Con man Joe Berlin was used to scoring easy cash off of gullible women. But that was before he met Mona Brassard — and found himself holding a stolen stash of raw heroin. Now that Joe has fallen hard for Mona, he's got to pull off the most dangerous con of his career: one that will leave him either a killer — or a corpse. Block's debut novel under his own name is a classic example of prime pulp fiction, with an ending that will astonish even the most jaded crime fiction fan.
Joe Marlin's life as a con man ends when he steals some luggage in which he finds a block of heroin and he falls in love with Mona, who is married, coincidentally, to the owner of the stolen suitcases. What starts as a tongue-in-cheek and cheeky narrative turns into a very dark story. Alan Sklar's gravelly voice begins in the tone of a stereotypical semi-villain whom the listener might grow to like. However, as the story progresses, becoming more and more sinister, Sklar's voice changes subtly. Unfortunately, he reads at too slow and deliberate a pace, unwarranted in a story that itself is slow and deliberate, with lots of thought and little action. S.S.R. (c) AudioFile 2005, Portland, Maine
About the Author
Lawrence Block, a Mystery Writers of America Grand Master, is a four-time winner of the Edgar and Shamus Awards. He is author of more than fifty books, among them the Matthew Scudder mysteries Eight Million Ways to Die, The Sins of the Fathers, and A Stab in the Dark, all available as Sound Library® audiobooks.
SJRLC services are funded by dollars appropriated by the New Jersey Legislature for the New Jersey
Library Network and administered by the New Jersey State Library, an affiliate
of Thomas Edison State College.
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