2013 Book 31: Grifter's Game
Book 31: Grifter's Game by Lawrence Block, isbn: 9780843953497, Hard Case Crime, 205 pages, $6.99
The Premise: (from the Goodreads page): Con man Joe Marlin was used to scoring easy cash off beautiful women. But that was before he met Mona Brassard and found himself facing the most dangerous con of his career, one that will leave him either a killer or a corpse.
Grifter's Game was originally published as Mona by Gold Medal in 1961. This is the book s first publication under the author s intended title.
My Rating: 5 stars out of 5
My Thoughts: Lawrence Block is a master of the fast-paced crime thriller. In a lean 205 pages, the pace never falters. Even during the "slow" scenes (sex on the beach, or the lead-up to it at least, for instance), Block spares no words. Joel Marlin narrates his own story. No supporting character POV, no cut-aways to sub-plots. After an initial chapter establishing who Joe is (and the variety of names he's been known by over time), we see Joe fall into a desperate situation: arriving in Atlantic City with no luggage and knowing that good hotels will not look at him without evidence he's legit, Joe steals some monogrammed luggage that just happens to contain a very large quantity of heroin. Shortly thereafter he meets Mona. Things progress.
The author himself, through the main character, points out that things fall together a little bit too conveniently, likening recent events to a Hitchcock movie he goes to see while laying low. It's an effective device to show that the author is aware of some of the genre cliches he's employing as well as to show that Joe is a bit smarter than he might at first seem. It's even more effective when the story moves beyond the tropes and conclusion I personally was expecting and goes into what to me was fresh territory and a nice twist. I won't say more so as to avoid spoiling.
Some favorite lines:
"I don't think Brutus was sorry that he knifed Caesar. I don't think he thought it was wrong. But I am positive the line Et tu, Brute haunted him until he ran upon the sword that Strato held for him. That line would do it for him, just as the blood did it for Macbeth and his good wife."
"Gambling before noon looks about as proper to me as laying your own sister in the front pew on Sunday morning. Call me a Puritan -- that's how my mind works."
I read Grifter's Game in one sitting. Fast-paced and fun and a bit brutal.
The Premise: (from the Goodreads page): Con man Joe Marlin was used to scoring easy cash off beautiful women. But that was before he met Mona Brassard and found himself facing the most dangerous con of his career, one that will leave him either a killer or a corpse.
Grifter's Game was originally published as Mona by Gold Medal in 1961. This is the book s first publication under the author s intended title.
My Rating: 5 stars out of 5
My Thoughts: Lawrence Block is a master of the fast-paced crime thriller. In a lean 205 pages, the pace never falters. Even during the "slow" scenes (sex on the beach, or the lead-up to it at least, for instance), Block spares no words. Joel Marlin narrates his own story. No supporting character POV, no cut-aways to sub-plots. After an initial chapter establishing who Joe is (and the variety of names he's been known by over time), we see Joe fall into a desperate situation: arriving in Atlantic City with no luggage and knowing that good hotels will not look at him without evidence he's legit, Joe steals some monogrammed luggage that just happens to contain a very large quantity of heroin. Shortly thereafter he meets Mona. Things progress.
The author himself, through the main character, points out that things fall together a little bit too conveniently, likening recent events to a Hitchcock movie he goes to see while laying low. It's an effective device to show that the author is aware of some of the genre cliches he's employing as well as to show that Joe is a bit smarter than he might at first seem. It's even more effective when the story moves beyond the tropes and conclusion I personally was expecting and goes into what to me was fresh territory and a nice twist. I won't say more so as to avoid spoiling.
Some favorite lines:
"I don't think Brutus was sorry that he knifed Caesar. I don't think he thought it was wrong. But I am positive the line Et tu, Brute haunted him until he ran upon the sword that Strato held for him. That line would do it for him, just as the blood did it for Macbeth and his good wife."
"Gambling before noon looks about as proper to me as laying your own sister in the front pew on Sunday morning. Call me a Puritan -- that's how my mind works."
I read Grifter's Game in one sitting. Fast-paced and fun and a bit brutal.