Lawrence Block

I was up until 2am reading this, frustrated with my sleepiness. I started reading again with my coffee this morning. I just couldn't stop.

The central plot seems a bit silly now because we know that there were no murderous satanic cults sacrificing babies at Day Care Centers, the chick from Cannibal Holocaust is still alive and well, Guinea Pig was done with special effects, etc. It all became sickeningly real with the advent of the Internet and easy/cheap digital recording, but in the late show more '80s it was nothing but an urban legend.

But, child exploitation and pornography was a nasty little problem then (and now), Block got that exactly right and it was enough to hold the central premise of the book.

I usually dislike it when authors throw two plots together and try to make them stick. Most authors do this poorly and it just seems lazy. Block did it brilliantly by keeping the focus of Scudder's investigation within a small part of the city and within the same profession. That made it believable. Working in NYC is the same as working anywhere else—everybody knows, or has heard of, everyone else. Names, faces, and resumes float around in a limited area and people's names live on the edge of your memory and the tip of your tongue. (This was even true when I was in social work in NYC.)

The same is true for people who live in your neighborhood, especially if you see them every day.

So, I was really impressed with the way that Block pulled this book together.

I am absolutely loving this series. I just can't stop reading. show less

If you are willing to gloss over ethical and character problems in a significant character relationship, it might theoretically be an entertaining read.

Seriously, Block. What's the author of the finely tuned Matt Scudder mysteries thinking? Please tell me this was subbed out to a ghost writer, because your introduction of the Barbara Creely character is awful.

Burglar stared off promising, with a unique voice compared to Block's other works, and with a man who clearly enjoyed his illegal show more activities, even as he was aware of how problematic they were.

Bernie Rodenbarr is set up to be a somewhat loveable anti-hero, the classic criminal with ethics (he only steals from the rich, etc, etc), and it mostly works, until he's under the bed at a woman's house as she is about to get date-raped. And he just hides there and listens, because he's essentially afraid of harm from the rapist. Although I appreciate that Bernie is sharing an honest reason, it had a significant downgrading on my enjoyment level. After the rapist finishes, he tosses the apartment looking for money and valuables. He threatens to degrade the unconscious woman further, but is luckily stopped by circumstance. Bernie feels sorry for the woman and makes an effort to "clean up" the mess the rapist/robber made by putting things back, replacing money in her wallet, flushing the condom, etc. Kind, I suppose. But how fucking obtuse: I know what will solve the problem! Let me erase it for you and we'll pretend it never happened!

Later, Bernie goes back to the neighborhood and hangs out at a bar that seems like the woman's type, hoping to run into her. To see if she's okay? Nice thought, but no. To try and warn her that her she needs to start playing it safer? Wow, you're kind of a Pollyanna, aren't you?
No, he meets her, they have a creepy conversation about how it seems they've been "emotionally intimate" before, he goes home with her that night, and spends the night having sex.

Oh, not so he's a stalker or anything--he's friendly and doesn't use roofies, which makes all the difference.
Then, within a week, he's telling her the truth about his occupation... and how he first met her. And you know what? She's okay with it.

What
the
fuck?

The self-disclosure is literally taken care of in a couple of paragraphs. This is despite Bernie earlier reflecting on a conversation with his friend Carolyn about how merely feeling burgled felt like a violation. He tells Barbara she's been roofied and date-raped, along with being robbed. Her reaction? She swears for a minute and then focuses on which window Bernie was going to use to escape.

I will say it again:

What
the
fuck?

Add in a shitload of coincidences, which Bernie self-references twenty times if he does it once, and the ridiculous Hercule Poirot denouement, and I'm left with the uncomfortable feeling that this is a spoof. In which rape is how you meet your next date.

Need I say it again? show less

One of the mission statements of Hard Case Crime, I believe, is to produce modern noir. I say “believe” because the only Hard Case books I’m aware of are from writers I already read. But if my assumption is correct, The Girl with the Deep Blue Eyes hits the mark. Block takes James M. Cain’s specialty, desperate people stuck in desolate lives, and transports them from California in the 1930s to 21st century Florida.

Block acknowledges his inspirations, though not directly. His show more viewpoint character, Doak Miller, recently retired from the NYPD and in his late forties, is not much of a reader. “Luckily,” Turner Classic Movies is running a week of films with an appropriate theme: Double Indemnity and both versions of The Postman Always Rings Twice (based on Cain’s work), along with D.O.A. and In a Lonely Place. They help reinforce the noir atmosphere while crediting the novel’s influence.

Doak, thanks to his past experience and a working friendship with the local sheriff, is asked to pose as a hit man when a local woman begins to discreetly inquire about having her husband killed. Lisa Otterbein turns out to be the embodiment of Doak’s lifelong fantasy. And that’s just from viewing her picture. Once he meets her, those deep blue eyes cinch it. Instantly his life has become a noir movie.

Is she a femme fatale? Does her husband deserve the only fate that will free her from his grip? And if he continues down this road, can Doak get away with a small town murder? The sheriff knows of her original wishes, and of his initial involvement.

Doak is nobody’s hero. This is a story without a rooting interest. And when I describe it as modern noir, the emphasis is on “modern.” There are some sexually graphic images in this book, some of which that could be considered deviant. It is not for everybody.

The novel’s only other drawback is that by invoking a certain style and atmosphere--where familiar tropes are arranged in the expected order--it brings with it the expectation of an ending appropriate to what preceded it. This is not forthcoming. But if you can appreciate the skill it took to update a classic form of the genre and enjoy the ride as such, it will be worth the trip. show less

I'm completely embarrassed to say that I've read this one before, somehow, in some form. One would think I'd remember a book called Hit Man. Alas, I'm getting old. So what did I do when I discovered my little error? Keep on reading, of course, because I could only vaguely remember details and it is a fast read. What I have to say about memory is that it's very odd to read one long deja vu, and somewhat disconcerting to realize my memory had inserted another chapter. Perhaps I was channelling show more Block. More likely, I read the next book and forgot most of the specifics. Now, if only I can get my subconscious to review it...

Block does it again, creating sympathy and a multifaceted character in that most staple of thriller tropes, the assassin. The book is written as a series of loosely connected shorts that cover episodes in Keller's life as he goes through his routine at home in NYC and on the road plying his trade.

This assassin is definitely a little different. As he follows his mark around the small town of Roseburg, Oregon, he starts to fantasize what living there would be like. Perhaps he'll take his savings and buy a 'starter home.' Perhaps he'll start his own business, do some printing. However, the job ends, the fascination passes, he comes back to his life in NYC. Not for long, however; soon he is on his way to Martingale, Texas, carting along a paperback he hasn't read on the strength of the line "he rode a thousand miles to kill a man he never met." In a boozy barroom, he listens to stories about cheatin' hearts and naturally, meets a woman looking for a good time.

Back in NYC, he shares a dream about mice with his therapist. Long before Tony Soprano sat with Dr. Melfi, Keller was sitting with Dr. Breen. That doesn't work so well, but soon he's moving on to his new dog, followed by a dog-walker, because after all, an assassin's got to travel. Then he and Dot have some trouble at the agency with the man upstairs (literally).

Overall, a fun, fast read and an unusual character study. I found myself discovering sympathy (likely for the second time) for the hit man, who has so badly actualized himself. These books are--in the wise words of Trudi--potato chip reads; you might only mean to read a few pages, but soon you've downed the whole bag.

Cross posted at: http://clsiewert.wordpress.com/2012/12/26/hit-man-by-lawrence-block/ show less