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Click to read the review: "This is a thriller that will make you think... as always, Block is a
flat-out entertainer, and this is one of his best." "Has Lawrence Block ever written a graceless sentence? I certainly didn't find one in Small Town, his cozy, cockeyed love letter to post-Sept. 11 New York. Block, whose list of novels fills a small-print page by now, has always had a way with the city streets and late-night barrooms. His laconic drawl of a style, especially in the Matthew Scudder novels, seems somehow perfectly suited to his examination of the odd alliances that get made between rich and poor, druggie and politician, the faithless and the priests in Block's version of Manhattan. It's all a bit loony, often a bit gruesome, frequently more than a bit kinky. But it's life in the Big Apple, Block would have us believe. Or maybe it doesn't matter what we believe, because his real story seems to be about the ways things have changed -- and stayed perpetually the same -- since that fateful September morning when the Twin Towers disappeared and the world turned over. The machinations that bring this loopy group of souls together are as bizarre as can be. But all the characters are trying to stretch out, to wonder if there's something more to their lives than there seems to be. And that wonder leads them to the edge of violence, to write better prose than they ever have, to try out sexual games they've never let themselves imagine, to realize they're gay and not straight, to learn how much they love their wives or don't -- and to kill. The moral, if there is one, is about unpredictability and the way it can create adventure inside the anxiety -- the kind of adventure perfectly mated to a great city always ready for rediscovery. Small Town is a blessed dose of perverse comedy of the sort only someone like Block could invent or pull off." "Every so often, you stumble across a book that succeeds so well on every conceivable level that you feel like you're going to have to give up reading for a while. You still want to read, but you realize that, if you pick up another book immediately, or in a day or two, or a week later, you're going to compare it unfavorably and unfairly to the book you just read. So here is fair warning: read Lawrence Block's SMALL TOWN, but once you finish it, plan on doing something else for a few days. "The small town to which Block's title refers is New York City, post 9-11 New York City, a city bent but not broken, damaged but not destroyed, changed but not transformed. It is a city that Block loves and, equally as important, knows and understands on an intimate basis. His title demonstrates this; it is one of the city's many conundrums that, while you might not know your next door neighbor, there are in all likelihood only a couple of degrees of separation between the two of you. Block uses this kismet of happenstance, and many others, to great and enthralling advantage here. "Those who come to SMALL TOWN expecting a crime novel will find it both more and less than that. It is a crime novel in the sense that murder is committed. It is a suspense novel in that the murderer is at large, is continuing to kill and must be caught. It is a romance novel, of the heart and of the mind and of the person and of the place. It is also, and not the least of these, an extremely erotic novel. The thought came unbidden to me at one point that Block writes extremely well while typing with one hand. There is something here for everyone who loves good writing. "Heartbreak is often the well from which the best art springs. Here too, the obvious inspiration for SMALL TOWN, in its execution as well as the implicit and explicit motives of its key players, is the 9-11 attack. The events are set in motion by Jerry Pankow, a recovering alcoholic who discovers the corpse of his employer, Marilyn Fairchild, a real estate agent who was last seen in the company of John Blair Creighton, a marginally successful novelist for whom the edges of fiction and reality often blur. Creighton is obviously suspect Numero Uno in Fairchild's murder. "The reader soon knows more than the police on this account, but by the time the police come to realize they may be wrong, Creighton's newfound notoriety affects him in ways that neither he nor the public could reasonably have anticipated. While the reader journeys with Creighton through his ordeal, introductions are made with Maury Winters, Creighton's delightful defense attorney; former New York City police commissioner Francis Buckram, who is about to undergo two of the most bizarre experiences of his life; and the utterly unforgettable Susan Pomerance, the improbable erotic nexus between Creighton, Winters and Buckram, who indirectly provides the key for solving the murder of Fairchild, as well as others. SMALL TOWN also introduces an individual who is arguably the most sympathetic monster in literature since Shelley presented Frankenstein's creation. "Block also drops factoids about New York City along the way, in much the same way that you might tell a friend about a longtime lover. The reader of SMALL TOWN will also come away with an understanding and an appreciation of how a book is written and how, God forbid, it is published. That account is almost as fascinating as the spellbinding tale of who killed Marilyn Fairchild and many others --- and how and why. As to the why, the reader will understand. Not approve, mind you, but understand.
