Twister (Robin Light Mystery)

Rating:
Summary: I LOVE ROBIN LIGHT!!!
Review: I think the person who gave this book 2 stars must've had his/her seat taken on the bus that day, because Barbara Block, the woman who sired Lawrence Block, another bestselling novelist, is just great. I love her heroine, pet-store owner Robin Light. She's sharp, independant, a loaner. I highly recommend this novel, and all Block's other Light novels; just don't read them on the bus...

Rating:
Summary: Robin Light--A Lightheaded Heroine
Review: The basic theme in Barbara Block's Twister is the well-worn "amateur girl detective" storyline. Robin Light, a "...hip outrageous redhead...with a soft spot for puppies, parakeets, bunnies and boas..." and owner of the Noah's Ark petshop in Syracuse, New York, becomes mired in a murder case when she accompanies her rich, stylish friend, Lynn Gordon , to the "wrong side of town" to retrieve something Lynn has given to "some guy." Robin follows Lynn into an abandoned house and finds her kneeling over a dead body--the man from whom Lynn was reclaiming the "something." There are actually two cases in this book that Robin solves, the whodunit of the murdered man, and also a rash of several stolen dog complaints that are plaguing the city. Place the entire story in the sweltering city of Syracuse, New York, and Block has a recipe for what promised to be an engaging novel. However, from the scene where Robin discovers Lynn kneeling over the dead body on, the story only becomes more and more unbelievable. Block attempts to justify Robin's (who seems to be lacking the sense and reason that humans are usually born with) decision not to call the police when Lynn does not answer her repeated shouts in the abandoned house by having Robin inform the reader that "unless it was an emergency--as in shots fired and someone lying bleeding on the ground--I figured it might be hours before a blue and white rolled up." Even when her house is firebombed by a neighborhood thug, Robin acknowledges that "I knew I should call the police. Only I didn't want to. Not yet. I still wasn't up to dealing with them". In the real world, someone who had just had their house firebombed would be dialing 9-1-1 before the flames were even out. Robin, who seems to have absolutely no faith in the police (even though her best friend, George, is a policeman), insists on snooping around on her own and nearly gets herself in serious trouble several times. Block heightens this sense of unreality by conveniently placing Robin in a man's office where she can sneak a peek at the personal file of the neighborhood thug that she suspects of dognapping and firebombing her house. She manages to get the office to herself for five minutes, where she wastes no time digging through the files for "Joe Davis." The only snag is that there is no Joe Davis listed. At that point, many "wannabe" detectives would have given up. Not Robin. After leaving the man's office, she moves directly to the head of personnel's office (who happens not to be in his office) to look at the files there. Robin picks the lock on the desk, and, when her search does not turn up any files, she calmly helps herself to a Nestle's Crunch bar that she finds in the desk. Robin suddenly remembers the fact that she's trespassing when she hears footsteps outside the door. Although her plot is unbelievable, Block has a wonderful knack at fleshing out her characters. We meet not only Robin, George, and Lynn, but a host of other colorful characters: Manuel, a sixteen year old hoodlum who spends most of his time tagging along with Robin and borrowing money off her; A.J., a young boy who keeps his tarantula at "Noah's Ark" because his mom does not want it in the house, Tim, the moonlighting college student who works full-time at the petstore, and Connelly, the arrogant police sergeant, and Robin's least favorite person are only a few of the characters we have the pleasure of meeting in this nonsensical second novel by Barbara Block.