小說集和兩本引人入勝的自行車騎行指南。

警察、匪徒、間諜上演的精彩大戲

????據報道，本·阿弗萊克正籌備將丹尼斯·勒翰的小說《以夜為生》（Live By Night）搬上銀幕。屆時，他將自編自導并擔任制片、親自出鏡。如若報道屬實，阿弗萊克勢將有望憑借此片再奪大獎。

????原著小說圍繞喬·考夫林的人生浮沉展開，考夫林是波士頓警局一位赫赫有名的警官最小的兒子。他與父親背道而馳，從小偷小摸的街頭犯罪干起，逐漸掌握了爐火純青的犯罪藝術，后來成長為當地黑幫老大的左膀右臂，投身于轟轟烈烈的犯罪大業中。就在事業風生水起之時，他被抓入查爾斯頓監獄，服刑期間吃了不少苦頭。也正是在獄中，他結識了自己的新老板，一名黑手黨頭目。出獄后，他奉新老板之命坐鎮坦帕（美國佛羅里達州西部城市——譯注），開展一起走私行動。

????時值20世紀20年代中期，全美實行禁酒令，地下酒廠、酒吧遍地開花。每一座廢棄工廠的地下室里都有釀酒廠，每一片街區都有地下酒吧。黑幫暴徒們提著火光四射的沖鋒槍在大街上巡邏，每一處街角都有焦頭爛額的警察在指揮混亂的交通。勒翰以黑色電影的筆觸描繪了一段引人入勝的歷史，淋漓盡致地刻畫了多姿多彩的眾生百態。酒類走私販、雪茄煙制作工、風情女郎、福音傳道者、三K黨成員……一個個鮮活的人物躍然紙上。前一秒爛醉如泥、稱兄道弟的執法者和黑幫成員下一秒就可能反目成仇。

????這是一部扣人心弦、如電影般精彩的小說，其類似于勒翰之前的兩部著作——《神秘河》（Mystic River）和《禁閉島》（Shutter Island）。這兩部小說分別被克林特·伊斯特伍德和馬丁·斯科塞斯翻拍成了賣座大片。雖然喬·考夫林并非正面人物，但他完全可以稱得上是一個耀眼的明星，具備一切令人喜愛和信賴的特質。他兩度墜入愛河，將坦帕的走私行動開展得有聲有色，和紐約的福星盧西安諾（美國知名罪犯、黑幫大哥，被稱為美國“現代有組織犯罪之父”——譯注）達成了一筆交易，還在卡斯特羅統治前的古巴給孩子們建了一座棒球場。

????In the spirit of the season, here's a selection of literary stocking stuffers for you or the bookworm in your life. They include two terrific thrillers, a definitive short story collection, and a pair of engrossing books about biking.

Cops, hoods, and spies

????Ben Affleck, who knows a good book when he sees one, is reportedly set to write, direct, produce, and star in the film version of Dennis Lehane's novel?Live By Night. If the reports are true, he's got himself another winner.

????The book follows a bouncing ball named Joe Coughlin, the youngest son of a prominent member of the Boston police department. Joe takes off in a different direction, first mastering the art of petty street crime, then moving on to serious big-time capers as the right-hand man of a local mob boss. His journey is interrupted by a stretch in the Charleston penitentiary, where he learns a few painful facts of life. It's also where he meets his next boss, a Mafia capo who sends him to Tampa to take charge of a fledgling bootlegging operation.

????It's the mid-1920s. Prohibition is the law of the land, and that means distilleries in the basement of every deserted factory building, speakeasies on every block, gangsters patrolling the streets with blazing tommy guns and damaged cops directing traffic at every corner. As Lehane guides us through a fascinating history lesson bathed in noir, we meet rumrunners and cigar-makers, a string of fascinating women, evangelists, Ku Klux Klansmen, twisted lawmen and gangsters who can be loyal friends one minute, cruel enemies the next.

????It's an exciting, cinematic story, similar in that sense to Lehane'sMystic River, which gave Clint Eastwood some wonderful movie material, and?Shutter Island, which Martin Scorsese turned into a gem. Despite the fact that Joe Coughlin lives on the wrong side of the street, he is a full-fledged star who has what it takes to win our trust and affection. He falls in love not once but twice, gets the bootlegging operation in Tampa up and running, works out a deal with Lucky Luciano in New York, and winds up building a baseball field for kids in pre-Castro Cuba.