"SMALL TOWN is so good --- so perfect --- that, upon completing it, one almost wishes they hadn't read it, so that they could have the pleasure of reading it again for the first time. It is, however, wonderful a second time through and one suspects will be just as good the third, the fourth and the fifth. Reserve a shelf for this one, all by itself. Highest possible recommendation." "This book may be Block's stab at the publishing industry's latest obsession, the multi-character, multi-plot line, standalone BIG BOOK, à la Tom Wolfe's The Bonfire of the Vanities; but Block, as always, doesn't forget to keep things on a deeply human level, showing that even in a city of 10 million, people's lives are inexplicably bound. "The author aims high in this one, but he doesn't forget to have some fun as well, bringing along many of the usual suspects from his long and varied career for one wild ride. They're all here: alcoholics, glib trendoids, grizzled private eyes, frustrated writers, seen-it-all cops, art gallery owners, hookers, wise-cracking bartenders, sleazy shylocks, dreamers and schemers.
"You could almost call this novel Lawrence Block's Greatest Hits. He
tosses in a few steamy sex scenes that'll have your jaw bouncing on the
floor, recalling his apprenticeship penning porn back in the day. And he even takes a few chomps at the hand that feeds him, when mid-list writer John Blair Creighton, arrested on suspicion of murder, suddenly finds himself the object of an intense bidding war between publishers for his next novel. But the real star of Small Town is the Big Apple itself. Block has always had a thing about his hometown, and this is his heartfelt valentine to it. Like watching a couple squabble and then make up in public, it's a little embarrassing at times, but you walk away smiling at this veteran novelist's audacity and his pure ability to spin a tale. Coming off the success of his doorstopper collection of short stories, Enough Rope, Block shows again that he's a master at the top of his game."
"Awesome book! I started reading it a couple of days ago and have been
unable to focus on anything else till finishing. And now that I've finished I want to read it again, after allowing myself a little time to breathe. Seriously, I've been skeptical of reading anything with a 9/11 connection as I couldn't stand to see it commercialized. But you've used it in an appropriate way, if anything related to that nightmare could ever be appropriate. Great read. I'm recommending it highly to everyone I know." "A solid craftsman with five bestselling series under his belt as well
as numerous standalone mysteries and short-story collections to his credit, Lawrence Block breaks new ground with a resonant, compelling
thriller about one man's response to the Twin Towers tragedy--an insane
yet totally comprehensible, seemingly unconnected string of serial murders, or, as the killer calls them, "sacrifices" to the city he
believes will be reborn out of the ashes of destruction. Block, a New
Yorker born and bred, has penned a paean to the Manhattan he knows and
loves, and created a cast of fascinating characters whose lives are touched by the killings. Among the most interesting are a woman whose
sexual obsessions ensnare a former police commissioner who's being groomed for higher political office, a crime novelist uncertain about
his own culpability in the so-called Carpenter Killings, and a gay housecleaner whose clients keep ending up dead. This may be Block's best novel to date--it's certainly his most erotic and astonishing one, and it will keep you going until the last extraordinary page. A mesmerizing take on New York after 9/11, this solidly paced, brilliantly executed thriller deserves all the attention it will surely receive." "After the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, writers wondered how effective New York would be now as a setting, whether the tragedy should be incorporated into fiction, and if so, how and when. Some columnists opined that, after some time, the trauma would creep slowly into authors' works in subtle ways. But Lawrence Block, an unabashed New Yorker and the author of over 50 books and numerous short stories, has taken a different approach. His latest novel, "Small Town," puts the city at center stage, where it is as much a character as any of the fictional people who inhabit the book, and makes Sept. 11 a killer's motivation. ... This is not so much a mystery or suspense novel (the reader knows early on who the Carpenter is and why he's doing this), as much as it is an unflinching literary view of New York City and its citizens coping with an incomprehensible horror following Sept. 11. It doubles as an ironic commentary on today's emphasis on "buzz," marketing and image, as the struggling writer turns overnight into a hot literary property when he becomes a murder suspect. This is an insider's book, written by a consummate insider, full of rich detail about the city's neighborhoods, its history and its rituals. We get insights into how soon-to-be bestsellers are auctioned to publishers, and several scenes convey the atmosphere of those well-known but well-hidden restaurants at which the cognoscenti hang out.
