Small Town

A Novel of New York

by Lawrence Block
Lawrence Block

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The author of dozens of acclaimed novels including those in the Scudder and Keller series, Lawrence Block has long been recognized as one of the premier crime writers of our time. Now, the breathtaking skill, power, and versatility of this Grand Master are brilliantly displayed once again in a mesmerizing new thriller set on the streets of the city he knows and loves so well.

That was the thing about New York — if you loved it, if it worked for you, it ruined you for anyplace else in the world.

In this dazzlingly constructed novel, Lawrence Block reveals the secret at the heart of the Big Apple. His glorious metropolis is really a small town, filled with men and women from all walks of life whose aspirations, fears, disappointments, and triumphs are interconnected by bonds as unbreakable as they are unseen. Pulsating with the lives of its denizens — bartenders and hookers, power brokers and politicos, cops and secretaries, editors and dreamers — the city inspires a passion that is universal yet unique in each of its eight million inhabitants, including:

John Blair Creighton, a writer on the verge of a breakthrough;

Francis Buckram, a charismatic ex–police commissioner — and the inside choice for the next mayor — on the verge of a breakdown;

Susan Pomerance, a beautiful, sophisticated folk-art dealer plumbing the depths of her own fierce sexuality;

Maury Winters, a defense attorney who prefers murder trials because there's one less witness;

Jerry Pankow, an ex-addict who has turned being clean into a living, mopping up after New York's nightlife;

And, in the shadows of a city reeling from tragedy, an unlikely killing machine who wages a one-man war against them all.

Infused with the raw cadence, stark beauty, and relentless pace of New York City, Small Town is a tour de force Block fans old and new will celebrate.

Creators
- Lawrence Block
  
  Author
- Lawrence Block
  
  Narrator
Publisher

HarperAudio

Edition: Abridged
Awards
- Diamond Dagger for Lifetime Achievement Award
- Grand Master Award
Release date

August 3, 2004
Formats
- OverDrive Listen audiobook
  - ISBN: 9780060783167
  - File size: 142567 KB
  - Duration: 04:57:00
Languages
- English
Reviews
- AudioFile Magazine
  
  Here is one of those fairly rare cases in which an author's voice marvelously fits the story and characters of his own book. Not all authors can read well--slowly and lucidly--but Block does. He has a flat middle-American voice even though virtually everything he writes is set in New York City. He slightly alters his tone, and the characters stand out as individuals, instantly recognizable once introduced. The story here is a simple framework of a man driven mad by the events of 9/11 who becomes a clever serial killer and mass murderer. On this framework Block hangs a myriad of sex scenes, spending more time on those than on the plot. Typically Block. D.R.W. (c) AudioFile 2003, Portland, Maine
- Publisher's Weekly
  
  January 20, 2003
  This is a rare standalone from the Edgar Award–winning creator of Matt Scudder, Bernie Rhodenbarr, hit man Keller and others, and takes a number of risks unusual for its author. For a start, it is very deliberately a post–9/11 thriller, in which a man bereaved by the loss of his wife and children in the Twin Towers sets out to wreak what he thinks of as a sacrificial vengeance on the city by becoming a serial terrorist himself. For another, Block, who wrote some pornography early in his career, has created a female character whose kinky sex antics will definitely ruffle some of his mainstream readers. And while an intimate knowledge of New York and its folkways, and of urban character and conversation, has always been one of Block's great strengths, and is on plentiful show again here, his rather improbable action climax seems carelessly tacked on to the meticulous rest of the book. The novel offers a very crowded canvas whose central characters are the sad figure of the terrorist himself; a former police commissioner who eventually sets out to bring him down; a midlist writer who suddenly gets to be a hot property when he's accused of a murder (the publishing scenes will be delightful for insiders); the aforementioned kinky lady, an art dealer when not playing pierced dominatrix; a gay recovering alcoholic who unwittingly leads the villain to the scenes of his crimes; and, of course, the city itself, which, as the title suggests, is a place where everyone is somehow connected to everyone else's business. It's a bold and flashy effort, but its deliberately disturbing elements may somewhat limit its appeal. Major ad/promo; simultaneous audio; 15-city author tour.(Jan. 21)Forecast:With movies coming up of both
  Hit Man and
  A Walk Among the Tombstones, this will be a Block year; but it remains to be seen whether readers are ready for a 9/11–inspired terrorist killer.
- AudioFile Magazine
  
  The title city is New York. Shortly after 9/11. An otherwise miscellaneous group of New Yorkers acquires two characters in common--a kinky and promiscuous gallery owner and an elusive maniac who is avenging the Twin Towers tragedy by murdering assorted Manhattanites. The book features graphic sex and gruesome mayhem, witty humor, vividly drawn (albeit cardboard) characters, and numerous digressive musings. George Guidall does his wonted fine job with this fare. He keeps the narrative enthralling even where the author flags. While many narrators sound embarrassed doing detailed passages of erotic encounters, especially when, as here, they're described in Anglo-Saxonisms, Guidall serves them up without a wink. If, however, they're supposed to be arousing, our narrator has not made them so. He errs further in the postcoital love scenes between the perverse lady and the writer she loves, which sound trite. But they're written that way. Y.R. (c) AudioFile 2003, Portland, Maine
- Library Journal
  
  October 15, 2002
  Block temporarily abandons Matthew Scudder for a standalone thriller set in New York City after the collapse of the World Trade Center towers. Central to the tale is a mass murderer with an agenda. Watch for the 15-city author tour.
  Copyright 2002 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
- Publisher's Weekly
  
  April 7, 2003
  Block (The Burglar in the Library; Eight Million Ways to Die; etc.) is one of today's most well-established mystery and thriller writers, but his gift for crafting compelling narratives does not, unfortunately, translate to a knack for narration. For one, his voice is the nasal half-whine of a New Yorker at its most pronounced. While this might not necessarily be a bad thing—especially since the book deals so intimately with the city and its ways—when coupled with a stilted reading style and a refusal to attempt even the slightest nuance for individual characters, it becomes a distraction rather than an asset. Particularly problematic for this production are the numerous explicit sex scenes. When Susan Pomerance, a beautiful art dealer whose instinct for sexual exploration is awakened by a murder central to the story, is in the throes of ecstasy, Block's reading sounds no different than when detectives are interviewing a subject or patrons are ordering a beer at the local watering hole. The scenes, then, are not only not erotic, but also almost laughable—only slightly less titillating than if read by Andy Rooney. The rest of the story offers a mix of Block's signature street smarts and intrigue, but fans would do well to stick with the book and avoid this disappointing recording. Simultaneous release with the Morrow hardcover (Forecasts, Jan. 20).