REVIEW
Lawrence Block
"The Burglar Who Traded Ted Williams"
A Bernie Rhodenbarr mystery
No Exit Press
There have been few books that make me laugh out loud. Not that I don't have a sense of humor, I'm just sort of restrained as a general rule. It's the British influence probably. But this book made me laugh a lot. I could serve as a laugh track for this book. My husband, who believes there are two things you should do in bed and reading isn't one of them, complained so much about me rocking the said bed I had finally to remove myself to the living room sofa.
I haven't read many of Block's books. One previous Rhodenbarr I think--and that was some time ago. So I don't really know if his comedic sense is always this acute. The timing is exactly right. The surprise of the humor elicits immediate laughter. A wonderful tonic of a book. Most of the humor is in the witty dialog, which is where I like it. I don't care at all for slapstick. There is also a running joke wherein Block teases Sue Grafton and her alphabet series. F is for stop, is one example.
Bernie Rhodenbarr, as I'm sure everyone on this list knows, is a burglar, supposedly a former burglar, who has gone straight and now runs a used bookstore. Early on, he lets the reader know that he's suffering from nostalgic pangs for breaking and entering. It's just been too long since he's felt that rush. And finally, given an excuse--his villainous landlord wants to increase the bookstore rent by ten thousand dollars a month--he just happens to enter a west end apartment that he just happens to know is empty. Well it is empty all right, of life, that is. But not completely empty. Through his persistence with a stubborn lock that challenges his skill, Bernie finds himself in a very sticky situation indeed.
During the first half of the book, I found myself wondering once in a while what had happened to the mystery. Usually, I like the mystery up close and personal throughout, but I didn't seem to care, I was enjoying Bernie so much.
With great finesse, Bernie goes about tracking down a murderer. At the same time he has been framed for a break-in and theft he didn't commit. He is helped (or hindered?) by a mysterious woman who picks him up outside a subway station.
The image that kept coming to my mind as I read, and chortled, was that of a magician of the close-up variety, the kind who shows you everything in his hands and everything that's up his sleeves, then suddenly produces something amazing out of thin air.
I was interested in his technique, repeated a couple of times, of jumping ahead by a day or two, meeting with someone, having an innocent sort of dialog that had me thinking, now wait a minute, what's going on here? and then revealing what he'd been up to during that period so far unaccounted for.
I'm not really experienced in reviewing . I've usually been more involved in reading beginners manuscripts in a totally critical and merciless way at writers workshops, (I don't do that anymore) or in judging books in contests--where all I need say is which one I think is best. In my effort not to reveal too much about the story, I'm probably not revealing enough. As a writer, always eager to learn from a master, I tend to read with an eye to technique, so it may be that others would figure out the ending ahead of the end. I didn't.
I would highly recommend this book to any reader who enjoys wit and excellent writing. You'll also learn a lot about baseball cards.
Meg Chittenden
Many thanks to Meg for supplying this review. Why not visit Meg's Homepage at http://www.techline.com/~megc/