Lawrence Block's "Small Town" is a paean to New York City and its staunch and resolute citizens, who take the best and the worst that the
city - and indeed life itself - have to offer and make the best of it." "In this world of high-profile celeb authors, multimillion dollar deals and printings, give me the solid craftsmanship of Lawrence Block, who turns out consistently original and compelling crime fiction book after book. In Small Town, Block delivers what he calls his 'big NYC novel,' a standalone, post 9/11 thriller, peopled by a cast of characters whose lives are touched by the tragic events and a series of killings beginning with the murder of realtor Marilyn Fairchild. Suspicion initially points to John Creighton, a crime novelist who went home with the murdered realtor on her last night, then shifts to Jerry Pankow, her gay housecleaner, who eventually has several clients on the list of murder victims. But in the grand sweep of things, the murders or 'sacrifices' as the killer views them, really serve to flesh out the details in the lives of those affected by the murders. Among them are Susan Pomerance, an art gallery owner whose sexual obsessions attract a number of men including John Creighton and Francis Buckram; Buckram, the former police commissioner, who is determined to single-handedly track down the sacrificial killer; Maury Winters, attorney for both Creighton and Pomerance, and occasional escort of the gallery owner; and, of course, the killer, whose personal losses in the wake of the twin towers tragedy breed a methodical killing spree. Block throws many balls in the air, juggles them well, and sums it all up nicely at the end, leaving only one question: 'Can you really do that with a banana?.' I think this is the best book to deal with the aftermath of 9/11 on New
York City that I have read... With Block you get the great dialogue and
sweet flow of the narrative, plus his own quirky viewpoints. "A New Yorker devastated by the bombing of the Twin Towers goes on a methodical rampage of his own in this haunting valentine to the Big Apple. The murder of the first victim, East Village realtor Marilyn Fairchild, seems so commonplace that the cops don't miss a beat before arresting John Blair Creighton, the author she'd brought home the night of her death. But the case starts to go south when Creighton's lawyer, cancer-stricken Maury Winters, argues a connection to the slaying of two prostitutes and their madam -- a crime discovered by the same hapless witness, alcoholic cleaner Jerry Pankow, and one for which Creighton has an alibi. Once the bombing of three bars also on Jerry's client list sends the death toll into the double digits, most authors would narrow the focus to the manhunt for the killer. But Block (Hope to Die, 2001, etc.) builds suspense by the daring trick of suppressing virtually every glimpse of the bamboozled justice system to focus on the lives of citizens going about their business. Creighton finds his latest novel fetching an incredible advance and himself turned into a celebrity because everybody assume he strangled Marilyn Fairchild. Gallery owner Susan Pomerance, excited by her upcoming show of an unknown local sculptor and her recent body piercings, stocks up her toy chest and gets in touch with her inner dominatrix. And the most likely detective figure, former police commissioner Francis Buckram, back in town to explore a possible mayoral bid, is too busy writhing on Susan's bed every Friday night to take much interest in the violent craftsman the media have started to call the Carpenter. "We're all in the same boat," an unwitting accomplice tells the Carpenter. But can these isolated individuals barely aware of each other's existence pull together to defeat a madman? It's an excellent question for us all." "A solid craftsman with five bestselling series under his belt as well as numerous standalone mysteries and short-story collections to his credit, Lawrence Block breaks new ground with a resonant, compelling thriller about one man's response to the Twin Towers tragedy--an insane yet totally comprehensible, seemingly unconnected string of serial murders, or, as the killer calls them, "sacrifices" to the city he believes will be reborn out of the ashes of destruction. Block, a New Yorker born and bred, has penned a paean to the Manhattan he knows and loves, and created a cast of fascinating characters whose lives are touched by the killings. Among the most interesting are a woman whose sexual obsessions ensnare a former police commissioner who's being groomed for higher political office, a crime novelist uncertain about his own culpability in the so-called Carpenter Killings, and a gay housecleaner whose clients keep ending up dead. This may be Block's best novel to date--it's certainly his most erotic and astonishing one, and it will keep you going until the last extraordinary page. A mesmerizing take on New York after 9/11, this solidly paced, brilliantly executed thriller deserves all the attention it will surely receive." In many ways, New York City is a small town. The borough of Manhattan only covers 23 square miles of land, a figure that makes it about 1/5 the size of Salt Lake City. One can easily get around town on foot, hopping on the occasional subway or city bus when in a hurry. It is also a small town in the way that people's lives intersect, as was demonstrated with the tragic events of September 11, 2001, when everyone, it seemed, knew somebody who was personally affected. New York is a large city to hide in, though, if you're a serial killer, like the one who's plaguing the city in Lawrence Block's latest thriller, Small Town. This ambitious, erotic novel is a departure for the mystery Grandmaster