Small Town

Block, Lawrence

ISBN 10: 0060011912 / ISBN 13: 9780060011918

Published by HarperTorch, 2003

About this Item

Item in good condition. Textbooks may not include supplemental items i.e. CDs, access codes etc. Seller Inventory # 00084580305

Bibliographic Details

Title: Small Town

Publisher: HarperTorch

Publication Date: 2003

Binding: Soft cover

Condition: Good

About this title

Synopsis:

In the shadows of unbearable tragedy, an unlikelykilling machine begins a one-man war tobring a city to its knees -- a battle that will touchthe lives of its eight million citizens including:

a writer on the verge of a breakthrough

a charismatic ex-police commissioner -- and the inside choice for the next mayor -- on the edge of a breakdown

a beautiful, sophisticated art dealerplumbing the depths of her own fiercesexuality

a defense attorney who prefers murdertrials because there's one less witness

an ex-addict who has turned being cleaninto a living, mopping up after New York'snightlife

Pulsating with the lives of its denizens -- bartenders and hookers, power brokers andpoliticos, cops and secretaries, editors anddreamers -- Lawrence Block's electrifying newnovel reveals the small town at the heart of theBig Apple in all its power, terror, and starkbeauty.

Review:

Small Town is Lawrence Block's post 9/11 novel and despite its grim inspiration, it's another example of why he writes about New York like no other crime novelist. The death of a young woman, whose body is discovered the night after she picks up a random stranger in a bar, sends ripples through the lives of a disjointed bunch of New Yorkers she never even knew: a dangerous and virtually indiscriminate murderer, a struggling writer who was the last person to be seen with the dead girl but who doesn't remember a thing, a cop facing a total mental collapse and a sexually ambitious art dealer (who stars in some rather perverse and, for Block, unusually graphic sex scenes).

The real joy lies in Block's labyrinthine plotting and connecting the dots between the characters. As always though, the Big Apple is the real star of the show and Block's immense emotional connection with the city shines through his prose. His vivid descriptions of streets and locations at times read like travel guides but they help conjure an engaging and unique atmosphere as oppressive and confining as the city itself often appears. Small Town is not one of Block's best books--try one of the Matthew Scudder novels such as The Devil Knows You're Dead--but as a stand-alone introduction to one of the best spinners of New-York-based crime fiction, it's an excellent starting point and one that all fans of solid American crime-writing should seek out. --Jon Snow