Rating: 
Summary: Post 9-11 New York
Review: A character study of several city dwellers by a master author. Well drawn, but not really satisfying.
Rating: 
Summary: dissapointing
Review: you know how in lots of big books there is one storyline that you don't care a lot about, and secretly think you have to wade through to get to the storylines you do are excited about? Well, about 2/3 of the way through SMALL TOWN I felt that all of the storylines were that one. None of them were bad per se, but none of them captured me and I kept waiting for it to get better until the book ended and I realized that it wasn't getting better.I'm a huge Lawrence Block fan, but this book just didn't do much for me...
Rating: 
Summary: Just awful...
Review: This is a really bad book. In fact, it is so bad that it's hard to believe an acclaimed author like Lawrence Block - who's written stuff like Eight Millions Ways to Die - could produce something so amateurish and ill-conceived. Of course,... Block has been off his game for quite awhile now. But this one is simply off the charts awful. He's got at least six characters (not to mention all the minor players he feels he needs to tell us endless details about) and not one of them is the least bit interesting. One of the characters, a woman art dealer who has all the sex scenes, is just embarassing. It makes you want to cringe for Block when you read them. He's like a little boy saying dirty words because he thinks its somehow shocking or exciting. As for the plot, it goes absolutely nowhere and the ending is such a let down and so trivial that you wonder if Block himself had just given up by the time he got to the end of the book. The sad thing is I've seen Block's newsletter where he talks about how this is one of the best books he's ever done. As someone else said, Small Town would never have been published if the author wasn't Lawrence Block. Don't waste your time reading it....
Rating:
Summary: Extremely ill-conceived and disappointing
Review: I have been a Block fan for years--but, that's now in the past tense, after reading this utter disaster of a novel. Why would anyone try to cash in on the horrors of 9/11 by writing a tedious serial killer novel, dominated by graphic, repetitive sex scenes? After reading this book, one is left with the impression that all New Yorkers immediately embraced an endless series of self-destructive sexual encounters as a full time lifestyle in response to the World Trade Center tragedy, since that seems to be the reaction of every single character. (the scenes are likely to offend a number of readers; I just found them puerile and dull) As a New Yorker, I was left utterly offended by this one-sided representation of my city--and by this poorly-written, formulaic book. I suspect that if this manuscript had been submitted by an unknown writer, it would never have been published. Someone is going to write a genuinely moving and valuable 9/11 novel someday...but this one absolutely is not it.
I deeply regret having spent the money to purchase a hardcover copy of this book, but it never crossed my mind that an author I have enjoyed so much in the past would (or could) produce a book this lousy. I can't think of another novel I have enjoyed less, or found more disappointing, with the possible exception of Hannibal.
Rating: 
Summary: A CAN'T-STOP-LISTENING-TO THRILLER
Review: With arresting voice and total command of his narrative, author Lawrence Block gives a dynamite reading to this saga of the city we love to read and hear about - New York. No other place evokes the visions of mystery and excitement that the Big Apple does, and Block does his beloved metropolis proud. A Mystery Writers of America Grand Master and four-time winner of the Edgar Allan Poe and Shamus Awards this author well knows how to weave a spellbinder, and he peoples it with characters we expect to find in New York - high class, low class, the dregs, but always fascinating. Of course, there is a writer - John Blair Creighton who believes he's about to really make it. Toss in a former police commissioner with political ambitions, and mix with Susan Pomerance, a gorgeous (aren't they all?) art dealer. Add a dash of one defense attorney whose metier is murder trails, and a now clean addict who's trying to right wrongs. Mix all of these together, and you have one can't-stop-listening-to thriller. - Gail Cooke
Rating:
Summary: Major disappointment!
Review: I know that one should not take a serious writer's style for granted (and Lawrence Block is certainly a serious writer), but I have always looked to Mr. Block for something other than what was offered in his latest work. Since the publishing world seemed to think it was a book worth reading, I guess I am just too provincial to appreciate all the gratuitous, kinky sex in "A Small Town". From now on, I think I will check out Mr. Block's books from my library...at least, when I put it down, unfinished, I do not have to regret wasting both my money and my time.
Rating:
Summary: Small Town? Small premise!
Review: Let me start by saying that I own everything that Lawrence Block has published. That out of the way, let me say this: What did he think was pulling this story together? There is no compelling theme, no protagonist, no cogency as he flits from one character to another without any particular purpose. The sex is a poor substitute for plot mechanisms. Was he writing in the hopes of selling the book for conversion to a soft core movie producer? Was he in a rush to bring out the defining post 9/11 NYC novel? Whatever the motivation, the finished product just does not reflect the level of expertise and craftsmanship that Block has demonstrated in other efforts. What a disappointment.
Rating:
Summary: worst Block book ever
Review: I love the books of Lawrence Block. I think the Scudder series is as good as any fiction done in the past 25 years, with only a few exceptions. But this is horrible. The sex scenes are just filler. I understand the point of showing passion in New Yorkers, but these scenes just brought the book to a screeching halt. If these scenes were taken out it still would not have been much of a book. Obviously Block knows and loves New York, but this just is not a good book.
Rating:
Summary: Is Block losing it?
Review: ...Maybe he was suffering writer's block (pun intended) and fell back on his past efforts. Irrelevant kinky sex just pasted in will not save an inferior work.
Rating:
Summary: The Master has stumbled badly
Review: I like mystery/thrillers. I tend to like Lawrence Block's books a lot, all the way from punster Bernie the Bookselling Burglar to the dark paths trod by Matt Scudder. But Small Town, which is independent of his usual characters, is a major disapopintment. It's a shame, because the first 90% of the book is riveting, even if an often distasteful sub-plot that pushes the boundaries of soft-core porn trails along the major action. A serial killer who comes to be called the Carpenter is on the loose in the months leading up to 9/11/02. He had retired shortly before that terrible day that the Towers fell, and lost his pregnant daughter, son-in-law and son in the collapses, and then his wife a few weeks later to a suicide. He is taking revenge on the city that betrayed him, and his seemingly random methods puzzle the police. His first crime is blamed on a crime writer who happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, and this character's story is well told, including marvelous bits about the NYC publishing world. A retired but youthful police commisioner finds his interest piqued, and attempts to find the Carpenter before it's too late, as he surmises that the Carpenter has his major kill planned for the first anniversary of his family's deaths. The writer and the commissioner share a woman who owns a contemporary folk art gallery, who has decided to base her life on sexual gratification (and it's explicit, folks). While the saga of the Carpenter is brought to the close, none of the other story lines are. Not satisfactorily, at least. As I had found myself caring about these characters, I was furious! Such a cheap ploy makes me want my hours of reading restored to my life.
| 