in that it features multiple viewpoints and a complex web of interwoven stories. The is more sophisticated and layered than in his best known work, the Matt Scudder series, which usually follows a single, first person POV. The story begins with the murder of a female real estate agent who picked up a man in a bar and took him home. When she's discovered the next morning by her cleaning man, the police are quick to settle on John Blair Creighton, a largely unsuccessful mid-list writer, as the likely culprit. (The suspect’s profession, not incidentally, allows the author an opportunity to deliciously skewer the venality of the publishing industry.) While true that he did meet her and apparently go home with her, Creighton certainly doesn't remember killing her. Of course, he was very drunk at the time and might have blacked out. Even with Creighton under arrest, however, the killings don't stop. Next to come is a brutal triple murder in a whorehouse, followed by the firebombing of a gay bar. Soon another suspect appears, a bland, ordinary insurance executive who lost everything that mattered to him on 9/11, including, it seems, his very soul. The 2001 terrorist attack on New York City forms an ever-present backdrop to the conjoined stories of Small Town. The many characters that populate it are still reeling from the loss, trying to make sense out of a world gone mad, always reminded by the stark hole in their beautiful skyline. Their pain, the city’s pain, is an important of their lives still, and thus an important part of the plot. It is a common belief that the nearness of death and destruction can cause a strong instinctual impulse to procreate, a primitive attempt to preserve the species that is hard-wired in our DNA. Whether or not that is true, the people of Small Town certainly have a lot of sex. “Normal” sex, unusual sex, gay sex; you name it, they have it. That desire, that near-irresistible impulse is also an important part of the city Block's characters inhabit. It is as if, he seems to be saying, that after 9/11, all bets are off. Block has written a masterpiece for his 52nd novel, a stunning work that draws on all his powers as a storyteller and chronicler of the darker side of the human psyche. Never before has he painted on such a broad canvas, and never before has he attempted to go so deep into the hearts and minds of so many different characters. Breaking out of the more traditional mystery mold was a gamble, but it has paid off in spades. Small Town is one of the finest books of Block's, or any, career." "Marilyn Fairchild, a Manhattan real-estate agent, is murdered. John
Creighton, a writer with declining sales, is the last person she was
seen with. Susan Pomerance is a successful art dealer who purchased her
apartment through Fairchild. A murder of someone within her personal
circle triggers Susan's sense of mortality, and she responds with a series of life-affirming sexual adventures. Creighton soon becomes the
suspect in this high-profile murder as well as a very hot literary property: his proposed first-person account of his ordeal is on the
publisher's auction block for millions. Block, the best-selling author
of the Matthew Scudder detective series, carefully weaves these key characters--and others--into a rich tapestry of modern life set against
the backdrop of beloved New York City. Though murder is the catalyst,
the focus is not on the solution of the crime but on how it alters the
course of so many lives. Block's shifting third-person narrative draws
us into each life, including that of the unnamed killer. This is a novel
at once profoundly disturbing, graphically erotic, satiric, and above
all, entertaining. A fascinating effort by a writer who never fails to
exceed expectations. Expect intense demand." "This book reeks of love, a love for New York, a love for the process of writing, and a love for life, all framed by the awful events of 9/11. This multi-viewpoint tale is set in the months following the attacks on NY's World Trade Center. Jerry Pankow, a cleaner in Greenwich Village, discovers the body(s) of what appears to be the markings of a serial killer. Is someone acting out a hidden agenda linked to those awful events of 9/11? Enter Creighton, a mid-list author who becomes targeted by the police as a suspect in the case. Enter former Chief of Police Buckram who becomes ensnared with a dominatrix and art gallery manager Susan Pomerance. Pomerance soon discovers her own perverse sexuality in these dark days, and in so doing, she also finds freedom from the repression of her childhood. Enter Maury Winters, Crieghton's legal advisor, and then finally enter the serial killer, a person marked by the events of 9/11 and a force to be pitied more than feared. Block weaves a modern morality tale full of pathos, sexual deviants, and charged with an inventive plot, but most of all charged with a love for life, when sometimes love gets hidden by the shadow of evil. This is my first MUST read of 2003. Wonderful, and a book that will lay in the mind for a long, long time. Thank you Mr Block." "What Block has accomplished here is nothing short of phenomenal. This
is a first rate thriller but it's also oh so much more than that. Small Town is a kaleidoscopic virtuoso hymn to the city that the author
loves.... This is the "big NYC book" Block always wanted to write, but
it too has been forged anew and recreated in the fires of 9/11. Brooding, relentless, dark and savage but at the same time humorous and
slyly life-affirming, Small Town breaks new ground for Block." "Small Town is the first book my husband ever let me read aloud to him." Site contents copyright
2006 Lawrence Block
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